Living polymerization, green chemistry, photopolymerization, photoredox catalysis, sequence-defined polymer synthesis, biodegradable polymers, polymer nanoparticles for biomedical application
Dr Jason Xu is an Associate Professor at School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW Sydney. He is currently leading a research group in the Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design (CAMD) and Australian Centre for NanoMedicine (ACN), with the focus on green and precision polymer synthesis and hydrogel based artificial skin for wearable electronics. Dr. Xu received his BS and PhD Degrees in Polymer Science from Fudan University. He was awarded ARC...view more
Dr Jason Xu is an Associate Professor at School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW Sydney. He is currently leading a research group in the Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design (CAMD) and Australian Centre for NanoMedicine (ACN), with the focus on green and precision polymer synthesis and hydrogel based artificial skin for wearable electronics. Dr. Xu received his BS and PhD Degrees in Polymer Science from Fudan University. He was awarded ARC Future Fellowship and took a Lecturer position in 2017. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2019 and Associate Professor in 2022. He has more than 140 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals (JACS, Angew Chemie, Energy Environ Sci, Adv Sci, Che, Sci, Macromolecules, etc), attracting over 12k citations and an H-index of 60 (Dec 2023, Google Scholar). He has successfully secured >2M research funds including ARC Future Fellowship and two ARC DP projects. He has been nominated as Emerging and Pioneering Investigator by Polymer Chemistry (2018, 2021) and Chemical Communications (2018, 2023), Rising Star in Polymer Science by Progress in Polymer Science (2022). His areas of research interests are green chemistry and sustainable polymer synthesis, precision polymer synthesis mimicking natural perfection, photoredox catalysis , advanced polymer materials for wearable sensors and soft electronics.
CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS
- Green chemistry and sustainable polymer synthesis
- Precision polymer synthesis mimicking natural perfection
- Photoredox catalysis for living polymerization
- Polymer hydrogel based artificial skin for wearable sensors and soft electronics
PUBLICATION RECORD SUMMARY
GRANTS, HONORS AND AWARDS
- 2023 - Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance International Catalyst grant
- 2023 - Innovation Connection program with the industry company Troforte
- 2023 - Selected as “Pioneering Investigator” by Chemical Communications
- 2022 - Selected as “Rising Star in Polymer Science” by Progress in Polymer Science;
- 2020 - Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project (DP210101904);
- 2020 - Selected as “Pioneering Investigator” by Polymer Chemistry;
- 2019 - Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project (DP190100067);
- 2018 - Selected as “Emerging Investigator” by Chemical Communications
- 2018 - UNSW Gold Star Award 2018
- 2017 - 2018 UNSW Research Infrastructure Scheme Grant (RIS)
- 2017 - Selected as “Emerging Investigator” by Polymer Chemistry;
- 2017 - UNSW Faculty of Engineering Academic Start-up Fund;
- 2017 - Visiting Professor in Nagoya University (one month) funded by Nagoya University-Venture Business Laboratory (NU-VBL);
- 2016 - Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship (FT160100095);
- 2015, 2016 - Australian Centre for NanoMedicine (ACN) Seed Funding Program;
- 2013 - Leading Talent of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Fund, Zhejiang Province, China.
- 2012 - The University of Melbourne Early Career Researcher Grant (ECRG) Scheme 2012.
- 2007 - Excellent Graduate Award of Fudan University;
- Guanghua Graduate Student Awards (2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006), Fudan University, China;
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
- Invited and Keynote Talks
- 38th Australasia Polymer Symposium (38APS) (17-21, Feb, 2024), Auckland, New Zealand;
- 18th Pacific Polymer Conference (PPC18) (3-7 Dec, 2023), Puerto Vallarta, Mexico;
- 1st Australian Conference on Green and Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (2-5 July, 2023), Cairns, Australia;
- International Conference on Nano Bio Intelligence (16-18 June, 2023), Sydney, Australia;
- Poly-Char 2023 (22-26 Jan, 2023) Auckland, New Zealand;
- The 17th Pacific Polymer Conference (PPC17, 11-14 Dec, 2022), Brisbane, QLD, Australia;
- International Symposium on Advanced Materials & Sustainable Technologies 2022 (30 Nov-2 Dec, 2022), Cairns, QLD, Australia;
- Shanghai University Frontiers in Polymer Science 2022 (12 Nov, 2022);
- Exploration Australian Crossdisciplinarity Webinar on Materials, Energy and Health (24-25 Jan, 2022);
- Wutong Forum 2021, The Chinese University of Hongkong, Shenzhen (14-16 August, 2021);
- International Conference on Nanomaterials & Atomaterials Science and Applications (ICNNASA) 2020, Jan. 31-Feb. 3, 2020, Swinburne University of Technology, VIC, Australia;
- International Symposium on Ionic Polymerization (IP’19), Sept. 8-13, 2019, Beijing, China;
- 11th Research Symposium for Chinese Scholars in Australia, Dec. 1, 2018, Swinburne University of Technology, VIC, Australia;
- Emerging Polymer/Material Technologies Summit (EPTS/EMTS’18), Nov. 4-8, 2018, Hanoi, Vietnam;
- 2nd International Conference of Molecular Engineering of Polymers (MEP-2018), Sept. 20-23, 2018, Shanghai, China;
- 255th ACS National Meeting Spring 2018, March 18-22, 2018, New Orleans, LA;
- Euroscicon-Polymer Chemistry 2018, March 26-28, 2018, Vienna, Austria;
- 10th Research Symposium for Chinese Scholars in Australia, Nov., 18, 2017, Monash University, VIC, Australia;
- Biopolymer Congress 2016, Aug. 4-5th, 2016, Manchester, UK;
- Professional Society Membership
- American Chemical Society (ACS) (since 2014)
- Royal Australian Chemistry Institute (RACI) (since 2011).
- Reviewer Service
- ACS Petroleum Research Fund (PRF), ARC Discovery Project reviews, ARC Linkage Project reviews, External thesis reviewer/committee, etc;
- Reviewer for a large range of journals: Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie, Nature Communications, Chemical Communications, Macromolecules, Polymer Chemistry, ACS macro Letters, and Macromolecular Rapid Communication, etc.
- Editor service
TEACHING AND SUPERVISION
- CEIC8105 Advanced Polymer Science
- GSOE9011 Engineering PGCW Research Skills (Coordinator)
- CEIC4002 Thesis A
- CEIC4003 Thesis B
- CEIC9002 Advanced Thesis A
- CEIC9003 Advanced Thesis B
CURRENT MEMBERS
- Dr Jason Xu, Group leader
- Dr. Karen Hakobyan Postdoc, Jan, 2022-present
- Ms Mengnan Zhang PhD, T3 2020 (primary supervision)
- Mr Amer Rathore PhD, T2 2020 (primary supervision)
- Mr Haokun Shen Master by Research, T3 2022 (Primary supervision)
- Ms Hira Khaleeq PhD, T2 2023 (primary supervision)
- Mr. Fengyuan Zhang Master by Research, T1 2024 (Primary supervision)
- Mr. Zheming Yang Master by Research, T1 2024 (Primary supervision)
SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Dr. Xu is looking for enthusiastic, highly motivated and self-disciplined students majoring in Polymer/Organic/Material/Medicinal Chemistry to join the group. The research project description can be found in the link: https://www.engineering.unsw.edu.au/chemical-engineering/research/postgraduate-research/research-projects. For interested applicants please contact Dr. Jason Xu via email (j.xu@unsw.edu.au).
CHEMISTRY REFFERENCES
My Research Activities
My current research projects:
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Green polymer synthesis and PET-RAFT technology: Green polymer synthesis is a fast developing area upon the environment requirement of energy saving and low carbon emission for chemical industry. I have had an excellent starting point since 2013 for this direction to use diverse eco-friendly materials as photocatalysts to activate commonly used polymer production line. This technology was termed as “PET-RAFT”, which are able to develop various efficient and selective polymerization processes. Meanwhile, catalyst immobilization technologies and flow reaction process make the polymer manufacturing industrially viable.
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Precision polymer synthesis through single unit monomer insertion (SUMI) technology: Precise synthetic polymers to mimic natural biopolymers (protein, DNA and polysaccharide) and accurately control primary structures and stereo regularity is one of the “Holy Grail” frontier topics in macromolecular science. An innovative methodology using visible light catalyzed SUMI technology has been developed to produce discrete and stereospecific polymers with precise structures and functionalities along polymer chains. This breakthrough results can foresee the applications in artificial enzyme, data storage and drug discovery.
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Functional double network hydrogels for wearable devices: Double network hydrogels are wearable and soft materials with excellent biocompatibility, high strength and elasticity and self-healability. A unique device with exceptional electric sensitivity upon applied strains was fabricated from natural substance and biocompatible polyacrylamide for the potential application of biosensors and strain sensors.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9020-7018