Eminent chemist Prof Ling Xing Yi named Editor-in-Chief of ACS Applied Materials

Prof Ling Xing Yi of the School of School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (CCEB) at NTU has been named the new Editor-in-Chief of the influential American journal ACS Applied Materials portfolio.

ACS Applied Materials is a family of eight journals focused on materials, interfacial processes, and their applications. The publications serve the interdisciplinary community of chemists, engineers, physicists, and biologists.

The eminent female chemist steps into the role on 1 January 2024, succeeding the founding Editor-in-Chief Kirk S. Schanze, who has led ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces since 2008 and later the family of ACS journal.

Prof Ling brings with her over 15 years of experience as a chemist and academic, having earned her PhD in Chemistry from University of Twente, the Netherlands, in 2008.

On her new appointment, Prof Ling said she hopes to contribute to the journal growth and impact. “ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces has established itself as a trusted brand among applied materials community, and the next 5-10 years are a critical time to steer the journal and ACS Applied Materials portfolio toward greater academic impacts and societal influence,” said Prof Ling.

“There will be new initiatives and projects in enhancing our outreach, diversifying our editorial team, and expanding our journal contents and intra and inter-journal collaborations,” she added.

Though the years, Prof Ling has served as an editorial advisory board member for Analytical Chemistry and Chemistry of Materials and published extensively in ACS journals. Since 2019, she has been serving as Associate Editor of Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances.

Prof Ling has also been the recipient of numerous accolades, including the National Research Foundation Investigatorship, Singapore; Nanyang Award for Innovation & Entrepreneurship; and Asian Rising Star Lectureship, the 18th Asian Chemical Congress, Taipei, Taiwan.

Prof Ling’s research is focused on nano-functional composite materials, light-responsive functional molecular materials, and their application in environmental, healthcare, and catalysis fields.

Her lab is interested in the self-assembly of shape-controlled noble metal nanoparticles into various superlattices to impart new structure-to-function properties and applications in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS).

In 2020, Prof Ling and her team of researchers used SERS technology to develop a urine test that can gauge pregnancy outcomes for women presenting with signs of threatened miscarriage within 30 minutes.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, her team also came up with a disposable breathalyser and portable reading device for a fast and accurate screening of COVID-19.