Hongfei Lin

About

Hongfei Lin is the Arthur W. Zafiropoulo Professor of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University, joining the institution in July 2025. His professional career is dedicated to advancing sustainable energy systems, with a focus on developing AI-driven catalysis for sustainable manufacturing, critical materials recovery, and clean energy. His current research activities are centered on coupling chemical processes with novel material systems to produce renewable energy and clean fuels. Specifically, he designs multifunctional heterogeneous catalysts at a molecular level to develop highly efficient and cost-effective processes for converting solid biomass into liquid transportation fuels or renewable chemicals. Additionally, Dr. Lin conducts fundamental studies of advanced materials using modern characterization techniques to better control catalytic processes and maximize overall efficiency. He leads the IMPACT Laboratory at the Egan Research Center, which focuses on projects such as carbon capture, waste plastic recycling, chemical hydrogen storage, biofuels, and machine-learning guided high throughput catalytic platforms, all aimed at establishing a sustainable low-carbon economy.

Research topics

• Physics
• Condensed matter physics
• Quantum mechanics
• Materials science
• Computer Science
• Mathematics
• Algorithm
• Optoelectronics
• Chemistry
• Statistics

Selected publications

• Layer Hall effect in a 2D topological axion antiferromagnet

  Nature · 2021 · 269 citations

  DOI

• Phase-sensitive Surface Second-harmonic Generation of Topological Dirac Semimetal

  2025-01-01

  article

  We report anomalously strong, surface-specific, purely out-of-plane optical nonlinearity in PdTe 2 Dirac semimetal through polarization-dependent heterodyne-interferometric rotational-anisotropic second-harmonic generation. This strong nonlinearity is correlated to the topological surface states via surface and orbital-projected band calculations.

  PublisherDOI

• Topological Nature of Orbital Chern Insulators

  ArXiv.org · 2025-03-11

  preprintOpen access

  Ground state topologies in quantum materials have unveiled many unique topological phases with novel Hall responses. Recently, the orbital Hall effect in insulators has suggested the existence of orbital Chern insulators (OCIs) in which the orbital angular momentum drives the Hall response. Studies on OCIs, however, have so far been restricted to valley-locked or spinful systems, but candidate materials for systematic studies of OCIs are lacking. Here we discuss a framework for investigating OCI…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Observation of charge density wave excitonic order parameter in topological insulator monolayer WTe2

  ArXiv.org · 2025-05-27

  preprintOpen access

  Strong electron-hole interactions in a semimetal or narrow-gap semiconductor may drive a ground state of condensed excitons. Monolayer WTe2 has been proposed as a host material for such an exciton condensate, but the order parameter - the key signature of a macroscopic quantum-coherent condensate - has not been observed. Here we use Fourier-transform scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (FT-STS) to study quasi-particle interference (QPI) and periodic modulations of the local density of states (LDOS)…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Emergent spin Hall quantization and high-order van Hove singularities in square-octagonal MA$_2$Z$_4$

  ArXiv.org · 2025-10-14

  preprintOpen access

  Quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulators are versatile platforms for exploring exotic quantum phases, especially when combined with high-order van Hove singularities (VHSs) that enhance electron correlations. However, perfect spin Hall quantization is often hindered by spin mixing from strong spin-orbit coupling, and the emergence of such VHSs is highly sensitive to material-specific electronic structures. Here, we predict a class of seven-layered square-octagonal MA$_2$Z$_4$ (M = Mo/W, A = Si/Ge, Z =…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Arun Bansil

  Northeastern University

  352 shared

• Tay‐Rong Chang

  National Center for Theoretical Sciences, Physics Division

  204 shared

• M. Zahid Hasan

  169 shared

• Horng‐Tay Jeng

  National Center for Theoretical Sciences

  132 shared

• Ilya Belopolski

  127 shared

• Guoqing Chang

  Nanyang Technological University

  120 shared

• Feng‐Chuan Chuang

  114 shared

• Su‐Yang Xu

  Harvard University

  107 shared

Labs

• IMPACT LaboratoryPI

Awards & honors

• Arthur W. Zafiropoulo Professor of Chemical Engineering

Similar researchers at Northeastern University

• Sanjeev Mukerjeeh-94
• Vladimir P. Torchilinh-85
• George Hadjipanayish-64