Representative Publications for Prospective Students and Postdocs
Topic 1: Polymers and Sustainability
Eric Munyaneza Nuwayo,‡ Connor Thompson,‡ Abby Civiello,‡ Adrian DiMarco, Jingtao Zhang, Seungjoo Lee, Gugyeong Sung, Tridip Das, Yue Zhang, Clark Vu, Shelby Koshak, John B. Matson, Ali Erdemir,* William A. Goddard III,* Xi Chen,* and Guoliang Liu,* Upcycling of Polyvinyl Chloride into Polyalphaolefin Lubricants, Nature, 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10867-z (‡ equal contribution) Free Download: https://rdcu.be/fx3GJ
Nuwayo Eric Munyaneza, Ruiyang Ji, Adrian DiMarco, Joel Miscall, Lisa Stanley, Rui Qiao,* Guoliang Liu,* “Chain-length-controllable upcycling of polyolefins to sulfate detergents”, Nature Sustainability, 2024, 7, 1681–1690. DOI: 10.1038/s41893-024-01464-x. Free download link: https://rdcu.be/d0z7d
Zhen Xu, Nuwayo Eric Munyaneza, Qikun Zhang, Mengqi Sun, Carlos Posada, Paul Venturo, Nicholas A. Rorrer, Joel Miscall, Bobby Sumpter*, Guoliang Liu*, “Chemical upcycling of polyethylene, polypropylene, and mixtures to high-value surfactants”, Science, 2023, 381, 666–671. DOI: DOI: 10.1126/science.adh0993. Download
Zhen Xu, Fuping Pan, Mengqi Sun, Jianjun Xu, Nuwayo Eric Munyaneza, Zacary L. Croft, Gangshu (George) Cai, and Guoliang Liu*, “Cascade Degradation and Upcycling of Polystyrene Waste to High-Value Chemicals”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A., 2022, 119, 34, e2203346119. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2203346119.
Connor S Thompson, Carlos Posada, Guoliang Liu,* Hyper Cross-linked Poly (ether imide) via Friedel–Crafts Acylation and Dehydrochlorination, Macromolecules, 2025, 58, 13, 6440–6451. DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.5c00532
Zhen Xu, Gehui Liu, Ke Cao, Dong Guo, Joel Serrano, Alan Esker*, Guoliang Liu*, “Solvent-resistant Self-crosslinked Poly(ether imide)”, Macromolecules, 2021, 54, 7, 3405–3412. DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.0c02860.
Ke Cao, Yichen Guo, Mingxuan Zhang,U Clay B. Arrington, Timothy E. Long, Roy R. Olde, Guoliang Liu,* “Mechanically Strong, Thermally Stable, and Flame Retardant Poly(ether imide) Terminated with Phosphonium Bromide”, Macromolecules, 2019, 52(19), 7361-7368. DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.9b01465.
Ke Cao, Guoliang Liu,* “Low-molecular-weight, high-mechanical-strength, and solution-processable telechelic polyetherimide end-capped with ureido-pyrimidinone", Macromolecules, 2017, 50 (5), 2016–2023. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.7b00156]
Topic 2: Porous Carbon Fibers
Tianyu Liu, Joel Marcos Serrano, Xiaozhou Yang, William Cathcart,U Zixuan Wang, Zhen He, Guoliang Liu,* “Exceptional Capacitive Deionization Rate and Capacity by Block Copolymer-based Porous Carbon Fibers”, Science Advances, 2020,6(4), eaaz0906. [DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaz0906].
Zhengping Zhou, Tianyu Liu, Assad U. Khan, Guoliang Liu,* “Block Copolymer Based Hierarchical Porous Carbon Fibers”, Science Advances, 2019, 5(2), eaau6852. [DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aau6852.]
Tianyu Liu, Zhengping Zhou, Yichen Guo, Dong Guo, Guoliang Liu,* “Block copolymer derived uniform mesopores enable ultrafast electron and ion transport at high mass loadings”, Nature Communications, 2019, 10, 675. [DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08644-w.]
Topic 3: Polymer Nanocomposites
Assad U. Khan, Gabriel Zeltzer,* Gavriel Speyer, Zacary L. Croft, Yichen Guo, Yehiel Nagar, Vlada Artel, Adi Levi, Chen Stern, Doron Naveh,* Guoliang Liu,* “Mutually Reinforced Polymer-Graphene Bilayer Membranes for Energy-Efficient Acoustic Transduction”, Advanced Materials, 2021, 2004053. DOI: 10.1002/adma.202004053.
Assad Khan, Yichen Guo, Xi Chen, Guoliang Liu,* “Spectral-selective plasmonic polymer nanocomposites across the visible and near-infrared”, ACS Nano, 2019, 13 (4), 4255–4266. [DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.8b09386.]
Invited Perspectives, Reviews, and Views
Guoliang Liu,* Catalytic Conversion of Polystyrene Waste into Toluene, Nature Nanotechnology, 2026, 21 (1), 17-18. DOI: 10.1038/s41565-025-02074-0. Free Download: https://rdcu.be/eWVmB
Guoliang Liu,* Deep Cracking of Polyethylene to Light Olefins, Nature Chemical Engineering, 2025, 2, 621–622. DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00285-9. Free download link: https://rdcu.be/eKV8t
Tianyu Liu, Guoliang Liu,* “Porous Organic Materials Offer Vast Future Opportunities”, Nature Communications, 2020, 11, 4984. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15911-8