Dr Chun Yang Yin

Associate Professor

Email: chunyang.yin@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +65 6908 6022
Address: NUInternational Singapore (NUIS)
537 Clementi Road #06-01
SIT Building @ Ngee Ann Polytechnic
Singapore 599493

Background

Dr Yin received his PhD in chemical engineering (Malaya) and was appointed visiting scholar at Columbia University in the City of New York (Dec 2008 - March 2009) and Harvard University (Nov - Dec 2009) where he conducted research on liquid infiltration in nanoporous materials and microfluidics, respectively. His brief stint at Harvard was focused on hands-on PDMS microfluidic device fabrication for pharmaceutical and cell capture applications.

Dr Yin is an Associate Member of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, United Kingdom (AMIChemE), Member of Engineers Australia (MIEAust) and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), UK. His research and lecturing experience spans more than 15 years since 2002 in which he has held various academic positions (Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader, Associate Professor) at universities in the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia. He was involved as a contributing/supervising Murdoch University academic in Western Australia for a capstone metallurgical engineering design course for final year students under the banner of the Metallurgical Education Partnership (MEP) (2011-2012).

Dr Yin is regularly invited as speaker/guest lecturer and had delivered an environmental engineering plenary speech at the 2007 ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organisations conference. He has acted as reviewer for several prominent Elsevier, John Wiley & Sons and American Chemical Society journals (> 20 journals). He has been invited and subsequently acted as examiner for 5 PhD theses since 2012. He is also a proposal reviewer/assessor for the British Council, Australian Research Council and Kazakhstan National Center of Science and Technology Evaluation. He is currently serving as a Panel Member of the British Council-Newton Fund Engineering and Physical Sciences Review Panel and UK Management Committee Member for EU COST Action ES1205.

Postgraduate/postdoc supervision forms an integral component of his academic career in which he has supervised 5 successful PhD project and is currently co-supervising PhD students with his UK and Australian collaborators. In recognition of his research accomplishments, he was awarded the 2013 Murdoch University Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research (Early Career Development and Achievement). By working closely with UK, Australian and international collaborators, he has (jointly) procured more than £1.2 million-equivalent in competitive research, travel and infrastructure-based grants. Recent successfully obtained grants include:

2017-2018 British Council Institutional Links – Newton Fund grant (UK Principal Investigator)
2016 - 2017 Royal Academy of Engineering, UK - Newton Research Collaboration Programme (Principal Investigator)
2015 - 2017 Innovative Research Universities (Australia) - IRU-MRUN Collaborative Research Programme (Joint Chief Investigator)
2014 - 2015 Teesside University Research Fund (Principal Investigator)
2014 - 2015 Teesside International Visiting Academics Scheme (Principal Investigator)
2013 Australian Research Council - Linkage, Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities Grants (Murdoch University Chief Investigator)
2012 - 2014 Sir Walter Murdoch Distinguished Collaborator Program (Chief Investigator)

Dr Yin has published more than 80 indexed journal articles mostly as first/corresponding/joint corresponding author (http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AyvBQgkAAAAJ&hl=en) with a h-index of 27. He has also co-authored more than 40 conference papers and 12 engineering journal/bulletin articles. Recent representative journal publications include:

Ha, N.N., Ha, N.T.T., Goh, B.M., Saunders, M., Jiang, Z.T., Altarawneh, M., Dlugogorski, B.Z., El-Harbawi, M. and Yin, C.Y.^#, 2017. Understanding the adsorptive interactions of arsenate-iron nanoparticles with curved fullerene-like sheets in activated carbon using a quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics computational approach. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 19, 14262-14268 (highlighted by Editors as a HOT manuscript in 2017).
Yin, C.Y.^#, Ng, M.F., Goh, B.M., Saunders, M., Hill, N., Jiang, Z.T., Balach, J. and El-Harbawi, M., (2016). Probing the interactions of phenol with oxygenated functional groups on curved fullerene-like sheets in activated carbon. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 18, 3700-3705.
Yin, C.Y.^#, Ng, M.F., Saunders, M., Goh, B.M., Senanayake, G., Sherwood, A., Hampton, M. (2014). New insights into the adsorption of aurocyanide ion on activated carbon surface: electron microscopy analysis and computational studies using fullerene-like models. Langmuir 30 (26), 7703-7709.
Rahman, M.M., Jiang, Z.T., Xie, Z., Duan, X., Wo, P.C., Yin, C.Y., Mondinos, N., Gu, Q., Widjaja, H., Jack, K., Yago, A., Amri, A. (2014). Understanding local bonding structures of Ni-doped chromium nitride coatings through synchrotron radiation NEXAFS spectroscopy. Journal of Physical Chemistry C 118 (32), 18573-18579.
Amri, A., Jiang, Z.T., Bahri, P., Yin, C.Y.^#, Zhao, X., Xie, Z., Duan X., Widjaja, H., Rahman, M.M., Pryor, T. (2013). Surface electronic structure and mechanical characteristics of copper cobalt oxide thin film coatings: Soft X-ray synchrotron radiation spectroscopic analyses and modeling. Journal of Physical Chemistry C 117 (32), 16457–16467.
Golsheikh, A.M., Huang, N.M., Lim, H.N., Zakaria, R., Yin, C.Y. (2013). One-step electrodeposition synthesis of silver-nanoparticle-decorated graphene on indium-tin-oxide for enzymeless hydrogen peroxide detection. Carbon 62, 405-412.
Yin, C.-Y.^#, Nikoloski, A.N., Wang, W. (2013). Microfluidic solvent extraction of platinum and palladium from a chloride leach solution using Alamine 336. Minerals Engineering 45, 18 – 21.

Research

Theme 1: Adsorption of Metal Ions onto Activated Carbon Surface: Electron Microscopy Analyses and Computational Studies
Though the use of activated carbon (AC) as an industrial wastewater "polisher" to remove pollutants as well as gold extractant in the carbon-in-pulp process are ubiquitous, the exact adsorption mechanisms in terms of metal ions affinity to the AC surface are still poorly understood. Computational and electron microscopy studies could potentially shed light on such fundamental aspects.

Theme 2: Microfluidic Solvent Extraction of Metal Ions from Mineral-Based Leach Solutions
Microfluidics for solvent extraction (μSX) of metal ions from mineral based leach solution is a new metallurgical technique in the field of recovering precious (high-value) metals present in low concentrations which are otherwise not technically amenable (or economically viable) to extraction using conventional 2-stage mixer-settler.

Theme 3: Selective Mixed Metal Oxides Coatings for Solar Thermal Collection
Using an integrative approach combining experimental, modelling and optimisation studies, this project establishes the fundamental links between the doped carbon-based elements and solar absorbancy of metal oxides coatings. The metal oxidation states and their local coordination on the surface and interface of thin film coatings will be discussed and elucidated based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), in combination with the synchrotron-based near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy.

Theme 4: Life Cycle Assessment and Industrial Ecology as Applied for Localised Chemical Industries
Life Cycle Assessment is a technique that provides quantitative assessment of the environmental impact of processes over their specified life cycles. Such technique could be used to aid improved plant designs in relation to environmental sustainability.

Teaching

CME2122: Separation Processes 1

CME3112: Sustainable Industry, Design and Manufacture

Publications

Abdul-Bashid HA, Lim HN, Kamaruzaman S, Abdul-Rashid S, Yunus R, Huang NM, Yin CY, Rahman MM, Altarawneh M, Jiang ZT, Alagarsamy P. Electrodeposition of polypyrrole and reduced graphene oxide onto carbon bundle fibre as electrode for supercapacitor. Nanoscale Research Letters 2017, 12, 246.
Widjaja H, Jiang ZT, Altarawneh M, Yin CY, Goh BM, Mondinos N, Amri A, Dlugogorski BZ. Double-sided F and Cl adsorptions on graphene at various atomic ratios: Geometric, orientation and electronic structure aspects. Applied Surface Science 2016, 373, 65-72.
Widjaja H, Altarawneh M, Jiang ZT, Yin CY, Goh BM, Mondinos N, Dlugogorski BZ. Geometrical and orientational investigations on the electronic structure of graphene with adsorbed aluminium or silicon. Materials & Design 2016, 89, 27-35.
Yin CY, Ng MF, Goh BM, Saunders M, Hill N, Jiang ZT, Balach J, El-Harbawi M. Probing the interactions of phenol with oxygenated functional groups on curved fullerene-like sheets in activated carbon. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2016, 18(5), 3700-3705.
Rahman MM, Jiang ZT, Yin CY, Chuah LS, Lee HL, Amri A, Goh BM, Wood BJ, Creagh C, Mondinos N, Altarawneh M, Dlugogorski BZ. Structural Thermal Stability of Graphene Oxide-Doped Copper-Cobalt Oxide Coatings as a Solar Selective Surface. Journal of Materials Science & Technology 2016, 32(11), 1179-1191.
Widjaja H, Jiang ZT, Altarawneh M, Yin CY, Goh BM, Mondinos N, Dlugogorski BZ. Towards a better understanding of the geometrical and orientational aspects of the electronic structure of halogens (F-I) adsorption on graphene. Applied Surface Science 2015, 356, 370-377.
Taha H, Jiang ZT, Henry DJ, Amri A, Yin CY, Rahman MM. Improving the optoelectronic properties of titanium-doped indium tin oxide thin films. Semiconductor Science and Technology 2017, 32(6), 065011.
Nguyen NH, Ha NT, Goh BM, Saunders M, Jiang ZT, Altarawneh M, Dlugogorski BZ, El-Harbawi M, Yin CY. Understanding the adsorptive interactions of arsenate-iron nanoparticles with curved fullerene-like sheets in activated carbon using a quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics computational approach. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2017, 19(22), 14262 - 14268.
Taha H, Henry DJ, Yin CY, Amri A, Zhao X, Bahri S, LeMinh C, Ha NN, Rahman MM, Jiang ZT. Probing the effects of thermal treatment on the electronic structure and mechanical properties of Ti-doped ITO thin films. Journal of Alloys and Compounds 2017, 721, 333–346.
Taha H, Jiang ZT, Henry DJ, Amri A, Yin CY, Alias AB, Zhao X. Improved mechanical properties of sol-gel derived ITO thin films via Ag doping. Materials Today Communications 2018, 14, 210-224.
Taha H, Jiang ZT, Yin CY, Henry DJ, Zhao X, Trotter G, Amri A. Novel Approach for Fabricating Transparent and Conducting SWCNTs/ITO Thin Films for Optoelectronic Applications. Journal of Physical Chemistry C 2018, 122(5), 3014-3027.
Ha NN, Cam LM, Thi Thu Ha N, Jiang Z-T, El-Harbawi M, Yin C-Y. Integrated QMMM and Monte Carlo methods for analysis of adsorptive interactions between goethite cluster, carbon nanotubes, and arsenate. International Journal of Quantum Chemistry 2018, Epub ahead of print.
Ibrahim K, Mahbubur Rahman M, Taha H, Mohammadpour E, Zhou Z, Yin C-Y, Nikoloski A, Jiang Z-T. Structural, morphological, and optical characterizations of Mo, CrN and Mo:CrN sputtered coatings for potential solar selective applications. Applied Surface Science 2018, Epub ahead of print.
Amri A, Fadli A, Jiang Z-T, Yin C-Y, Rahman MM, Widjaja H, Herman S, Yenti SR, Munir MM, Priyotomo G, Iqbal M, Frimayanti N. Surface structural and solar absorptance features of nitrate-based copper-cobalt oxides composite coatings: Experimental studies and molecular dynamic simulation. Ceramics International 2018, Epub ahead of print.