GROUP NEWS
May 29, 2025
Aimei and Xiya successfully defend their Ph.D. thesis! They become the first two graduates in Sun Lab. We've all grown a lot during this journey. Congratulations and wish you the best in the future! Welcome to drop by whenever you're around Westlake~
March 1, 2025
Our first publication in Year 2025 will show up on APL Materials. In this interesting study, Aimei harnessed spin relaxation mechanisms of a molecular qubit framework from her previous work to develop a quantum sensor for microscopic viscosity. Well done, Aimei!
November 25, 2024
Aimei's beautiful work on the phononic modulation of spin-lattice relaxation in MOFs is accepted by Nature Communications. We found that, counter-intuitively, hydrogen-bonded networks and their deuteration significantly facilitate the spin-lattice relaxation in MOFs. This work coins the concept of "molecular qubit frameworks", which will appear frequently in our future works. Please stay tuned!
October 28, 2024
Our work on the spin dynamics of lanthanide qubits embedded in MOFs appears on Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers. Xiya showed that weak spin-orbit coupling and low ground spin state are essential for lanthanide qubits and observed an anomalous spin relaxation phenomenon in a Gd3+-based MOF. Great job!
October 23, 2024
Aimei wins the Best Poster Presentation Award at the 2024 Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposium. Congratulations!
October 8, 2024
Welcome our new visiting student, Lihao Zheng (郑力豪)! Lihao will become a graduate student in chemistry in 2025 Fall. Looking forward to your triumphs at Westlake!
August 21, 2024
Our very first original research article, a study on the atmospheric modulation of electrical conductivity in a MOF, has been accepted by Communications Materials. Yingchao discovered that Cd2(TTFTB), which was long perceived as a p-type semiconductor, may indeed be a proton−hole dual conductor. Congratulations, Yingchao!
August 9, 2024
Collaborating with Ning Chen Lab at Suzhou University, Xiya discovered a new type of electron spin qubit: Ca−Y single-electron bond protected by C82. The story of this fantastic molecule will soon appear on JACS. Great job, Xiya!
August 1, 2024
Welcome Guangfu Ni (倪广福) to join us as a reserach assistant. Guangfu's research will be focused on single-molecule quantum information science. Wish you enjoy your journey at Westlake!
July 12, 2024
Welcome Jingyu Zhang (张靖宇), our new graduate student in chemistry, to join the lab! Wish you enjoy roaming in chemistry and physics at Westlake!
June 20, 2024
Check out our review about stable organic radical qubits on The Innovation. We wish to highlight the great potential of these "old" molecules in a new field, quantum information science, which has been under-explored for so long. Good job, Aimei and Zhecheng!
June 14, 2024
Chenyue has finished her undergraduate research project at our lab with fruitful achievements. Happy graduation and good luck to your graduate study at Stanford!
June 12, 2024
Our second review for Chinese Journal of Chemistry, a nice work from Xiya and Aimei starting from our first year, has been accepted. This review summarizes recent advancements, opportunies and challenges about coherent addressing of single molecular electron spin qubits. These two reviews together delineate the theme of our research.
May 17, 2024
Our review about emergent physics in MOFs, led by Shaoze and co-written by Yingchao and Haozhou, will appear on Chinese Journal of Chemisry. We wish to bring attention both chemists and physicists the potential of MOFs as quantum materials. Looking forward to more studies on the physical beauty of MOFs!
April 1, 2024
Today marks the submission of our first original research article, a nice work from Yingchao that solves Lei's 10-year-long puzzle. It always feels great to come back to the strongest motivation of research --- curiosity.
January 15, 2024
Zetao has completed his intern program with articulated study and career plans. Good luck to your future at Westlake!
January 10, 2024
Chenyue is back to our lab as a visiting student to continue her studies on 2D MOFs. Welcome back!
January 2, 2024
We welcome our first Westlake undergraduate, Zetao Xu (徐泽涛)! During a two-week research intern, Zetao will study quantum computing and implement several quantum algorithms. Wish you enjoy the quantum-ness of Sun Lab!
November 22, 2023
Happy to see that our physics and chemistry sides are growing together. Our third graduate student in physics, Xiaoqing Yuan (袁小清), joins the lab! Welcome and look forward to your savoring at Westlake!
November 20, 2023
The very first paper from Sun Lab, a collaboration with Anderson Lab at UChicago, is published on Cell Reports Physical Science. Aimei has done a tremendous job on characterizing a room-temperature solution-phase qutrit that holds promise for quantum sensing and has proved herself as a wonderful collaborator. Congratulations to Aimei and Lauren on this nice work!
November 4, 2023
Aimei wins the Outstanding Poster Award at the 2023 Chemistry Frontiers Symposium at Westlake University. Great job!
October 12, 2023
Welcome Dr. Tian Li (李田) from Zhejiang Normal University to join us as a visiting scholar! Tian's expertise in spintronics would be an invaluable asset to our research. Looking forward to your amazing work and wish you enjoy your life (e.g. football) at Westlake!
September 14, 2023
Lei wins the Poster Prize Award from Dalton Transactions at the 18th International Conference on Molecule-Based Magnets (ICMM2023).
September 7, 2023
Ruohan has successfully finished her internship. Good luck to your graduate journey at Peking University!
August 20, 2023
Yi and Weibin officially become first-year and, well, our first graduate students in physics. We have been so familiar to each other that it even feels weird to welcome you as new students. Instead, let's welcome new physics to be discovered throughout your journey at Westlake!
August 11, 2023
Chenyue and Chu have successfully completed their summer internships with fruitful accomplishments. Good luck to your future!
August 7, 2023
Welcome Ruohan Li (李若晗) from Wuhan University to conduct summer research at our lab! Wish you enjoy the random walk in MOFs!
July 17, 2023
Exciting to have two undergraduate students join us as summer interns. Welcome Chenyue Zhu (朱辰越) and Chu Zeng (曾楚) to the Sun Lab! Wish you enjoy your life at Westlake in the next month!
March 20, 2023
Lei is appointed to be the Youth Editor of The Innovation Materials. Excited about growing with this amazing journal!
February 15, 2023
Lei's postdoctoral collaboration with Dr. Xuedan Ma at Argonne National Laboratory reveals a chemical strategy to trap electron spin qubits in carbon nanotubes, which shows up on Nature Communications.
December 27, 2022
Lei's postdoctoral collaboration with Dichtel Lab at Northwestern University yields a JACS paper reporting electron spin qubits in a 2D COF with unique density- and temperature-dependent spin dynamics.
December 17, 2022
Lei graduates from the Master of Science in Computer Science program at Georgia Institute of Technology with a Machine Learning specialization. Finally be a master!
October 6, 2022
Lei's postdoctoral work on room-temperature quantum sensing of Li+, a collaboration with Dr. Luming Yang from Dincă Lab, shows up on JACS. Lots of good old memory during the Argonne lock-down!
September 10, 2022
Lei celebrates his very first Teachers' Day and receives a lot of heart-warming words from lab members. Thank you all and Happy the Mooncake Day!
September 9, 2022
The Sun Lab happily celebrates the 1st anniversary! Meanwhile, Zizheng and Hengjia have successfully finished their summer research programs. Farewell and best luck!
September 8, 2022
The Sun Lab receives funding from the General Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (国家自然科学基金面上项目).
September 1, 2022
Welcome our very first postdoc, Shaoze Wang (王少泽)! Shaoze would join the physics team to initiate a highly interdisciplinary project. Looking forward to your nice works at the Sun Lab!
August 25, 2022
After "enviously" watching the chemistry team celebrating three new members, the physics team is glad to embrace its new visiting student, Weibin Ni (倪维彬). Welcome!
August 21, 2022
Warmest welcome to our second-generation graduate students — Yingchao Wang (王颖超), Zhecheng Sun (孙哲成), and (our old friend) Haozhou Sun (孙灏舟). Wish you all enjoy yourselves at the Sun Lab!
August 19, 2022
Qian has completed his summer internship with fruitful research experience. Congratulations and good luck to your future!
August 12, 2022
Congratulations to Yugang on successfully finishing the summer internship with deeper understanding in research. Meanwhile, Yugang has become the first-ever member of the Sun Lab Alumni Club. Welcome! Looking forward to your bright future!
July 18, 2022
Welcome Yugang Wu (吴余港) from Nanjing Univeristy and Qian Cao (曹前) from Wuhan University who join us for undergraduate summer internship.
July 15, 2022
Today marks the start of our brand new lab at Yungu Campus! Welcome everyone to drop by and say Hi. Amazing stories are awaiting!
June 24, 2022
We welcome Zizheng Wu (吴子诤) and Hengjia Zhang (张恒嘉) from Wuhan University to conduct undergraduate summer research.
May 5, 2022
Yi Yang (杨一) joins us as a research assistant and Haozhou Sun (孙灏舟) joins us as a visiting student. Looking forward to your journeys in the Sun Lab!
February 1, 2022
Happy Chinese New Year! Wish everyone a safe, enjoyable, and fruitful new year. We started our journey in the Year of Ox, built up a family-like research team, and went through several interesting research topics. In the coming months, we will move into our new lab, welcome new members, and kick-start exciting projects. Looking forward to a wonderful Year of Tiger!
January 26, 2022
Lei is appointed to be a Joint Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Physics.
January 25, 2022
Lei is nominated to join Frontier Reporters of Chinese Journal of Chemistry. Looking forward to working with talent young scientists!
January 4, 2022
Changdan Liao (廖长丹) joins us as an administrative assistant. Welcome!
November 11, 2021
Lei starts independent academic career as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at School of Science, Westlake University.
September 9, 2021
Hello, World! Today marks the birth of the Sun Lab (孙磊实验室). Lei and the very first graduate students of the group, Aimei Zhou (周爱梅) and Xiya Du (杜茜娅), enjoy kick-start champagne together during the first onlilne group meeting. Welcome to our exciting journey!