About

Qingfan Jiang is a musicologist specializing in global music history. Her research focuses on the musical exchange between China and Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Her book project, 'Missionaries, Music, and the Making of a Global Enlightenment,' explores the Sino-Western musical dialogue facilitated by Jesuit missionaries and how this dialogue contributed to the emergence of the Enlightenment as a global, not European, intellectual movement. Based on archival research in Portugal, France, and China, her work aims to show that what are commonly perceived as quintessentially 'European' and 'Chinese' music theories were shaped by knowledge from the other side of Eurasia. The impulse to collect and systematize musical knowledge from other cultures led to an expanded vision of the globe, while paradoxically giving rise to cultural exceptionalism in subsequent centuries. She has published on the influence of Chinese music in the theoretical works of Rameau and Rousseau and has contributed to discussions on teaching global music history. Before joining Peabody, Jiang held a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music and earned her Ph.D. in Historical Musicology from Columbia University in 2021. She has presented her work at conferences across the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and Australia, and her research has been supported by several scholarly organizations.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Organic chemistry
• Computational chemistry
• Physics
• Chemical physics
• Combinatorial chemistry
• Optics
• Crystallography
• Physical chemistry

Selected publications

• Ion-Conductive Wires Form High-Performance All-Solid-State Polymer Electrolytes

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026-02-27

  article

  Solid-state batteries are poised to transform energy storage by eliminating the risks of flammable liquid electrolytes, enabling safer, higher-density systems for electric vehicles, renewable grids, and electronics in the race to net-zero emissions by 2050. Yet, all-solid-state polymer electrolytes have been limited by low ionic conductivity, poor lithium transference, and instability at room temperature, often requiring additives or heating that compromise their advantages. We introduce ion-conductive wires (ICWs), a new class of self-assembling nanostructured polymers with a hierarchical block-brush architecture. Featuring a flexible polysiloxane backbone, a PEG-rich core for rapid anisotropic Li+ transport, and a fluorinated sheath for oxidative stability and anion suppression, ICWs self-organize with continuous channels via the fluorous effect. Screening a library of architectures revealed an optimal design delivering an ionic conductivity of 1.8 × 10–4 S cm–1, a lithium transference number of 0.62, and stability up to 5.23 V at 30 °C─without liquids or fillers. This enables 200 cycles in Li/LFP cells with 96% capacity retention, stable operation in high-voltage Li/NCM622 cells, and 2000 h of lithium plating/stripping. ICWs offer a tunable platform for high-performance, scalable solid-state batteries, accelerating sustainable energy solutions.

  PublisherDOI

• Cruciform-hinged conjugated polymers unlock the conductivity-hydrophilicity-insolubility triad for high-performance aqueous sodium-ion batteries

  Chem · 2026-01-26 · 4 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Twisted Graphene Nanoribbons for Breakthroughs in Energy Storage, Bioelectronics and Chiroptics

  Accounts of Chemical Research · 2026-01-17 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  ConspectusTwisted graphene nanoribbons (tw-GNRs), exemplified by helical perylene diimide (hPDI) oligomers and polymers, represent a versatile platform for next-generation organic electronics. Their distinctive architecture features a fused, twisted backbone that simultaneously introduces void space for ion transport while maintaining high electronic conductivity along the graphitic core. This Account details the development of these materials, underpinned by a defect-free polymerization-cyclization synthesis based on perylene tetraester precursors. This robust synthetic route enables the creation of ribbons up to 120 nm long with precise control over molecular length, edge chemistry, and backbone helicity, allowing for a systematic investigation of structure-property relationships.Leveraging this unique combination of properties, we address key challenges in energy storage, bioelectronics, and chiroptics. In the context of energy storage, we discuss how intermediate-length ribbons strike a structural "sweet spot" that balances the trade-off between electrode insolubility and ion permeability, facilitating ultrafast charging kinetics in lithium and magnesium batteries. Furthermore, we demonstrate how introducing cruciform hinges into the backbone creates an amorphous morphology that resolves the critical "conductivity-hydrophilicity-insolubility" trade-off, enabling high-performance aqueous sodium-ion batteries. In bioelectronics, we describe how modifying the ribbon edges with hydrophilic chains enables high performance and ultrastable n-type organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors (OMIECs) capable of high-fidelity neural recording. Finally, we explore the chiroptical properties of these ribbons, explaining how remote chiral side chains can dynamically induce long-range helical order in the backbone. This structural control allows the materials to function as room-temperature spin filters via the chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect.Collectively, these studies illustrate how precise molecular engineering can unlock new functionalities, ranging from dual ion-electron conduction to spin-selective transport, defining a versatile platform for next-generation organic electronics.

  PublisherDOI

• Chirality Unbound in Graphene Nanoribbons

  Angewandte Chemie International Edition · 2025-06-27 · 7 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract In this manuscript, we report the first demonstration of controlled helicity in extended graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). We present a wealth of new graphene nanoribbons that are a direct consequence of the high‐yielding and robust synthetic method revealed in this study. We created a series of defect‐free, ultralong, chiral cove‐edged graphene nanoribbons where helical twisting of the graphene nanoribbon backbone is tuned through functionalization with chiral side chains. S ‐configured point chiral centers in the side chains transfer their chiral information to induce a helically chiral, right‐handed twist in the graphene nanoribbon. As the backbone is extended, these helically twisted graphene nanoribbons exhibit a substantial increase in their circular dichroic response. The longest variant synthesized consists of an average of 268 linearly fused rings, reaching 65 nm in average length with nearly 10 full end‐to‐end helical rotations. The structure exhibits an extraordinary |Δ ε | value of 6780 M −1 cm −1 at 550 nm—the highest recorded for an organic molecule in the visible wavelength range. This new chiroptic material acts as room‐temperature spin filters in thin films due to its chirality‐induced spin selectivity.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Spin Filtering with Surface-Active Helicene- and Twistacene-Based Perylene Diimides

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025-04-03 · 18 citations

  article

  Creating new chiral molecular and macromolecular systems that can polarize the spin of electrons has the dual promise of both applications in spintronics and a fundamental understanding of their origins. Here, we put forward two optically active helical ladder dimers from perylene diimide-based twistacenes and helicenes. We detail a scalable method to separate the helices for each of these systems and methods to functionalize them with thiol groups that allow for self-assembled monolayer formation on metal surfaces. We probed these monolayers with conductive atomic force microscopy, revealing that they are highly conductive. If the substrate is magnetized, then the current we measure with conductive atomic force microscopy is controlled by the handedness of the helices used to form the monolayers. Furthermore, helices of the same handedness for either the twistacene or helicene (right-handed helices vs left-handed helices) produce high (or low) currents in devices with the same magnetization. Importantly, we find a correlation between the magnetic field dependence of the conductivity and the helicity of the molecules, suggesting a link between these two properties, independent of the sign of their electronic circular dichroism.

  PublisherDOI

• Transitory Topochemical Tailoring of a van der Waals Superconductor

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025-10-01

  article

  Topochemical intercalation is widely used to access metastable phases with novel electronic properties, but the reverse reaction (deintercalation) typically restores the original state, limiting practical use. Here, we present a topochemical approach that employs a sacrificial intercalant that thermally decomposes to irreversibly lock in the new electronic state. Using 2-aminobutane as the sacrificial intercalant, we convert the van der Waals (vdW) material 1T-TiSe2 into a superconductor and the vdW superconductor 2H-NbSe2 into a nonsuperconducting metal, while preserving the ability to exfoliate the resulting crystals. We find that this transitory intercalation increases the electron density in both materials and partially suppresses the CDW in TiSe2. By tuning the thermolysis temperature, we can systematically vary the carrier density in TiSe2, enabling us to map its phase diagram. The superconductivity in TiSe2 is retained in exfoliated flakes, although with a lower critical temperature. This transitory topochemical strategy enables access to new electronic states with precisely tuned carrier densities that are otherwise inaccessible through direct solid-state synthesis.

  PublisherDOI

• Contorted acene ribbons for stable and ultrasensitive neural probes

  Science Advances · 2025-04-02 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Organic materials that conduct both electrons and ions are integral to implantable bioelectronics because of their conformable nature. There is a dearth of these materials that are highly sensitive to cations, which are the majority ions on the surface of neurons. This manuscript offers a solution using an extended ribbon structure that is defect-free, providing high electronic mobility along its fused backbone, while the edge structure of these ribbons promotes high ionic conductivity. We incorporated these mixed ion/electron conductors into neural probes and implanted them in a rodent brain where they offer a suite of useful properties: high cation sensitivity, stability over several weeks after implantation, and biocompatibility. These materials represent an innovative class of implantable biosensors.

  PublisherDOI

• Chirality Unbound in Graphene Nanoribbons

  Angewandte Chemie · 2025-06-27

  articleSenior author

  Abstract In this manuscript, we report the first demonstration of controlled helicity in extended graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). We present a wealth of new graphene nanoribbons that are a direct consequence of the high‐yielding and robust synthetic method revealed in this study. We created a series of defect‐free, ultralong, chiral cove‐edged graphene nanoribbons where helical twisting of the graphene nanoribbon backbone is tuned through functionalization with chiral side chains. S ‐configured point chiral centers in the side chains transfer their chiral information to induce a helically chiral, right‐handed twist in the graphene nanoribbon. As the backbone is extended, these helically twisted graphene nanoribbons exhibit a substantial increase in their circular dichroic response. The longest variant synthesized consists of an average of 268 linearly fused rings, reaching 65 nm in average length with nearly 10 full end‐to‐end helical rotations. The structure exhibits an extraordinary |Δ ε | value of 6780 M −1 cm −1 at 550 nm—the highest recorded for an organic molecule in the visible wavelength range. This new chiroptic material acts as room‐temperature spin filters in thin films due to its chirality‐induced spin selectivity.

  PublisherDOI

• The “sweet spot” in length for contorted conjugated ladders in ultrafast-charging Li and Mg batteries

  Chemical Science · 2025-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  after 3000 cycles in Mg batteries, and we extend this to practically relevant mass loadings. This study highlights the critical role of molecular engineering in the rational design of high-performance organic cathode materials for sustainable energy storage.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Chiral Materials from Twistacenes and Helicenes

  2025-03-28 · 1 citations

  otherOpen access

  Perylene diimide (PDI) is widely used in the industry as pigments and dyes and is a favored building block for polyaromatic molecules. This chapter describes the design and applications of contorted nanographenes, such as helicenes and twistacenes, derived from PDI. Helicenes possess static chirality due to their rigid backbones and their chiroptical responses amplify nonlinearly, yielding record-high dissymmetry g-factors greater than 10 −2 . This makes PDI-based helicenes excellent candidates for spin filters. On the other hand, twistacenes exhibit dynamic chirality between different enantiomers. The chirality of twistacenes can be tuned by installing different chiral side chains, showing potential as spin valves. Additionally, twistacenes have been utilized in organic photovoltaics, photodetectors, and high-performance pseudocapacitors.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Rebekka S. Klausen

  26 shared

• Maxime A. Siegler

  18 shared

• Alexandra F. Gittens

  Johns Hopkins University

  13 shared

• Xiaobin He

  10 shared

• Lezhi Wang

  10 shared

• Hushan Cui

  10 shared

• Kaihua Cao

  10 shared

• Jiaqi Wei

  University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

  10 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Department of chemistry

  Johns Hopkins University

  2023

• Bachelor, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

  Nanjing University

  2017

Awards & honors

• American Council of Learned Societies support
• Weatherhead East Asian Institute support
• Council for European Studies support
• Ricci Institute support
• American Musicological Society support