We are pleased to announce the winner of the Nanomaterials 2022 Young Investigator Award—Dr. Liang Huang.

Name: Dr. Liang Huang
Affiliation: Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Website: http://faculty.hust.edu.cn/huangliang1/en/index.htm

Dr. Liang Huang received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Lanzhou University in 2007 and 2013, respectively. He became a principal investigator at the Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO), Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2016. His current interests focus on the salt-assisted synthesis of 2D materials for energy conversion and storage. He published over 120 papers on science advances, advanced materials, nano letters, ACS energy letters, ACS nano, advanced energy materials, etc. and has an H-index of 55. He is the Chutian scholar of Hubei Province (2017), Outstanding Scholar in Central China (2019), the Top 2% scientist selected by Stanford-Elsevier (2019 and 2020), and he received the 2020 IAAM Young Scientist Medal.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Liang Huang for his outstanding achievements.

We would like to thank the award committee for their excellent work in the hard task of selecting a winner from such a large number of excellent candidates. We would also like to thank all the nominees from various fields for their participation. We will continue to reward young scientists with the Young Investigator Award and wish them every success in their careers.

The following is a short Q&A with Dr. Liang Huang:

1. Could you give us a brief introduction of yourself to the readers?
My name is Liang Huang from Xinyu, Jiangxi Province, China. I got my B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Lanzhou University in 2007 and 2013, respectively. Now, I am working at the Huazhong University Of Science And Technology as an Associate Professor.

2. What’s your current research and why did you choose this research field?
Two-dimensional (2D) materials have demonstrated good chemical, optical, electrical, and magnetic characteristics and offer great potential in numerous applications. Therefore, corresponding synthesis technology of 2D materials that is timesaving, with high quality, high yield and low cost is desired. That is the reason why my group focuses on the salt-assisted synthesis of 2D materials to balance the quality and yield. The salt as a template or synthetic medium can be reusable and can work under high temperatures over the limitation of materials’ structure to form atomical thickness.

3. Which research topics do you think are of particular interest to the research community in the coming years?
In my opinion, I think the integrated chip using 2D materials will be of particular interest to the research community in the coming years.

4. What qualities do you think young scientists need?
This is a tough question. I think young scientists need to enjoy failure since we have to face lots of difficulties around us.

5. Can you briefly describe the key to a happy laboratory life?
Finding the research interesting and creating a family lab culture.

6. As the winner of this award, is there something you want to express, or someone to thank most?
As the winner of this award, I want to thank my wife, because I work in the lab six days a week from morning till night. I wouldn't be able to do my job without her understanding and tolerance to deal with things at home.

For more information about Nanomaterials awards, please refer to the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nanomaterials/awards.