Yi Wang is a professor and inaugural director of the Center for Microscopy and Analysis at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is also a faculty member of the State key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control for Aerospace Structures, and the Tianyuan Laboratory.

He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics from Hubei University, and his PhD in physics (2012) from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the University of Caen Normandy, France. After one year postdoctoral research at CNRS, he joined the Stuttgart center for Electron Microscopy at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, and was promoted to a permeant staff member in 2016, a Senior Scientist and research group leader in 2019.  He has received many awards, including the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad, the National Natural Science fund for Excellent Young Scientists (Overseas) of China, the Jiangsu Province Distinguished Professorship, and the Natural Science Fund of Jiangsu Province for Distinguished Young Scholars.

He has published over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers, including e.g. Nature Materials, Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, Nano Letters, and Ultramicroscopy. His work has been cited over 6100 times and his publication H-factor is 39.

He has given more than 20 invited talks at international conferences, and more than 30 invited seminars. He was the organizer of a number of national/international conferences and meetings. He is also committed to education in materials science, electron microscopy, and has mentored a number of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.

Publications

1. B. Liu, Z. Hu,W.van Bodegom, D.Byelov, T.Yang, Yi Wang*, Exploring 4D-STEM in SEM with an event driven direct electron detector: Low-dose, high-speed, and sparse data, Ultramicroscopy 283, 114333 (2026)

2. B. Liu, Z. Hu, P. Ruterana, E. J. Olivier, L. Gu*, Yi Wang*, Recent research progress of 4D-STEM from methodology to application in materials science, Materials Today 92, 906 (2026)

3. S. Li, Yi Wang*, Radial Symmetry Centering: A Rapid, Accurate, and Robust Method for the Location of Atomic Columns, Microscopy & Microanalysis 32, ozf131(2026)

4. S. Li, B.Cheng, Yi Wang*, M.Ye, P.A van Aken, C.Cheng*, A.Thomas*, Oxygen-evolving catalytic atoms on metal carbides, Nature Materials 20, 1240 (2021)  ESI Highly Cited Paper

5. M.Ma, Q.Yu, J.Zhang, X.Chen*, W.Li, X.Qu, X.Zhang, J.Feng, F.Wei, J.Yuan, T.Cheng, S.Dai, Yi Wang*, B.Song*, B. Shen*, Imaging molecular structures and interactions by enhanced confinement effect in electron microscopy, Nature Communications 16, 2447 (2025) Featured articles

6. L. Xu, S. Xue, X. Jia, R. Liu, L. Wang, L. Tao*, J. Yao, J. Zhang, H. Wan, Yi Wang*, H. Wang*, Branch Chain Variations Modulate Pyridine Derivative Adsorption for Long‐Life Zinc‐Ion Battery, Advanced Functional Materials 2425372 (2025)

7. C.Yang, Z.Wu, Z.Zhao, Y.Gao, T.Ma, X.Luo, C.Cheng, Yi Wang*, S.Li*, C.Zhao*, Mn-Oxygen Compounds Coordinated Ruthenium Sites with Deprotonated and Low Oxophilic Microenvironments for Membrane Electrolyzer-Based H₂-Production, Advanced Materials 35, 230331(2023) 

8. T.Ma, H.Cao, S.Li, S.Cao, Z.Zhao, Z.Wu, R.Yan, C.Yang, Yi Wang*, P.A.van Aken, L.Qiu*, Y.Wang*, C.Cheng*, Crystalline Lattice-Confined Atomic Pt in Metal Carbides to Match Electronic Structures and Hydrogen Evolution Behaviors of Platinum, Advanced Materials 34, 202206368(2022) Cover Paper

9. S.Cao, Z.Zhao, Y.Zheng, Z.Wu. T.Ma, B.Zhu, C.Yang, X.Xiang, L.Ma, X.Han, Yi Wang*, Q.Guo, L.Qiu*, C.Cheng*, A Library of ROS-Catalytic Metalloenzyme Mimics with Atomic Metal Centers, Advanced Materials 34, 2200255(2022) Cover Paper

10. C.Yang*, Yi Wang*, W.Sigle, P.A van Aken, Determination of Grain-Boundary Structure and Electrostatic Characteristics in a SrTiO₃ Bicrystal by Four-Dimensional Electron Microscopy, Nano Letters 21, 9138(2021)