Xuepeng Zhang, Ph.D., Research Professor, Doctoral Supervisor

E-mail:zhangxp@ustc.edu.cn

Address: 96# Jinzhai Road, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei 230026, China

EDUCATION AND RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

2021.01-Present

Research Professor, University of Science and Technology of China

2017.08-2020.12 

Postdoctoral Fellow, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology(HKUST) (Supervisor: Prof. Ben Zhong Tang)

2014.09-2015.09 

Joint Doctoral Student, University of Virginia, USA (Supervisor: Prof. Lin Pu)

2011.09-2016.04 

Ph.D., Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China (Supervisor: Prof. Guoqing Zhang)

2007.09-2011.06 

B.S., Polymer Materials and Engineering, Hefei University of Technology (Supervisor: Prof. Shiyong Liu and Prof. Jianping Lv)

RESEARCH INTERESTS 

(1) Organic Room-Temperature Phosphorescence (RTP)

(2) Luminescent Polymer Materials

(3) Aggregation-Induced Emission (AIE)

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
(*corresponding author, #co-first author; as of Oct 2025)

(1) Ruizhi Yang, Hao Su, Jiajun Song, Chendong Xie, Biao Chen, Xueyu Li, Jun Jiang, Guoqing Zhang, Yi Luo, Xuepeng Zhang,* and Ben Zhong Tang* Prevalent Room-Temperature Phosphorescence in Natural Nuts J. Am. Chem. Soc.2025, 147, 37385–37397. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c10814 

(2) Xuepeng Zhang* Room-Temperature Phosphorescent Polymer Materials 2025, Spriner Nature Book chapter DOI: 10.1007/978-981-97-1574-9_169-1

(3) Han Zheng, Zhengwu Yang, Lei Luo, Jiajie Cheng, Yifei Jin, Qinlong Gao, Minghui Fan, Zhi Zhao, Xiangdong Kong,* Xuepeng Zhang,* Zhigang Geng* Engineering the Stable BiOx Species for Efficient Electroreduction of CO2 into Formic Acid at Ampere-Level Current, Nano Lett. 2025, 25, 8750–8757. DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c01772

(4) Hongping Liu, Hao Su, Ning Chen, Jie Cen, Jiajia Tan, Baicheng Zhang, Xiaoyu Chen, Aoyuan Cheng, Shengquan Fu, Xiaoguo Zhou,* Shilin Liu, Xuepeng Zhang,* Shiyong Liu,* Yi Luo, Guoqing Zhang* Water-Ice Microstructures and Hydration States of Acridinium Iodide Studied by Phosphorescence Spectroscopy Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024, 63, e202405314. DOI: 10.1002/ange.202405314

(5) Aoyuan Cheng, Hao Su, Xuewen Gu, Wei Zhang, Baicheng Zhang, Meng Zhou, Jun Jiang, Xuepeng Zhang,* Guoqing Zhang* Disorder-Enhanced Charge-Transfer-Mediated Room-Temperature Phosphorescence in Polymer Media. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e202312627. (Hot paper) DOI: 10.1002/anie.202312627

(6) Hao Su, Kan Hu, Wenhuan Huang, Tao Wang, Xiaolong Zhang, Biao Chen, Hui Miao, Xuepeng Zhang,* Guoqing Zhang* Functional Roles of Polymers in Room-Temperature Phosphorescent Materials: Modulation of Intersystem Crossing, Air Sensitivity and Biological Activity. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e202218712. (VIP paper) DOI: 10.1002/anie.202218712

(7) Xuepeng Zhang,^# Junkai Liu,^# Biao Chen,^# Xuewen He, Xueyu Li, Peifa Wei, Peng Fei Gao, Guoqing Zhang, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Ben Zhong Tang* Highly efficient and persistent room temperature phosphorescence from cluster exciton enables ultrasensitive off-on VOC sensing. Matter, 2022, 5(10), 3499-3512. DOI: 10.1016/j.matt.2022.07.010

(8) Biao Chen, Wenhuan Huang, Hao Su, Hui Miao, Xuepeng Zhang,* Guoqing Zhang* An Unexpected Chromophore-Solvent Reaction Leads to Bicomponent Aggregation-Induced Phosphorescence, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 10023-10026. DOI: 10.1002/anie.202000865

(9) Xuepeng Zhang,^# Lili Du,^# Weijun Zhao,^# Zheng Zhao, Yu Xiong, Xuewen He, Peng Fei Gao, Parvej Alam, Can Wang, Zhen Li, Jing Leng, Junxue Liu, Chuanyao Zhou, Jacky W. Y. Lam, David Lee Phillips,* Guoqing Zhang,* Ben Zhong Tang* Ultralong UV/Mechano-Excited Room Temperature Phosphorescence from Purely Organic Cluster Excitons, Nat. Commun. 2019, 10, 5161. (ESI Highly Cited Paper) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13048-x 

(10) Tao Wang, Xiaoge Su, Xuepeng Zhang,* Xiancheng Nie, Linkun Huang, Xingyuan Zhang, Xiang Sun,* Yi Luo and Guoqing Zhang* Aggregation-Induced Dual-Phosphorescence from Organic Molecules for Non-Doped Light-Emitting Diodes, Adv. Mater. 2019, 31, 1904273. DOI: 10.1002/adma.201904273

(11) Peifa Wei,^# Xuepeng Zhang,^# Junkai Liu,^# Guo-Gang Shan, Haoke Zhang, Ji Qi, Weijun Zhao, Herman H. Y. Sung, Ian D. Williams, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Ben Zhong Tang* New Wine in Old Bottle: Prolonging Room-Temperature Phosphorescence of Crown Ethers by Supramolecular Interactions, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 59, 9293-9298. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201912155

(12) Linkun Huang, Biao Chen, Xuepeng Zhang,* Carl O. Trindle, Fan Liao, Yucai Wang, Hui Miao, Yi Luo,* Guoqing Zhang* Proton-Activated “Off-On” Room-Temperature Phosphorescence from Purely Organic Thioethers, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 16046-16050. DOI: 10.1002/ange.201808861

(13) Xiaofeng Chen, Cheng Xu, Tao Wang, Cao Zhou, Jiajun Du, Zhongping Wang, Hangxun Xu, Tongqing Xie, Guoqiang Bi, Jun Jiang, Xuepeng Zhang,* James N. Demas, Carl. Trindle, Yi Luo, Guoqing Zhang* Versatile room-temperature-phosphorescent materials prepared from N-substituted naphthalimides: emission enhancement and chemical conjugation. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 9872-9876. (ESI Highly Cited Paper) DOI: 10.1002/anie.201601252

(14) Xiaoyu Chen, Renlong Zhu, Baicheng Zhang, Xiaolong Zhang, Aoyuan Cheng, Hongping Liu, Ruiying Gao, Xuepeng Zhang, Biao Chen,* Shuji Ye, Jun Jiang, Guoqing Zhang* Rapid room-temperature phosphorescence chiral recognition of natural amino acids, Nat. Commun. 2024, 15, 3314. (ESI Highly Cited Paper) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47648-z

(15) Biao Chen, Wenhuan Huang,* Xiancheng Nie, Fan Liao, Hui Miao, Xuepeng Zhang, Guoqing Zhang* An Organic Host–Guest System Producing Room-Temperature Phosphorescence at the Parts-Per-Billion Level, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 16970-16973. (ESI Highly Cited Paper)

(16) Xuewen He, Yujun Yang*, Yongcan Guo, Shuguang Lu, Yao Du, Jun-Jie Li, Xuepeng Zhang, Nelson L. C. Leung, Zheng Zhao, Guangle Niu, Shuangshuang Yang, Zhi Weng, Ryan T. K. Kwok, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Guoming Xie*, and Ben Zhong Tang* Phage-Guided Targeting, Discriminative Imaging, and Synergistic Killing of Bacteria by AIE Bioconjugates, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 8, 3959-3969. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.9b12936

(17) Weijun Zhao, Tsz Shing Cheung, Nan Jiang, Wenbin Huang, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Xuepeng Zhang, Zikai He,* Ben Zhong Tang* Boosting the efficiency of organic persistent room-temperature phosphorescence by intramolecular triplet-triplet energy transfer, Nat. Commun. 2019, 10, 1519. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09561-8

(18) Yu Xiong, Zheng Zhao, Weijun Zhao, Huili Ma, Qian Peng,* Zikai He, Xuepeng Zhang, Yuncong Chen, Xuewen He, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Ben Zhong Tang* Designing Efficient and Ultralong Pure Organic Room-TemperaturePhosphorescent Materials by Structural Isomerism, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 7997-8001. (ESI Highly Cited Paper) DOI: 10.1002/ange.201800834

(19) Parvej Alam, Nelson L. C. Leung, Junkai Liu, Tsz Shing Cheung, Xuepeng Zhang, Zikai He, Ryan T. K. Kwok, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Herman H. Y. Sung, Ian D. Williams, Christopher C. S. Chan, Kam Sing Wong, Qian Peng, Ben Zhong Tang* Two Are Better Than One: A Design Principle for Ultralong-Persistent Luminescence of Pure Organics, Adv. Mater. 2020, 32, 2001026. DOI: 10.1002/adma.202001026 

(20) Xiancheng Nie, Wenhuan Huang, Dingcheng Zhou, Tao Wang, Xiao Wang, Biao Chen, Xuepeng Zhang,* Guoqing Zhang* Kinetic and thermodynamic control of tetraphenylethene aggregation-induced emission behaviors Aggregate 2022, 3 (4), e165. DOI: 10.1002/agt2.165

(21) Xiancheng Nie, WenXiancheng Nie, Jiajun Du, Wenhuan Huang, Tao Wang, Xiao Wang, Biao Chen,* Xuepeng Zhang,* Guoqing Zhang* Broad-Band Visible-Light Excitable Room-Temperature Phosphorescence via Polymer Site-Isolated Dye Aggregates, Adv. Opt. Mater. 2022, 10 (12), 2200099. DOI: 10.1002/adom.202200099

(22) Tongqing Xie, Li Yang, Xingxing Sun, Jun Jiang,* Xuepeng Zhang,* Yi Luo, Guoqing Zhang* UV gelation of single-component polyacrylates bearing dinitrobenzoate side groups Chem. Commun. 2016, 52, 9383-9386. DOI: 10.1039/c6cc04070e

(23) Xuepeng Zhang, Chao Wang, Pan Wang, Jiajun Du, Guoqing Zhang,* Lin Pu* Conjugated polymer-enhanced enantioselectivity in fluorescent sensing Chem. Sci. 2016, 7, 3614-3620. DOI: 10.1039/c6sc00266h

(24) Xuepeng Zhang, Tongqing Xie, Minxin Cui, Li Yang, Xingxing Sun, Jun Jiang,* Guoqing Zhang* General design strategy for aromatic ketone-based single component dual-emissive materials. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2014, 6, 2279-2284. DOI: 10.1021/am405209w

(25) Xuepeng Zhang, Guoqing Zhang* Sensitization of europium(III) luminescence in water with β-diketone-poly(ethylene glycol) macroligand Sci. China Chem. 2014, DOI: 10.1007/s11426-013-5030-6

(26) Xuepeng Zhang, Minxin Cui, Rui Zhou, Changle Chen,* Guoqing Zhang* Facile Synthesis of β-Diketone Alcohols forCombined Functionality: Initiation, Catalysis,and Luminescence Macromol. Rapid Commun. 2014, 35, 566−573. DOI: 10.1002/marc.201300834