News ‒ LAS ‐ EPFL

November 2025

Shuqing’s work “Uniform In-Plane Growth of Large-Area Ultrathin Zn₂(benzimidazole)₄ Membrane” is published in Advanced Functional Materials! Congrats Shuqing!

Marina’s work “Energy- and cost-efficient CO₂ capture from dilute emissions by pyridinic-graphene membranes” is published in Nature Sustainability! Congrats Marina!

Ceren’s work “Scalable room temperature incorporation of CO₂-selective ångström-scale pores in graphene for carbon capture” is published in Nature Communications! Congrats Ceren!

Our group alumni Pinar presented her work at 8th International Symposium on Membrane Technologies and Applications (MEMTEK 2025)! Congrats Pinar!

Yueqing won Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum (NSEF) Graduate Student Poster Award. Many congrats Yueqing!

Ceren won AIChE Inorganic Materials Graduate Student Award-Sponsored by Chevron. Congrats Ceren!

Prof. Agrawal gave a talk in AIChE Annual Meeting 2025, Boston, US.

Ceren, Yueqing, Shuqing, and Jian presented their works in AIChE Annual Meeting, Boston, US. Congrats to all of them!

September 2025

Xuekui’s work ” Facile Synthesis of 20-Nm-Thick ZIF-67 Films for Hydrogen Sieving Using β-Co(OH)₂ Precursor Nanosheets.” has been published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition ! Many congrats Xuekui!

Our work ” Spin-on Deposition of Amorphous Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework (AZIF) Films for Lithography Applications” has been published in Nature Chemical Engineering!

August 2025

Our work “Optimization of crosslinking in Poly(vinylidene fluoride) membranes for solvent-resistant nanofiltration: a comparative study between crosslinking agents” has been published in Journal of Membrane Science!

Our work “Angstrom‐Scale Triangular Pore in Single‐Layer Hexagonal Boron Nitride Membrane for Molecular Sieving” has been published in Angewandte Chemie!

Shuqing is selected for Global Young Scientists Summit (GYSS) 2026 in Singapore. Many congrats Shuqing!

July 2025

Prof. Agrawal gave a seminar at Peking University on the topic of “fundamental science to scale-up of graphene membranes”!

Prof. Agrawal gave a seminar at Yonsei University!

June 2025

Luc’s work ” Gated CO2 permeation across dynamic graphene pores” has been published in Nature Communications! Congrats Luc!

May 2025

Our work “A molecularly engineered large-area nanoporous atomically thin graphene membrane for ion separation” has been published in Nature Communications!

We participated at Scientastic event at EPFL Valais with our carbon capture membranes demo!

Jian’s work, “Scalable Synthesis of CO₂-Selective Porous Single-Layer Graphene Membranes,” is featured on the cover of Nature Chemical Engineering!

Prof. Agrawal delivered a keynote lecture at MedPore 2 at Marrakesh!

Our work on graphene membranes for carbon capture is highlighted in Entreprise Romande!

Shuqing won SCNAT Chemistry Travel Award. Many congratulations to Shuqing!

April 2025

Prof. Agrawal’s Editorial article “Advancing membrane science via two-dimensional materials” (Editorial with Agrawal as Executive Guest Editor to the special issue on 2D Membranes for Molecular Separation) has been published in Journal of Membrane Science!

Jian’s work, ”Scalable Synthesis of CO2-Selective Porous Single-Layer Graphene Membranes” has been published in Nature Chemical Engineering. Congrats Jian!

Kuang-Jung’s work, ”Modulation of Graphene Oxidation Using Substrate-Induced Electron-Hole Puddles Advancing Molecular Separation” has been published in Advanced Functional Materials . Congrats Kuang-Jung!

Ceren presented her work at GRC Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage 2025, Ventura, California. Congrats Ceren!

March 2025

Heng-Yu’s work, ”Non-van-der-Waals Oriented Two-Dimensional UiO-66 Films by Rapid Aqueous Synthesis at Room Temperature” has been published in JACS. Congrats Heng-Yu!

Ceren has received EDCH Travel Award. Congrats Ceren!

February 2025

Luc has successfully defended his PhD thesis. Many congratulations, Dr. Luc Bondaz!

January 2025

Our work, ”Print-Light-Synthesis of Electrocatalytically Active Gas Diffusion Electrodes for Fuel Cell Applications” has been published in Journal of Material Chemistry A.

Kuang-Jung has won the SNSF Swiss post-doctoral fellowship. Many congratulations to Kuang-Jung!

December 2024

Shuqing’s work, ”High-performance H₂/CO₂ separation from 4-nm-thick oriented Zn₂(benzimidazole)₄ films” has been published in Science Advances. Congrats Shuqing!

Our recent work, “Stereochemical tuning, post-synthesis crosslinking and quaternizing to tune the membrane performance of ultra-stable polyamine nanofiltration membranes” has been published in Journal of Membrane Science.

1st LAS table tennis competition has officially started. Congrats to the first-week winners!

November 2024

Kiyoumars won the NSERC Science Exposed 2024 Jury Prize for his beautiful scanning electron microscopy image of a composite membrane. Congrats Kiyoumars!

Dr. Thjis Peter from SINTEF visited our lab, and gave a great seminar on “Membranes for CO₂ capture and blue H₂ production – Overview of activities at SINTEF”

Shilong joined our group as a visiting PhD student. Welcome to LAS Shilong!

October 2024

Luc presented his work at the AIChE 2024 Annual Meeting in Boston. Congrats Luc!

Dr.Marina Micari has been awarded with Ambizione grant from SNSF and will start her independent research group in EPFL. Many congratulations to Marina!

Archisman joined our group as a PhD student. Welcome to LAS Archisman!

September 2024

Our recent review, “Nanofluidics,” is now in Nature Reviews Methods Primers!

We had a great time together with chestnut picking and then playing bowling as LAS!

Ceren received the European Membrane Society Travel Award. Congrats Ceren!

Ceren and Yueqing presented their work at the Euromembrane 2024 Conference in Prag, Czech Republic. Congratulations to both of you!

August 2024

Dr.Kiyoumars joined our group as a postdoctoral researcher. Welcome to LAS Kiyoumars!

Annal joined our group as a master’s student. Welcome to LAS Annal!

July 2024

Shuqing presented his work in MOF2024, Singapur. Many congrats to Shuqing!

Dr. Marina’s work on ”Optimization of High-Performance Membrane Processes for Post-Combustion Carbon Capture” has been published in Computer Aided Chemical Engineering. Many congrats to Marina!

June 2024

Kuang-Jung’s work on “Graphene membranes with pyridinic nitrogen at pore edges for high-performance CO2 capture” has been published in Nature Energy! Many congratulations to Kuang-Jung!

Shuqing has received ISIC travel grant! Congratulations Shuqing!

May 2024

Dr. Zongyao’s work on ”Electrochemical-repaired porous graphene membranes for precise ion-ion separation” has been published in Nature Communications. Congrats to Zongyao!

Our recent work, ”Influence of micro-patterned support properties and interfacial polymerization conditions on the performance of patterned thin-film composite membranes,” is published in the Journal of Membrane Science.

April 2024

Our recent work on “Dynamic Behavior of Spatially Confined Sn Clusters and Its Application in Highly Efficient Sodium Storage with High Initial Coulombic Efficiency” has been published in Advanced Materials!

Alex joined our group as a PhD student. Welcome to LAS Alex!

Heng-Yu has successfully defended her PhD thesis. Many congrats to Dr.Heng-Yu Chi!

March 2024

Shaoxian’s work on ”Nanolithography of the nanocorral structure of chemisorbed oxygen atoms on the graphitic lattice” has been published in Carbon. Congrats to Shaoxian!

Shaoyu joined our group as a PhD student. Welcome to LAS Shaoyu!

Ceren’s work on ”Direct synthesis of nanocrystalline single-layer porous graphene for hydrogen sieving” has been published in Carbon. Congrats to Ceren!

Ceren and Yueqing have been admitted to the EPFL PhD Excellence Program! Many congrats to both of you!

February 2024

Dr. Cedric and Yueqing’s work on ”Advancing molecular sieving via Å-scale pore tuning in bottom-up graphene synthesis” has been published in ACS Nano. Congrats to both of them!

Dr. Kangning’s work on “Tuning Pore Size in Graphene in the Angstrom Regime for Highly Selective Ion–Ion Separation” has been published in ACS Nano. Congrats to Kangning!

Our recent work, “Development of tuneable polyamine top layer for nanofiltration with high stability in bleach and at extreme pHs,” is published in the Journal of Membrane Science.

Kuang-Jung successfully defended his PhD thesis

Published:13.09.23 — Many congratulations to Kuang-Jung. He earned praise from his committee for pushing the performance of porous graphene membranes on carbon capture.

Shaoxian won Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Student

Published:13.09.23 — Many congratulations to Shaoxian for his fundamental work on elucidating the oxidation mechanism of graphene by scanning tunneling microscopy leading to controlled incorporation of vacancy defects or pores in graphene.

Shaoxian successfully defend his PhD

Published:08.06.23 — Many congratulations to Shaoxian for successfully defending his Ph.D. thesis. The committee, in particular, was impressed with the degree of advance he made in the field of elucidating the mechanism of pore formation in graphene. He is the sixth Ph.D. student from our group.

Zongyao won EuroTech Future Award 2023

Published:08.06.23 — Many congratulations to Zongyao. He will travel to Brussels this summer to present his research project.

Heng-Yu won SCNAT travel award

Published:08.06.23 — Many congratulations to Heng-Yu for winning the SCNAT travel award. This will allow her to visit the GRC conference on Nanoporous Materials and Applications in United States.

We are on the cover page of ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

Published:08.06.23 — Xuekui's article on room temperature scalable synthesis of Hydrogen sieving zeolite membrane is on the cover of ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering!

Our startup on graphene membrane won the 2023 Hack Summit

Published:08.06.23 — Our startup (to be incubated) on carbon capture using graphene membrane won the pitch competition at the Hack Summit, winning a $100k USD investment from HackCapital. An excellent start for incubation and seed funding.

Shaoxian won AIChE Inorganic Materials Graduate Student Award

Published:08.06.23 — Many congratulations to Shaoxian who won the 2nd prize in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Material Sciences & Engineering Division (MESD) Graduate Student Award in the area of Inorganic Materials for his work on elucidating the mechanism of oxidation of graphene.

Yueqing selected for EPFL summer school on imaging

Published:08.06.23 — Many congratulations to Yueqing. All the best for the summer school.

Kuang-Jung receives the NAMS travel award

Published:08.06.23 — Many congratulations to Kuang-Jung for winning the 2023 North American Membrane Society travel award. This will allow him to travel and present in the NAMS 2023 conference.

Ceren won the Dr. Haluk Sanver Master Thesis Award

Published:08.06.23 — Many congratulations to Ceren to winning the Dr. Haluk Sanver Master thesis award from Middle East Technical University for her excellent Master's thesis on assembly of colloidal liquid crystal

Qi appointed as professor at Suzhou university

Published:08.06.23 — Many congratulations to Dr. Qi Liu for appointment as Assistant Professor at the college of chemistry, chemical engineering, and materials science at Suzhou University! He will focus on the structural design, synthesis, and characterization of MOFs.

Mojtaba won the Tech4Impact grant

Published:08.06.23 — This will allow Mojtaba to continue developing the graphene membrane for commercial deployment

Heng-Yu has been selected for EMS travel award

Published:08.06.23 — The European Membrane Society (EMS) awarded Heng-Yu its student travel award for Heng-Yu.

2D membrane won 3rd place in 2022 ClimateLaunchpad

Published:08.06.23 — The team of 2D membrane, building a startup on this technology, comprised of Karl and Mojtaba, who won 3rd place overall and first place in the cleantech category.

Paco receive the NAMS Young Membrane Scientist Award

Published:08.06.23 — North American Membrane Society (NAMS) in its 2022 annual meeting awarded Paco with highly prestigious Young Membrane Scientist Award

Mohammad successfully defended his PhD thesis

Published:10.01.23 — Mohammad is the fifth PhD graduate of LAS. Co-advised by Prof. Nicola Marzari, Mohammad solved the ever elusive pathway of graphene oxidation showing step-by-step evolution of defects in graphene. We wish him all the best for his next position at Credit Suisse!