Personal Homepage

Dr. Chenhui Peng is a Professor in Department of Physics in USTC since 2022. He got his PhD degree from Liquid Crystal Institute of Kent State University in Ohio in 2017. Afterwards he did Postdoc work in MIT from 2017 to 2018. Then he was an Assistant Professor in Department of Physics and Materials Science in the University of Memphis from Aug. 2018 to Dec. 2021. His research interest include active soft matter, biophysics, smart materials, colloidal self assembly, microfluidics and their bioengineering applications and his work have been published in Science, Nature Physics, Science Advances, Nature Communications, PNAS and Advanced Materials etc. 

We are recruiting motivated PhD students and Postdocs. Please contact Dr. Chenhui Peng at cpeng2@ustc.edu.cn for more information.

Google Scholar

(Representative publications  *indicates corresponding author)：

1. Z. Asilehan, W. Tang, X. Zheng, R. Wang, J. Zhang, K. Tian, F. Vergara, Q. Shi, Z. Chen, J. Jiang*, R. Zhang*, Chenhui Peng*, Monopole-mediated light control of half skyrmion topology in nematic liquid crystals. Nature Communications 16, 9178 (2025).

2. J. Zhang, W. Tang, Z. Asilehan, Z. Chen, Q. Shi, F. Vergara, J. Jiang*, R. Zhang*, Chenhui Peng*, Nonreciprocal chirality conversion in spatiotemporal evolutions of nematic colloidal entanglement. Science Advances 11, eads7281 (2025).

3. Z. Asilehan^#, W. Tang^#, J. Zhang, Z. Chen, R. Wang, Q. Shi, G. Song, J. Jiang*, R. Zhang*, Chenhui Peng*, Light-driven dancing of nematic colloids in fractional skyrmions and bimerons. Nature Communications 16, 1148 (2025).

4. J. Jiang^#, O. Akomolafe^#, X. Wang^#, Zhawure Asilehan, Wentao Tang, Jing Zhang, Zijun Chen, Ruijie Wang, Kamal Ranabhat, Rui Zhang* and Chenhui Peng*, Topology-driven collective dynamics of nematic colloidal entanglement. PNAS, 121, e2402395121 (2024).

5. X. Wang^#, J. Jiang^#, J. Chen^#, Z. Asilehan, W. Tang, Chenhui Peng*, R. Zhang*, Moiré effect enables versatile design of topological defects in nematic liquid crystals. Nature Communications 15, 1655 (2024).

6. J. Jiang^#, X. Wang^#, O. Akomolafe^#, W. Tang, Z. Asilehan, K. Ranabhat, R. Zhang* and Chenhui Peng*, Collective transport and reconfigurable assembly of nematic colloids by light-driven cooperative molecular reorientations, PNAS, 120, e2221718120 (2023)

7. J. Jiang^#, K. Ranabhat^#, X. Wang^#, H. Rich, R. Zhang* and Chenhui Peng*, Active transformations of topological structures in light-driven nematic disclination networks, PNAS, 119, e2122226119 (2022)

8. Chenhui Peng, T. Turiv, Y. Guo, Q.-H. Wei, and O. D. Lavrentovich*, "Command of active matter by topological defects and patterns," Science, 354, 882 (2016).

9. Chenhui Peng, T. Turiv, Y. Guo, S. V. Shiyanovskii, Q.-H. Wei, and O. D. Laverntovich*, "Control of colliodal placement and assembly by modulated molecular orientaion in nematic cells," Science Advances, 2, e1600932 (2016).

10. Chenhui Peng, Y. Guo, T. Turiv, Miao Jiang, Q.-H. Wei, and O. Lavrentovich*, "Patterning of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals by photoalignment with photonic metamasks," Advanced Materials, 29, 1606112 (2017).

11. Z. Lei, Z. Chai, K. Wan, J. Zhang, G. Wang, W. Li, C. Li, L. Wang, F. Feng, J. Jiang, Chenhui Peng*, Aquatic Topological Liquid Crystal Gel Kirigami. Advanced Functional Materials, https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202512059 (2025).