News and Research Highlights

Our new study demonstrates phonon focusing at room temperature. The work was published in [Nature Physics 22, 1416 (2026) · Download PDF] and featured on the cover of its September issue. Congratulations to all authors! See UCLA News here. September 15, 2026

Congratulations to our recent graduate, Ying Cui, on starting as an Assistant Professor at the University of Rhode Island. Best of luck! July 15, 2026

We are pleased that our research has been highlighted by Physics World: Metallic material breaks 100-year thermal conductivity record. February 19, 2026

Our recent work was highlighted by UCLA Samueli, UCLA Newsroom, and CNSI: Discovering Metallic Material with Record Thermal Conductivity. January 16, 2026

Our new study reporting a record-setting metallic material with exceptionally high thermal conductivity has now been published in [Science 391, 707 (2026) · Download PDF]. This work follows our report of boron arsenide [Science 361, 575 (2018) · Download PDF] as an ultrahigh-thermal-conductivity semiconductor and extends our long-standing effort to understand and push the fundamental limits of heat transport in solids. Congratulations to our outstanding students and dedicated collaborators! We are excited to see where this leads for next-generation electronics cooling, AI hardware, and energy technologies. January 15, 2026

Congratulations to our recent graduate, Huan Wu, on starting as an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University! Wishing you all the best in this exciting new chapter. July 1, 2025

Congratulations to our recent graduate, Huu Nguyen, on starting his new career at Sandia National Laboratories! Wishing you all the best in this exciting next chapter! October 1, 2024

Congratulations to our recent graduate, Man Li, on starting as a professor at USTC. Best of luck! August 1, 2024

Our study on antiviral structures for the sustainable control of infectious diseases was published online. July 17, 2024

Our study with the Fisher and Goorsky groups demonstrated wafer-scale bonding of GaN-AlN with high interface thermal conductance. July 17, 2024

Our new study on thermal transport in moiré graphene was published in Advanced Materials. March 15, 2024

Our thermal management research was featured among the Top 10 Semiconductor Stories of 2023 by IEEE Spectrum. February 28, 2024

Thanks for the nice article in Scientific American that highlights our research. January 8, 2024

See UCLA news highlight on our recent study. November 9, 2023

Our study on dynamic control of thermal transport was published in [Science 382, 585 (2023) · Download PDF]! Congratulations to Man, Huan, Zihao, Huu, and our wonderful team of collaborators! November 3, 2023

Congratulations to Huu Nguyen for passing the PhD exam! November 2, 2023

Congratulations to our recent PhD graduate Ming Ke for starting her career at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center! October 1, 2023

Welcome to our new PhD students, Chuanjin and Zhihan, who joined the group from Tsinghua University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. September 1, 2023

Our research has been highlighted by Scientific American, National Science Foundation, and National Academy of Engineering. April 28, 2023

See UCLA news highlight on our recent study. November 28, 2022

Our study on thermal energy transport under extreme conditions was published in [Nature 612, 459 (2022) · Download PDF]! Congratulations to Suixuan, Zihao, Huan, and Man! November 30, 2022

Man and Lingyun published a paper on machine learning for harnessing thermal energy. October 1, 2022

Congratulations to Joon for starting as an assistant professor at KAIST. Best of luck! September 1, 2022

Zihao, Man, and Jessica's paper was published on thermal management materials for energy-efficient and sustainable future buildings. October 19, 2021

Our research was published in [Nature Electronics 4, 416 (2021) · Download PDF]: Our work developed heterogeneous integration of BAs with wide-bandgap semiconductors for device cooling of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. Congratulations to Joon, Man, Huan, and Huu! June 18, 2021

Our research was published in [Nature Communications 12, 1284 (2021) · Download PDF]: Ying's paper on developing flexible thermal management for electronics and soft robotics. February 28, 2021

Huan and Hang's paper on ultrahigh thermal conductivity was accepted for publication. January 1, 2021

Congratulations to H-Lab students Ying, Zihao, and Suixuan for all passing the PhD Qualifying Exam! December 21, 2020

UCLA Samueli School of Engineering recognized Yongjie with the Vernroy Makoto Watanabe Excellence in Research Award for outstanding accomplishments in research. February 22, 2020

Our work on demonstrating complementary doping of van der Waals materials for monolithically integrated electronic circuits was published. January 2020

Ying and Man's paper on thermal interface materials for nanoelectronics was published. January 2020

Yongjie received the 2019 Bergles-Rohsenow Young Investigator Award in Heat Transfer. Thanks for the recognition by ASME! November 12, 2019

We developed an experimental database that systematically reports the optical, mechanical, and thermal properties of cubic boron arsenide. The work was published and featured in [Appl. Phys. Lett 115, 122103 (2019)] · Download PDF Also see the APL Scilight. September 16, 2019

Hang, Huan, and Lucas' theory work on "Ab initio investigation of single-layer high thermal conductivity boron compounds" was published in [Phys. Rev. B 100, 085420 (2019)] · Download PDF July 24, 2019

Joon and Huan's work on the intrinsic ultralow thermal conductivity and phonon renormalization due to strong anharmonicity of tin selenide was published in [Nano Letters 19, 4941 (2019)] · Download PDF. July 2, 2019

Man's work on studying interface energy transport and anisotropic thermal boundary resistance for near-junction thermal management was published in Advanced Materials. · Download PDF June 24, 2019

Yongjie was selected to participate in the National Academy of Engineering's 2019 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering. June 1, 2019

Our published work demonstrates a straightforward ambient process for manufacturing an ultralight, flexible, and superhydrophobic thermal insulator. · Download PDF May 27, 2019

H-Lab student Joon Sang Kang received a Gold Medal in the MRS Graduate Student Awards for his outstanding PhD research. Congratulations! April 30, 2019

Yongjie was selected as a 2019 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow! Many thanks for the honor and support from the Sloan Foundation! February 19, 2019

Huu's work on developing nanoscale sensors and systems beyond solid-state electronics was published online: high-performance emitter for nanoscale vacuum channel transistors. January 22, 2019

Nicolas's work was accepted for publication, demonstrating flexible thin-film devices to recover low-grade waste heat and power electronics and sensors. January 21, 2019

Our group developed a new measurement method for anisotropic thermal conductivity measurement. Man and Joon's new technique using an elliptical laser beam, i.e., AB-TDTR was published in Rev. Sci. Instruments. August 2, 2018

Our group's study on developing high-thermal-conductivity boron arsenide was published in [Science 361, 575 (2018) · Download PDF]! This is a highly interdisciplinary project that requires precise materials synthesis, comprehensive structural characterizations, accurate thermal transport measurement, and atomistic ab initio calculations: Congratulations to our H-Lab students, and thank you for your hard work! See UCLA news here. July 5, 2018

Yongjie received the 2018 UCLA Faculty Career Development Award. June 21, 2018

Congratulations to H-Lab student Joon Sang Kang on receiving the UCLA Northrop Grumman Corporation Scholarship for his outstanding graduate research! April 16, 2018

Yongjie received an NSF CAREER Award! Many thanks for the support from the National Science Foundation! February 21, 2018

Congratulations to H-Lab students Joon and Huan for passing their PhD Qualifying Exams! December 18, 2017

Congratulations on Joon and Huan's paper published in [Nano Letters 17, 7507 (2017)]: Thermal and phonon spectral characterization for energy-efficient thermal management! November 8, 2017

Yongjie received the Doctoral New Investigator Award from the American Chemical Society (ACS)! Many thanks for the support from ACS PRF! June 23, 2017

Our new paper on high-performance flexible thin-film thermoelectric devices was published in Advanced Materials. March 29, 2017

Our new paper was published in [Nano Letters 17, 1431 (2017) · Download PDF]! This is the first demonstration of in situ thermal-electrochemical characterization of a 2D van der Waals material-based lithium-ion battery. February 23, 2017

Our team was awarded a competitive research grant as part of the UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge! Many thanks to the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge and the Anthony and Jeanne Pritzker Family Foundation! December 21, 2016

Yongjie has received the Air Force Young Investigator Award! Many thanks for the support from AFOSR! October 12, 2016

Electrical-gate tuning of thermoelectric transport in single heterostructure nanowires was published in J. Appl. Phys. June 15, 2016

We received grant support from the US Department of Energy, together with Professors Pilon, Dunn, and Tolbert. We very much appreciate the generous support from DOE! May 20, 2016

Our study introducing a refined technique for measuring phonon mean free path distributions was published in Scientific Reports. November 27, 2015

Manuscript posted on arXiv: No energy transport without discord: Quantum correlations are mandatory for any energy transport. October 16, 2015

Congratulations on our new paper published in [Nature Nanotechnology 10, 701 (2015) · Download PDF]: spectral mapping of thermal conductivity through nanoscale ballistic heat transfer! June 10, 2015

Congratulations to Joon for passing his PhD Candidacy Exam! May 15, 2015

Our study reporting the first experimental thermal conductivity measurement of boron arsenide was published in [Applied Physics Letters 106, 074105 (2015) · Download PDF]. February 20, 2015