Professor Yabing Qi from Global Institute of Future Technology Included in the 2025 list of Highly Cited Researchers worldwide.

Yabing Qi is a Chair Professor at the Global Institute of Future Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and a Foreign Member of the Engineering Academy of Japan. Professor Qi obtained his Bachelor's degree in Physics from Nanjing University in 2000, Master's degree in Physics from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2002, and PhD in Applied Science and Technology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2008, where his research focused on surface and interface science. From 2008 to 2011, he conducted postdoctoral research at Princeton University in the United States, working on the application of surface and interface science in organic semiconductors. From 2011 to 2024, he taught at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) in Japan, where he was promoted early to Full Professor with tenure. He served as the academic leader of the Energy Materials and Surface Science Research Group and Director of the Laboratory, and has long been committed to the in-depth integration of energy materials research with basic research in surface and interface science. On July 21, 2024, Professor Qi formally joined the Global Institute of Future Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University as a full-time Chair Professor, and will establish the Research Center for Future Energy Materials and Surface & Interface Science.

Over the past two decades, Professor Yabing Qi has made outstanding contributions to surface and interface science as well as energy materials, actively driving the continuous advancement and development of research in these fields. In recognition of his remarkable achievements, he was awarded the Kao Science Award by the Kao Foundation for Arts and Sciences (Japan) in 2022, becoming the first non-Japanese recipient in the award's more than 20-year history. In 2023, he received the JSPS Prize from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, making him only the third Chinese national to win this award since its inception 20 years ago. In 2024, he was elected as a Foreign Member of the Engineering Academy of Japan.

As a distinguished scholar in the fields of surface and interface science and energy materials, Professor Yabing Qi has so far published over 200 SCI papers in internationally renowned academic journals. He holds an H-index of 81 and has accumulated more than 20,000 total citations, with over 20 of his papers listed as ESI Highly Cited Papers. Since 2021, he has been consecutively named a "Highly Cited Researcher" by Clarivate. He has also been elected a Fellow of the Materials Research Society (USA), a Fellow of the American Vacuum Society (USA), and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK).

Professor Yabing Qi's research spans multiple disciplines including materials science, physics, chemistry, and electronic engineering. He plans to establish an internationally competitive interdisciplinary research and development center based on surface and interface science and energy materials at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. This center will apply basic research in surface and interface science to the development of energy materials, functional materials, and related devices—such as solar cells, lithium-ion batteries, organic electronic devices, and luminescent materials and devices. These research efforts will provide crucial technical support for the advancement of future energy technologies.

The Global Institute of Future Technology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University is among the first batch of Future Technology Institutes approved by the Ministry of Education. It focuses on two core areas: future energy and future health, and is committed to nurturing forward-thinking, interdisciplinary, and innovative leaders in future technological innovation. Professor Yabing Qi’s joining will further advance the research and teaching endeavors of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and its Global Institute of Future Technology in the field of energy science, while fostering more outstanding talents in this domain.