About

Sen Zhang is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Virginia and an Eminent Researcher in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He received his B.S. from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2008 and his Ph.D. from Brown University in 2013. Following his doctoral studies, he was a NatureNet Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania from 2013 to 2016. His research group focuses on the development of inorganic nanoscale and sub-nanoscale materials with atomically precise surfaces, interfaces, and ordered architectures that exhibit notable physicochemical properties and enable emerging applications. His work combines materials synthesis, advanced characterization, and functional device engineering and simulation to derive new design principles and synthetic methodologies for critical materials used in catalysis, magnetism, plasmonics, and biosensing. Key areas of his research include synthetic methodology for atomically precise materials, catalysis for clean energy and environmental sustainability, and the development of functional magnetic and plasmonic nanomaterials. His contributions aim to elucidate fundamental mechanisms of inorganic solid nucleation and growth, understand structure-property relationships in catalysts, and design materials for energy conversion and environmental applications.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Materials science
• Chemical engineering
• Physical chemistry
• Optoelectronics
• Organic chemistry
• Inorganic chemistry
• Chemical physics
• Electrical engineering
• Metallurgy
• Computational chemistry

Selected publications

• High Reliability Tri-Zone Heterogeneous Charge Balanced SJ-LDMOS with Novel Silicon Rich Oxide and Its Experimental Verification

  2025-06-01

  article

  This paper introduces a high-reliability 700 V trizone heterogeneous charge-balanced super junction LDMOS (T-SJ LDMOS) that incorporates novel silicon-rich oxide (SRO). By compensating for the heterogeneous equivalent charge resulting from various curvature effects in the interdigitated finger power device, the T-SJ LDMOS structure achieves simultaneous charge balance in three regions: the source-surrounding-drain region (S-zone), the drain-surrounding-source region (D-zone), and the cell region where the drain is aligned parallel to the source (C-zone). This novel tri-zone charge balance in the T-SJ LDMOS enhances the breakdown voltage <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$V_{B}$</tex> from 763 V of the conventional SJ LDMOS to 818.9 V, while keeping the specific on-resistance <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">${R}_{\text{on,sp}}$</tex> unchanged. Meanwhile, to alleviate the impact of additional charges during the high-temperature reverse bias (HTRB) process, this paper presents a novel field oxide process that incorporates SRO. The abundant silicon atoms in the SRO, generated via plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), possess the ability to capture electrons and negative ions that emerge during packaging, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), etching, etc. These silicon atoms establish bonds with these charges, thereby preventing them from disturbing the charge balance of the device. The experiments indicate that the T-SJ LDMOS with SRO successfully passed the assessment for all 80 samples after undergoing HTRB at a high temperature of 150° C for 1000 hours, with <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$V_{B}$</tex> consistently above 780 V and <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$R_{\text{on}}$</tex> degradation of less than 0.5%. The proposed T-SJ LDMOS has achieved large-scale mass production by CSMC.

  PublisherDOI

• Enhancement of Open Circuit Voltage of Diamond Voltaic Battery by Surface Passivation

  IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science · 2025-06-25 · 3 citations

  article

  Nuclear batteries based on voltaic effect using Schottky diode or PN junction energy converter are usually named alpha-/beta-voltaic batteries. They present particularly unique properties making them highly interesting in many key technological applications. Diamond exhibits a great potential in designing such high performance alpha-/beta-voltaic battery and self-powered UV detectors. In this study, we present a novel strategy to create highly efficient diamond Schottky diodes. Our approach consists in incorporating a thin TiO<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> layer in the vertical diamond Schottky diode using reactive magnetron sputtering to enhance the barrier height and improve the voltaic performance. Thermionic emission theory was used to extract the Schottky barrier heights. The extracted value of the improved diode was in good agreement with the Schottky-mott model. The high open circuit voltage of 1.7 V and 1.8 V were obtained using americium-241 and deuterium lamp illumination. The short circuit current density was much higher than device without TiO<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> layer.

  PublisherDOI

• Decoupling size and surface effects of intermetallic CuPd nanocrystals for electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to ammonia

  Chem Catalysis · 2025-08-18 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Co-existence strategies and carbon sequestration contributions of bacterial generalists and specialists in natural wetlands under land use and land cover change

  Environmental Research · 2025-06-10 · 4 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Articaine Needle - Free Anesthesia Vs Conventional Anesthesia in Root Canal Treatment of Irreversible Pulpitis in Permanent Teeth: A Prospective Study on Anesthetic Efficacy and Effects on Pain

  Journal of Pain Research · 2025-04-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Objective: This study aimed to compare the anesthetic efficacy of articaine needle-free anesthesia with conventional lidocaine nerve block anesthesia for root canal treatment in permanent teeth with irreversible pulpitis. Methods: In this prospective clinical trial, 94 patients were randomly allocated to receive either articaine needle-free anesthesia (n=47) or lidocaine nerve block anesthesia (n=47). Anesthetic effectiveness was evaluated through onset time, success rate, and visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores during crown opening and pulp removal procedures. Secondary outcomes included hemodynamic stability (heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure) and incidence of adverse reactions. Results: The articaine group exhibited significantly faster anesthesia onset (7.62±1.28 minutes vs 9.35±2.04 minutes, p<0.05) and higher success rate (93.62% vs 80.85%, p<0.05). Patients receiving articaine reported significantly lower pain scores during crown opening (4.31±1.13 vs 5.48±1.06) and pulp removal (3.18±1.07 vs 4.26±1.12) (both p<0.05). Both groups maintained comparable hemodynamic stability throughout the procedure (p>0.05), with no significant difference in adverse reaction rates (11.49% vs 10.64%, p>0.05). Conclusion: Articaine needle-free anesthesia demonstrates superior clinical performance compared to conventional lidocaine nerve block, offering faster onset, improved success rate, and enhanced pain control during root canal treatment of irreversible pulpitis, while maintaining equivalent safety parameters. These findings support its adoption as an effective alternative for dental anesthesia in endodontic procedures.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 2024 Energy and Fuels Community Highlights: Advancing Materials and Technologies in Decarbonization and Renewable Energy Solutions

  ACS Energy Letters · 2025-08-21 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Gold(I)-Catalyzed Pathway-Switchable Syntheses of Azocine[4,5-<i>b</i>]indole and (1<i>H</i>-indol-3-yl)-Azepino[4,5-<i>b</i>]indole Derivatives

  The Journal of Organic Chemistry · 2025-07-15 · 4 citations

  article

  A pathway-switchable gold(I)-catalyzed N-propargyl tryptamine cycloisomerization strategy was developed and successfully used for the syntheses of azocine[4,5-b]indole and (1H-indol-3-yl)-azepino[4,5-b]indole derivatives. The optimal reaction conditions for the two pathways were determined through detailed studies, and the scope of this pathway-switchable approach was explored using a series of N-propargyl tryptamine substrates. A gold(I)-catalyzed 8-endo-dig or 7-exo-dig cycloisomerization mechanism regulated by substituents and nucleophiles was proposed.

  PublisherDOI

• Orthogonally conjugated phthalocyanine-porphyrin oligomer for NIR photothermal-photodynamic antibacterial treatment

  Communications Chemistry · 2025-03-14 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  With the increase of antibiotic resistance worldwide, there is an urgent demand to develop new fungicides and approaches to address the threat to human health posed by the ineffectiveness of traditional antibiotics. In this work, an orthogonal conjugated uniform oligomer bactericide of SiPc-ddCPP was constructed between silicon phthalocyanine and porphyrin, which can effectively treat infection through photodynamic-photothermal combined therapy without considering drug resistance. Compared with organic photothermal agents induced by unstable H-aggregation with blue-shifted absorption and fluorescence/ROS quenching, this orthogonal-structured uniform SiPc-ddCPP nanoparticle shows remarkably stability and NIR photothermal effect (η = 31.15%) along with fluorescence and ROS generation. Antibacterial studies have shown that both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria could be efficiently annihilated in a few minutes through synergistic PDT-PTT along with satisfactory bacterial targeting. These results suggest SiPc-ddCPP is a multifunctional NIR bactericide, which afford a new approach of synergistic PDT-PTT sterilization to conquer the crisis of antibiotic resistance.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Influence mechanism of electromagnetic absorbing metastructure anisotropy on radar cross section

  Acta Physica Sinica · 2025-11-01

  articleOpen access

  为揭示电磁吸波超结构的各向同异性与其宏观部件雷达散射截面（RadarCross Section,RCS）的内在关系，本文系统研究了典型的各向异性六边形蜂窝（Hexagonal Honeycomb,HH）超结构与各向同性面状Gyroid（Sheet Gyroid,SG）超结构在低雷达散射部件设计中的应用。通过采用保角映射和非保角映射设计电磁吸波超结构曲面部件，并结合仿真计算与微波暗室测试，对比了不同方法设计的曲面部件RCS。结果表明，各向同性面状Gyroid曲面部件，其RCS对设计方法不敏感，展现较强吸波能力鲁棒性；而各向异性六边形蜂窝曲面部件，其RCS对设计方法表现出强烈的依赖性。与各向异性结构相比，具备电磁各向同性的超结构在实现曲面部件广角、稳健的低散射特性方面更具优势，其性能对设计和加工的依赖性更低，为开发高性能雷达吸波部件提供了重要的设计依据。

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Preparation of hydrophobic sepiolite via a facile one-step methyltrichlorosilane vapor deposition for oil-water separation

  Applied Clay Science · 2025-05-31 · 3 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Modulating Single-Atom Catalytic Centers in Well-Defined Metal Oxide Nanocrystal Surfaces for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

  NSF · $354k · 2020–2024

• One-Dimensional Functional Nanocrystals with Non-Precious-Metal Cores and Precious-Metal Shells

  NSF · $334k · 2018–2022

Frequent coauthors

• Xiaoyu Huang

  Anhui Medical University

  148 shared

• Shouheng Sun

  Brown University

  109 shared

• Guolin Lu

  Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry

  103 shared

• Yongjun Li

  Thermal Power Research Institute

  73 shared

• Huiyuan Zhu

  66 shared

• Chun Feng

  59 shared

• Jingni Zhang

  Union Hospital

  52 shared

• Shaojun Guo

  Peking University

  49 shared

Labs

• Sen Zhang LabPI

Education

• PhD, Chemistry

  Brown University

  2014

• B.S. , Polymer Science and Engineering

  University of Science and Technology of China

  2008

Awards & honors

• NSF CAREER Award (2022)
• Research Excellence Award, University of Virginia (2021)
• CAPA Distinguished Junior Faculty Award, Chinese-American Ch…
• Scialog Collaborative Innovation Award for Negative Emission…
• Rising Star 2020, Frontiers in Chemistry, Frontiers (2020)