Lin X. Chen

About

Professor Lin X. Chen is the principal investigator of the Chen Group in the Department of Chemistry at Northwestern University, leading a team of postdoctoral researchers and graduate students since 2008. The group operates with facilities at both Northwestern University and Argonne National Laboratory, and its members come from diverse training backgrounds including chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering. Professor Chen's research focuses on fundamental light-matter interactions in a variety of systems such as transition metal complexes, conjugated organic molecules, inorganic/organic nanostructures, and biological molecules in condensed phases, interfaces, and hybrid systems. The group employs advanced techniques including ultrafast nonlinear spectroscopy, x-ray spectroscopy, and scattering to investigate the correlations between structure, energetics, and electron and atomic dynamics in photochemical reactions. Their interdisciplinary collaborations with synthetic chemists and theorists aim to achieve a comprehensive understanding of photochemical, photophysical, and photobiological reactions. Key research themes include electron processes in solar energy conversion materials, effects of coherent electron and nuclear motions in photochemistry, and structural dynamics in biology.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Chemical engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Optoelectronics
• Organic chemistry
• Composite material
• Crystallography
• Chemistry
• Optics
• Chemical physics

Selected publications

• Bimolecularly passivated interface enables efficient and stable inverted perovskite solar cells

  Science · 2023 · 652 citations

  interface. We passivated surface defects and enabled reflection of minority carriers from the interface into the bulk using two types of functional molecules. We used sulfur-modified methylthio molecules to passivate surface defects and suppress recombination through strong coordination and hydrogen bonding, along with diammonium molecules to repel minority carriers and reduce contact-induced interface recombination achieved through field-effect passivation. This approach led to a fivefold longe…

  DOI

• In Situ Grazing‐Incidence Wide‐Angle Scattering Reveals Mechanisms for Phase Distribution and Disorientation in 2D Halide Perovskite Films

  Advanced Materials · 2020 · 124 citations

  have remarkable stability and promising efficiency in photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices, yet fundamental understanding of film formation, key to optimizing these devices, is lacking. Here, in situ grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) is used to monitor film formation during spin-coating. This elucidates the general film formation mechanism of 2D halide perovskites during one-step spin-coating. There are three stages of film formation: sol-gel, oriented 3D, and 2D. Three p…

  DOI

• Electrostatically Enhanced Buried Interface Binding of Self‐Assembled Monolayers for Efficient And Stable Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells

  Advanced Materials · 2025-08-11 · 12 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Inverted p-i-n structure perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have outperformed traditional n-i-p PSCs in recent years. A key advancement is the use of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) as hole transport layers. One class of widely used SAMs is carbazole-based phosphonic acids. However, it is found that these SAMs lack strong binding with transparent conducting oxides (TCO) and perovskite. The weak binding strength results in suboptimal interfacial adhesion of the buried interface, which limits the devi…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Dependence of Exciton Spin Dynamics on Quantum Confinement Dimensionality in CsPbBr₃ Nanocrystals

  Nano Letters · 2025-04-28 · 5 citations

  article

  nanospheres, cubes, and rods spanning the zero-dimensional (0D) to three-dimensional (3D) transition to investigate the influence of dimensionality and shape on exciton spin decoherence. Using circularly polarized transient absorption spectroscopy, we find that the spin relaxation rate is independent of the surface to volume ratio and instead follows a dependence on the length of the shortest dimension. Additionally, differences in surface quality and termination appear to have no effect on the…

  PublisherDOI

• Photochemical CO₂ Reduction by a Postsynthetically Modified Zr-MOF

  Inorganic Chemistry · 2025-08-29 · 4 citations

  article

  Metal–organic frameworks are an excellent platform for photochemical CO2 reduction into valuable chemicals. Herein, we report the synthesis and photocatalytic behavior of Ru@MOF-808, a Zr-based MOF, modified with a Ru-polypyridyl complex. The postsynthetic modification was achieved using solvent-assisted incorporation of bipyridine–carboxylate ligands onto the nodes of the MOF-808, followed by the coordination of Ru(II)-terpyridine moiety. A thorough characterization including 1H NMR, diffuse re…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Capturing Transient Protein and Nucleic Acid Structures During Their Functions on Multiple Spatial and Temporal Scales

  NIH · $3.0M · 2015–2025

• CAS: Collaborative Research: Mapping Excited State Trajectories of Multi-metal Centered Complexes by Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy

  NSF · $300k · 2023–2026

• SEP Collaborative: Development of Economically Viable, Highly Efficient Organic Photovoltaic Solar Cells

  NSF · $450k · 2012–2016

Frequent coauthors

• Michael W. Mara

  Stanford University

  128 shared

• Tobin J. Marks

  Northwestern University

  109 shared

• Eric F. Manley

  Kennesaw State University

  98 shared

• Richard D. Schaller

  97 shared

• Jodi M. Szarko

  Lafayette College

  94 shared

• Xiaoyi Zhang

  Guangzhou Medical University

  91 shared

• Luping Yu

  Peking University People's Hospital

  82 shared

• Brian S. Rolczynski

  United States Naval Research Laboratory

  81 shared

Labs

• The Chen GroupPI

Education

• Ph.D., Physical Chemistry

  The University of Chicago

  1987

• B.S., Chemistry

  Peking University

  1982

Similar researchers at Northwestern University

• Mercouri G. Kanatzidish-205
• Chris Jacobsenh-91
• John B. Kettersonh-81