Chemistry and Chemical Engineering School Invites Prof. Zheng Junrong to Lecture on Aggregation-Induced Emission

The School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Shantou University, jointly hosted by the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Preparation and Application of Ordered Structural Materials and the Guangdong-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory for Preparation and Application of Ordered Structural Materials, has organized a lecture in its series on academic reports. Prof. Zheng Junrong from Peking University’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering was invited to present on the topic “Why Does Aggregation-Induced Emission Occur?”

Report Content

Prof. Zheng’s team utilized ultrafast ultraviolet, visible, and infrared mixed-pulse sequences combined with nonlinear spectroscopy principles to investigate the evolution pathways of molecular electronic excited states in detail. Through this work, they elucidated the mechanism of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) in tetraphenylethylene-type molecules. The study also uncovered the general pattern of an Anti-Vavilov rule anomaly in such molecules — fluorescence lifetime decreases as excitation wavelength shortens in solution. The team achieved bond-selective chemistry by controlling reactions via vibrational excitation on electronic excited states. Furthermore, the research demonstrated that the decisive factor determining intersystem crossing rates is not the spin-orbit coupling and energy gap predicted by conventional Marcus-Levich-Jortner (MLJ) theory, but rather the coupled dynamics of structural evolution and spin-flipping processes.

Speaker Biography

Zheng Junrong was born in Guangdong in 1973 and currently serves as a professor in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering at Peking University. He graduated from Peking University’s Department of Chemistry in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree, earned a master’s degree in polymer chemistry from the same department in 2000, obtained a master’s degree in polymer physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), USA in 2003, and received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Stanford University’s Department of Chemistry in 2008. He joined Rice University as an assistant professor in 2009, before returning to China in 2015 to join Peking University’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, where he continues to teach and conduct research.

Prof. Zheng focuses primarily on the development of ultrafast multi-dimensional spectroscopy techniques and theoretical methods, using advanced spectroscopic tools to resolve the three-dimensional structures and ultrafast dynamic processes of condensed-phase molecules. In recent years, his research has made progress in several important areas, including revealing fundamental laws of intermolecular energy transfer in condensed-phase systems, resolving the microscopic structural features of ionic liquids, clarifying the AIE mechanism of tetraphenylethylene-type molecules, and identifying key determinants in intersystem crossing processes. For his contributions to physical chemistry and ultrafast spectroscopy, Prof. Zheng has received the Packard Fellowship, Sloan Fellowship, and US Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program Award, and was selected into China’s Ten Thousand Talents Program as a leading talent.

Time and Venue

• Date and Time: Friday, July 24, 2026, 9:30 AM
• Venue: Conference Room E401, East Wing of Administrative Building

All faculty and students are welcome to attend.

Source: STU OA Notice (School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering)