Prof. Alex Kwan Yue JEN

BS National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan; PhD University of Pennsylvania, USA
Lee Shau Kee Chair Professor of Materials Science
Chair Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science

Fellow, European Academy of Sciences
Member, Washington State Academy of Sciences
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Fellow, The Materials Research Society
Fellow, The American Chemical Society
Fellow, The American Chemical Society, Div. of Polymeric Materials Science & Engineering
Fellow, The Optical Society of America
Fellow, The International Society of Optical Engineering

Professor Alex Jen is the Lee Shau Kee Chair Professor of Materials Science and the Founding Director of the Hong Kong Institute for Clean Energy. He is also the Chair Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science of the CityU. During 2016-2020, he also served as the Provost of the University.

He received his B.S. from the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in USA. Before joining CityU, he served as the Boeing-Johnson Chair Professor and Chair of the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle. He had also been appointed as the Chief Scientist for the Clean Energy Institute endowed by the Washington State Governor. He is a distinguished researcher with >1,150 publications and >100,000 citations, and an H-index of 161. He has co-invented 73 patents and invention disclosures. His interdisciplinary research covers organic/hybrid functional materials and devices for photonics, energy, sensors, and nanomedicine.

For his pioneering contributions in organic photonics and electronics, Professor Jen was elected as an Academician by both the European Academy of Sciences and the Washington State Academy of Sciences. He had also been selected as a Fellow for several professional societies, including AAAS, MRS, ACS, PMSE, OSA, and SPIE. He was named by the Times Higher Education (THE) in 2018 as one of the “Top 10 university researchers in Perovskite Solar Cell Research”. In addition, he was recognized by Thomson Reuters as one of the "World's Most Influential Scientific Minds of 2015 and 2016 and as a "Highly Cited Researcher" in Materials Science by Clarivate Analytics (Top 1% in the world), consecutively in 2014-2024.

He is the recipient for the “Outstanding Research Award” from CityU and the Research Excellence Award from CityU’s College of Engineering in 2021 and 2024, respectively. He had also been appointed as the Changjiang Endowed Chair by the Chinese Ministry of Education, the Distinguished Chair Professor by Zhejiang University, the World Class University Professor by the Korean Research Foundation and Korea University, and the Distinguished Chair Professor by the National Taiwan University. He had demonstrated strong capability in technology translation by founding five start-up companies, and was the founder of the Institute of Advanced Materials for Energy (i-AME) at the University of Washington. He had also been recognized as a Honorary Professor by both Xian Jiaotong University and National Chiao-Tung University, Taiwan.

Professional Experience

Director, Hong Kong Institute for Clean Energy, 2021-2024
Lee Shau Kee Chair Professor, City University of Hong Kong, 2020-Current
Chair Professor, City University of Hong Kong, 2016-Current
Provost, City University of Hong Kong, 2016-2020
Chief Scientist, Clean Energy Institute, Univ. of Washington, 2013-2016
Chair, Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering, Univ. of Washington, 2007-2016
Acting Chair, Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering, Univ. of Washington, 2005-Director, Institute of Advanced Materials for Energy, Univ. of Washington, 2011-2013
Director, Institute for Advanced Materials & Technology, Univ. of Washington, 2006-2011
Boeing-Johnson Chair Professor, Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering, Univ. of Washington, 2000-2016
Associate Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, Northeastern Univ., Boston, MA., 1997-1999
Vice President, Optical Materials Division, ROI Technology, 1995-1996
Group Leader-Senior Scientist, NLO Materials, EniChem America, 1990-1994

Prizes and Honours

  • Top scientists in China in the category of Chemistry (Rank #5) and Materials Science (Rank #18), 2023.
  • Lee Shau Kee Endowed Chair Professorship, City University of Hong Kong, 2022.
  • Research Excellence Award, College of Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, 2024
  • President Award, City University of Hong Kong, 2022
  • Outstanding Research Award, City University of Hong Kong, 2021.
  • Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics (Top 1% in the world in Materials Science), 2014-2024.
  • Name by Times Higher Education (THE) as one of the “Top 10 Researchers in the World Working on Perovskite Solar Cells” 2018.
  • The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds by Thomson Reuters, 2015, 2016
  • Honorary Professor, Xi’an Jiao Tong University, China, 2024
  • National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, 2018
  • Distinguished Alumni Award, College of Science, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, 2017
  • BK21+ Distinguished Professor, Korea University, 2015-2019
  • Distinguished Chair Professor, Materials Science & Engineering, National Taiwan University, 2013-Present
  • MRS Fellow, The Materials Research Society, 2012
  • Chair Professor, Polymer Science & Engineering, Zhejiang University, China, 2012
  • Member, Washington State Academy of Sciences, 2011
  • ACS Fellow, The American Chemical Society, 2011
  • World-Class University Professor, Korea University, Korean Research Foundation, Korea, 2009
  • Honorary Professor, East China University of Science & Technology, China, 2009
  • PMSE Fellow, The American Chemical Society, Div. of Polymeric Materials Science & Engineering, 2009
  • Board of Directors, Washington Technology Center, Appointed by Governor of Washington State, 2007
  • Faculty of Research Innovator Award, College of Engineering, University of Washington, 2007
  • Changjiang Endowed Chair Professor, Ministry of Education, China, 2007
  • OSA Fellow, The Optical Society of America, 2007
  • SPIE Fellow, The International Society of Optical Engineering, 2006
  • AAAS Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2005
  • Member of Advisory Board, Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, 2002-2008
  • Boeing-Johnson Endowed Chair, University of Washington, 1999-2016
  • Industrial Fellow (rank as full professor), Northwestern University, 1995-2000
  • Founder’s Award, ROITech, 1995
  • Outstanding Achievement Award, EniChem America, 1994
  • President’s Award, EniChem America, 1989
  • Rohm & Hass Research Fellowship, Dept. of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, 1981

Publications

Selected publications from more than 1,150 papers published
Full publications: Prof. Alex JEN - CityU Scholars | A Research Hub of Excellence

  1. “Redox mediator-stabilized wide-bandgap perovskites for monolithic perovskite-organic tandem solar cells.” Shengfan Wu, Yichao Yan, Jun Yin, Kui Jiang, Fengzhu Li, Zixin Zeng, Sai-Wing Tsang, Alex K.-Y. Jen. Energy, 2024, Published. Link
  2. "Advances in inverted perovskite solar cells", Xin Zhang, Shengfan Wu, Hong Zhang, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Yiqiang Zhan, Junhao Chu, Photon. 2024, 18, 1243–1253. Link
  3. "Molecularly tailorable metal oxide clusters ensured robust interfacial connection in inverted perovskite solar cells", Fengzhu Li, Chaowei Zhao, Yanxun Li, Zhen Zhang, Xiaofeng Huang, Yuefeng Zhang, Jie Fang, Tieyuan Bian, Zhiyuan Zeng, Jun Yin, Alex K-Y Jen,  Adv.,2024, 10, eadq1150. Link
  4. "Hydrogen-Bond-Bridged Intermediate for Perovskite Solar Cells with Enhanced Efficiency and Stability", Fengzhu Li, Xiang Deng, Zhangsheng Shi, Shengfan Wu, Zixin Zeng, Deng Wang, Yang Li, Feng Qi, Zhuomin Zhang, Zhengbao Yang, Sei-Hum Jang, Francis R. Lin, Sai‐Wing Tsang, Xian-Kai Chen, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Photonics., 2023, Link
  5. “Suppressed Recombination Loss in Organic Photovoltaics Adopting a Planar–Mixed Heterojunction Architecture”, Kui Jiang, Jie Zhang, Cheng Zhong, Francis R. Lin, Feng Qi, Qian Li, Zhengxing Peng, Werner Kaminsky, Sei-Hum Jang, Jianwei Yu, Xiang Deng, Huawei Hu, Dong Shen, Feng Gao, Harald Ade, Min Xiao, Chunfeng Zhang, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Energy, 2022. Link
  6. "Advances and Challenges in Understanding the Microscopic Structure–Property–Performance Relationship in Perovskite Solar Cells", Yuanyuan Zhou, Laura M. Herz, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Michael Saliba, Energy, 2022, 7, 794. Link
  7. "Dilution Effect for Highly Efficient Multiple-Component Organic Solar Cells", Lijian Zuo, Sae Byeok Jo, Yaokai Li, Yuhuan Meng, Ryan J. Stoddard, Yun Liu, Francis Lin, Xueliang Shi, Feng Liu, Hugh W. Hillhouse, David S. Ginger, Hongzheng Chen, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Nanotechnol., 2022, 17, 53. Link
  8. "Highly Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells Enabled by Low-Dimensional Perovskitoids", Jinbo Chen, Yingguo Yang, Hua Dong, Jingrui Li, Xinyi Zhu, Jie Xu, Fang Pan, Fang Yuan, Jinfei Dai, Bo Jiao, Xun Hou, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Zhaoxin Wu, Adv.,2022, 8, eabk2722. Link
  9. "Non-Fullerene Acceptors for Organic Solar Cells”, Cenqi Yan, Stephen Barlow, Zhaohui Wang, He Yan, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Seth R. Marder, Xiaowei Zhan, Rev. Mater., 2018, 3, 18003. Link
  10. "2D Metal–Organic Framework for Stable Perovskite Solar Cells with Minimized Lead Leakage", Shengfan Wu, Zhen Li, Mu-Qing Li, Yingxue Diao, Francis Lin, Tiantian Liu, Jie Zhang, Peter Tieu, Wenpei Gao, Feng Qi, Xiaoqing Pan, Zhengtao Xu, Zonglong Zhu, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Nanotechnol., 2020, 15, 934. Link
  11. "The Role of Spin in the Kinetic Control of Recombination in Organic Photovoltaics", Akshay Rao, Philip C. Y. Chow, Simon Gélinas, Cody W. Schlenker, Chang-Zhi Li, Hin-Lap Yip, Alex K.-Y. Jen, David S. Ginger, Richard H. Friend, Nature, 2013, 500, 435. Link
  12. "Creating Favorable Geometries for Directing Organic Photoreactions in Alkanethiolate Monolayers", Moonhee Kim, J. Nathan Hohman, Yang Cao, Kendall N. Houk, Hong Ma, Alex. K.-Y. Jen, Paul S. Weiss, Science, 2011, 331, 1312. Link
  13. "Hybrid Polymer/Sol–gel Waveguide Modulators with Exceptionally Large Electro–Optic Coefficients", Y. Enami, C. T. DeRose, D. Mathine, C. Loychik, C. Greenlee, R. A. Norwood, T. D. Kim, J. Luo, Y. Tian, A. K-Y. Jen, and N. Peyghambarian, Photonics, 2007, 1, 180. Link
  14. "Terahertz All-Optical Modulation in a Silicon–Polymer Hybrid System", Michael Hochberg, Tom Baehr-Jones, Guangxi Wang, Michael Shearn, Katherine Harvard, Jingdong Luo, Baoquan Chen, Zhengwei Shi, Rhys Lawson, Phil Sullivan, Alex K. Y. Jen, Larry Dalton, Axel Scherer, Mater., 2006, 5, 703. Link
  15. "Molecular Biomimetics: Nanotechnology through Biology", Mehmet Sarikaya, Candan Tamerler, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Klaus Schulten, François Baneyx, Mater., 2003, 2, 577. Link
  16. "Design and Synthesis of Chromophores and Polymers for Electro-optic and Photorefractive Applications", Seth R. Marder, Bernard Kippelen, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Nasser Peyghambarian, Nature, 1997, 388, 845. Link
  17. "Supramolecular force-driven non-fullerene acceptors as an electron-transporting layer for efficient inverted perovskite solar cells.” Xiaofeng Huang, Dongdong Xia, Qian Xie, Deng Wang, Qian Li, Chaowei Zhao, Jun Yin, Fang Cao, Zhenhuang Su, Zixin Zeng, Wenlin Jiang, Werner Kaminsky, Kaikai Liu, Francis R Lin, Qifan Feng, Binghui Wu, Sai-Wing Tsang, Dangyuan Lei, Weiwei Li, Alex K.-Y. Jen. Commun. 2025, 16, 1626. Link
  18. “Self-assembled materials with an ordered hydrophilic bilayer for high performance inverted Perovskite solar cells.” Geping Qu, Letian Zhang, Ying Qiao, Shaokuan Gong, Yuanjia Ding, Yuli Tao, Siyuan Cai, Xiao-Yong Chang, Qian Chen, Pengfei Xie, Junyuan Feng, Changqin Gao, Guopeng Li, Hui Xiao, Fei Wang, Hanlin Hu, Jie Yang, Shi Chen, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Xihan Chen, Zong-Xiang Xu. Commun. 2025, 16, 86. Link
  19. “Rigid molecules anchoring on NiOx enable> 26% efficiency perovskite solar cells.” Deng Wang, Zhixin Liu, Ying Qiao, Zhengyan Jiang, Peide Zhu, Jie Zeng, Wenbo Peng, Qing Lian, Geping Qu, Yintai Xu, Yong Zhang, Fengzhu Li, Lei Yan, Xingzhu Wang, Yang-Gang Wang, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Baomin Xu. Joule 2025, 9, 101815. Link
  20. "An Intermediate-Aided Perovskite Phase Purification for High-Performance Solar Cells."Jinghao Ge,† Yiru Huang,† Xuexiao Chen, Yong Wang, Hanqing Zeng, Yiran Tao, Zixin Zeng, Lu Zhang, Lei Zhang,* Xinhui Lu, Sai Wing Tsang, Jiaxue You,* Alex K.-Y. Jen,* and Shengzhong Frank Liu*.  Am. Chem. Soc. 2025, 147, 1980−1990. Link
  21. "Ultrathin polymer membrane for improved hole extraction and ion blocking in perovskite solar cells", Lina Shen, Peiquan Song, Kui Jiang, Lingfang Zheng, Jianhang Qiu, Fangyao Li, Yu Huang, Jinxin Yang, Chengbo Tian, Alex K-Y Jen, Liqiang Xie, Zhanhua Wei, Commun., 2024, 15, 10908. Link
  22. “Selenium substitution for dielectric constant improvement and hole-transfer acceleration in non-fullerene organic solar cells.” Xinjun He, Feng Qi, Xinhui Zou, Yanxun Li, Heng Liu, Xinhui Lu, Kam Sing Wong, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Wallace C. H. Choy. Nat Commun., 2024, 15, 2103. Link
  23. “Efficient all-small-molecule organic solar cells processed with non-halogen solvent.” Wei Gao, Ruijie Ma, Top Archie Dela Peña, Cenqi Yan, Hongxiang Li, Mingjie Li, Jiaying Wu, Pei Cheng, Cheng Zhong, Zhanhua Wei, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Gang Li. Nat Commun., 2024, 15, 1946. Link
  24. "Importance of Structural Hinderance in Performance–Stability Equilibrium of Organic Photovoltaics", Baobing Fan, Wei Gao, Xuanhao Wu, Xinxin Xia, Yue Wu, Francis R. Lin, Qunping Fan, Xinhui Lu, Wen Jung Li, Wei Ma, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Nature Commun., 2022, 13, 5946. Link
  25. "Renewed Prospects for Organic Photovoltaics", Guichuan Zhang, Francis R. Lin, Feng Qi, Thomas Heumüller, Andreas Distler, Hans-Joachim Egelhaaf, Ning Li, Philip C. Y. Chow, Christoph J. Brabec, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Hin-Lap Yip, Rev., 2022, 122, 14180. Link
  26. "Designs from Single Junctions, Heterojunctions to Multijunctions for High-Performance Perovskite Solar Cells", Xin Wu, Bo Li, Zonglong Zhu, Chu-Chen Chueh, Alex. K.-Y. Jen, Soc. Rev., 2021, 50, 13090. Link
  27. "Selenium-Containing Organic Photovoltaic Materials", Baobing Fan, Francis Lin, Xin Wu, Zonglong Zhu, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Chem. Res., 2021, 54, 3906. Link
  28. "Interface Engineering in Solution-Processed Thin-Film Solar Cells", Fengzhu Li, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Mater. Res., 2022.Link
  29. "Pseudo-Bilayer Architecture Enables High-Performance Organic Solar Cells with Enhanced Exciton Diffusion Length", Kui Jiang, Jie Zhang, Zhengxing Peng, Francis Lin, Shengfan Wu, Zhen Li, Yuzhong Chen, He Yan, Harald Ade, Zonglong Zhu, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Commun., 2021, 12, 468. Link
  30. "The Coupling and Competition of Crystallization and Phase Separation, Correlating Thermodynamics and Kinetics in OPV Morphology and Performances", Zaiyu Wang, Ke Gao, Yuanyuan Kan, Ming Zhang, Chaoqun Qiu, Lei Zhu, Zhe Zhao, Xiaobin Peng, Wei Feng, Zhiyuan Qian, Xiaodan Gu, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Ben Zhong Tang, Yong Cao, Yongming Zhang, Feng Liu, Commun., 2021, 12, 232. Link
  31. "Water-Resistant Perovskite Nanodots Enable Robust Two-Photon Lasing in Aqueous Environment", Siqi Li, Dangyuan Lei, Wei Ren, Xuyun Guo, Shengfan Wu, Ye Zhu, Andrey L. Rogach, Manish Chhowalla, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Commun., 2020, 11, 1192. Link
  32. "Highly Efficient All-inorganic Perovskite Solar Cells with Suppressed Non-radiative Recombination by a Lewis Base", Jing Wang, Jie Zhang, Yingzhi Zhou, Hongbin Liu, Qifan Xue, Xiaosong Li, Chu-Chen Chueh, Hin-Lap Yip, Zonglong Zhu, Alex K. Y. Jen, Commun., 2020, 11, 177. Link
  33. "Flexible and Twistable Non-Volatile Memory Cell Array with All Organic One Diode-One Resistor Architecture", Yongsung Ji, David F. Zeigler, Dong Su Lee, Hyejung Choi, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Heung Cho Ko, Tae-Wook Kim, Commun., 2013, 4, 2707. Link
  34. "Prospects and Challenges for Perovskite-Organic Tandem Solar Cells", Shengfan Wu, Ming Liu, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Joule, 2023, 7, 484-502. Link
  35. "Deciphering the Roles of Ma-Based Volatile Additives for Alpha-Fapbi(3) to Enable Efficient Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells", L. Bi, Q. Fu, Z. Zeng, Y. Wang, F. R. Lin, Y. Cheng, H. L. Yip, S. W. Tsang, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Am. Chem. Soc., 2023, 145, 5920-5929. Link
  36. "Correlation of Local Isomerization Induced Lateral and Terminal Torsions with Performance and Stability of Organic Photovoltaics", B. Fan, W. Gao, R. Zhang, W. Kaminsky, F. R. Lin, X. Xia, Q. Fan, Y. Li, Y. An, Y. Wu, M. Liu, X. Lu, W. J. Li, H. L. Yip, F. Gao, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Am. Chem. Soc., 2023, 145, 5909-5919. Link
  37. "Dimer Acceptor Adopting a Flexible Linker for Efficient and Durable Organic Solar Cells", F. Qi, Y. Li, R. Zhang, F. R. Lin, K. Liu, Q. Fan, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Angew. Int. Ed. Engl., 2023, e202303066. Link
  38. "The Evolution and Future of Metal Halide Perovskite-Based Optoelectronic Devices", Shengfan Wu, Ziming Chen, Hin-Lap Yip, Alex K. Y. Jen, Matter, 2021, 4, 3814. Link
  39. "Highly Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells Enabled by a Fluoro-Functionalized TiO2 Inorganic Interlayer", Xiang Deng, Fengzhu Li, Quan Wang, Danjun Liu, Francis Lin, Dong Shen, Dangyuan Lei, Yung-Kang Peng, Zonglong Zhu, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Matter, 2021, 4, 1. Link
  40. "Low‐Bandgap Organic Bulk‐Heterojunction Enabled Efficient and Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells", Shengfan Wu, Zhen Li, Jie Zhang, Xin Wu, Xiang Deng, Yiming Liu, Jingkun Zhou, Chunyi Zhi, Xinge Yu, Wallace C. H. Choy, Zonglong Zhu, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Mater., 2021, 33, 2105539. Link
  41. "Multi-Selenophene-Containing Narrow Bandgap Polymer Acceptors for All-Polymer Solar Cells with over 15 % Efficiency and High Reproducibility", Qunping Fan, Huiting Fu, Qiang Wu, Ziang Wu, Francis Lin, Zonglong Zhu, Jie Min, Han Young Woo, Alex K.-Y. Jen, Chem. Inter. Ed., 2021, 60, 15935. Link
Prof. Alex Jen
Contact Information
Office: MMW-6418
Phone: +(852)-3442-8080
Fax: +(852)-3442-8472
Email: alexjen@cityu.edu.hk
Web: http://personal.cityu.edu.hk/alexjen
Research Interests

Utilizing molecular, polymeric, and biomacromolecular self-assembly to create ordered arrangement of organic and inorganic functional materials for photonics, opto-electronics, nanomedicine, and nanotechnology. 

Employing the “molecular engineering” approach to tailor size, shape, sequence, and functionality of organic/hybrid functional materials and explore their applications. 

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