Recognition
Awards
- 2026Carl Storm Fellowship, Gordon Research Conference
- 2022Best Pitch Presenter, Sustainable Power and Energy Center
- 2018Materials Science and Engineering Program Graduate Fellowship, UC San Diego
Menu
About
Diyi Cheng
A materials scientist studying how energy materials form, transform, and fail at reactive interfaces.
His work combines materials synthesis, thin-film processing, electrochemistry, and in situ and cryogenic electron microscopy. These tools connect nanoscale structure and chemistry with device behavior, revealing mechanisms that can guide better processing and more reliable batteries.
At UC San Diego, he studied LiPON-based solid-state and lithium-metal batteries, including buried interphases and a free-standing electrolyte that supports dense lithium deposition without external pressure. At Berkeley Lab, he has extended this work to dynamic formation pathways, directly visualizing crystallization during synthesis of disordered-rocksalt cathodes and developing liquid-cell approaches for electrochemical interfaces.
His independent research vision links three questions: how processing selects material phases, how buried interfaces sustain or lose contact, and how to measure fast electrochemical events rigorously. Together, they connect formation, operation, and failure.
33publications
26h-index
3,075citations
Citation metrics: Google Scholar, October 1, 2026.
Path
2023—present
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Postdoctoral Fellow, Materials Sciences Division. Principal investigator: Dr. Haimei Zheng.
2017—2023
University of California San Diego
Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering. Principal investigator: Dr. Ying Shirley Meng.
2013—2017
Jilin University
B.S. in Material Physics.
2022
Ensurge Micropower ASA
Research internship focused on failure analysis and performance optimization of solid-state thin-film batteries.
Academic service
Scientific community
Journal reviewer
Nature Communications; Matter; Advanced Functional Materials; ACS Nano; Materials Today Energy; Nanoscale Horizons; RSC Advances; Carbon; Vacuum; Journal of Energy Storage; Energy Advances; and Journal of Alloys and Compounds.
Grant reviewer
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research Program, 2026 Solicitation 1.
Guest editor
Special issue “Cutting-Edge Characterizations for Expanding Energy Material Chemistries” in Molecules.
Connect