The wise man looks into space and does not regard the large as too large
nor the small as too small, for he knows there are no limits to dimensions.
― The Upanishads
|
Tung Chun (John) Lee, PhD(Cantab), BSc(Hons), MIMMM, FHEA
G16a, Christopher Ingold Building 20 Gordon Street, University College London WC1H 0AJ London, UK Phone No: +44 (0)20 7679 4649 Ext.: 24649 Email: [email protected] Professional profiles: UCL | Google Scholar | ResearchGate | LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ORCID |
Biography
Tung Chun Lee is the Deputy Director of the Institute for Materials Discovery and a Full Professor of Nanomaterials Chemistry (h-index: 31, total citation: 5500+). He received his BSc in Chemistry from University of Hong Kong in 2005 and his PhD in Chemistry from University of Cambridge in 2012. He was a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart from 2011 to 2014. In 2014 he joined University College London as a Lecturer and started his independent academic career. Currently, he is leading a research group working on cutting-edge research in nanomaterials and nanochemistry. He has secured in total £3.5m (£1.9m as PI) research grants from EPSRC, Leverhulme Trust, Royal Society, UK Government and industry partners, and has served as an invited referee of 21 grant applications from EPSRC, MRC, Cancer Research UK and RGC HK.
His research interests include exotic nanoparticles, nanofabrication, nanochemistry, active matter and supramolecular chemistry, all of which show potential applications in sensing, drug delivery, photovoltaic and catalysis. He has acted as the primary supervisor of 94 researchers in total, including 4 PDRA, 21 PhD, and 69 MSc. To date, he has 70 publications (incl. 14 invited articles) in high-impact journals, featuring Nat. Chem., Nat. Mater., Nat. Commun., Adv. Mater., Nano Lett., ACS Nano and Angew. Chem. Other academic achievements include 2 patents (1 licenced by industry), 1 book, 2 book chapters, 1 interview and 14 journal covers. He is a regular reviewer of journals such as Nat. Commun., Small, Nanoscale and ChemComm.
His research interests include exotic nanoparticles, nanofabrication, nanochemistry, active matter and supramolecular chemistry, all of which show potential applications in sensing, drug delivery, photovoltaic and catalysis. He has acted as the primary supervisor of 94 researchers in total, including 4 PDRA, 21 PhD, and 69 MSc. To date, he has 70 publications (incl. 14 invited articles) in high-impact journals, featuring Nat. Chem., Nat. Mater., Nat. Commun., Adv. Mater., Nano Lett., ACS Nano and Angew. Chem. Other academic achievements include 2 patents (1 licenced by industry), 1 book, 2 book chapters, 1 interview and 14 journal covers. He is a regular reviewer of journals such as Nat. Commun., Small, Nanoscale and ChemComm.
2025.10 onwards
Professor of Nanomaterials Chemistry
Institute for Materials Discovery, University College London, London, UK
2023.05 onwards
Deputy Director
Institute for Materials Discovery, University College London, London, UK
2022.01 - 2023.05
Acting Co-Director
Institute for Materials Discovery, University College London, London, UK
2021.10 - 2025.09
Associate Professor and Connected Learning Lead
Institute for Materials Discovery, University College London, London, UK
2014.11 – 2021.09
Lecturer (Tenured Assistant Professor) and MSc Programme Coordinator
Institute for Materials Discovery, University College London, London, UK
2011.11 – 2014.10
Post-doctoral Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, DE
2007.10 – 2011.09
PhD in Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
2005.07 – 2006.12
Research Assistant, Department of Chemistry, University of Hong Kong, HK
2002.09 – 2005.06
BSc in Chemistry (First Class Honours), Department of Chemistry, University of Hong Kong, HK
Professor of Nanomaterials Chemistry
Institute for Materials Discovery, University College London, London, UK
2023.05 onwards
Deputy Director
Institute for Materials Discovery, University College London, London, UK
2022.01 - 2023.05
Acting Co-Director
Institute for Materials Discovery, University College London, London, UK
2021.10 - 2025.09
Associate Professor and Connected Learning Lead
Institute for Materials Discovery, University College London, London, UK
2014.11 – 2021.09
Lecturer (Tenured Assistant Professor) and MSc Programme Coordinator
Institute for Materials Discovery, University College London, London, UK
2011.11 – 2014.10
Post-doctoral Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, DE
2007.10 – 2011.09
PhD in Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
2005.07 – 2006.12
Research Assistant, Department of Chemistry, University of Hong Kong, HK
2002.09 – 2005.06
BSc in Chemistry (First Class Honours), Department of Chemistry, University of Hong Kong, HK
Research Interests
- Nanochemistry, nanomaterials and nanoparticles
- Supramolecular chemistry: self-assembly, encapsulation, host-guest complexation, catalysis and electrochemistry
- Soft photonics, plasmon-enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy (SERS, PIERS, E-SERS)
- Molecular modelling (ground state and transition state) and computer-aided molecular design
- Active matter: micro- and nanomotors
- Metamaterials and plasmonic materials
- Physical vapour deposition (PVD): glancing angle deposition (GLAD)
- Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
Book
1. Weng-I Katherine Chio, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Macrocycle‐functionalised nanosensors”, Jenny Stanford Publishing, 2024, ISBN: 978-981-5129-33-5.
Peer-reviewed book chapters
2. Tabitha Jones, Gemma Davison, Hyeon-Ho Jeong, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Engineered gold nanoparticles for photothermal applications”, Photothermal Nanomaterials, Ch. 2, 33–80, RSC Publishing, 2022, ISBN: 978-1-83916-238-1.
1. Xian Jun Loh, Tung-Chun Lee, and Yoshihiro Ito, “Hydrogels for biomedical applications”, Polymeric and Self Assembled Hydrogels, Ch. 8, 167–209, RSC Publishing 2013. ISBN: 978-1-84973-561-2.
Patents
2. Hyeon-Ho Jeong, Tung-Chun Lee, and Peer Fischer, “Method for encapsulating a nanostructure, coated nanostructure and use of a coated nanostructure”, 2015, EPO/15 161 329.6.
1. Richard W. Taylor, Sumeet Mahajan, Jeremy J. Baumberg, Tung-Chun Lee, Setu Kasera, Roger J. Coulston, and Oren A. Scherman, “Plasmonic junctions for surface-enhanced spectroscopy”, 2011, PCT/GB2011/000956.
Selected publications
52. Alice E. Cozens, Shane D. Johnson, Tung-Chun Lee, “A systematic review of sensors to combat crime and routes to further sensor development”, Front. Chem., 2025, 13:1568867.
51. Huimin Xie, Shuyu Zhu, Jingwen Cao, JuHyeong Lee, Yidan Yin, Deyue Zhou, Jing Yan, Hyeon-Ho Jeong, Tung-Chun Lee, Yuewen Zhang, Qiaosheng Pu, Yang Lan, “Hollow raspberry-like nanoaggregates for sensitive SERS detection of PAHs in water”, Chem. Eng. J., 2025, 511, 161872.
50. Jingwen He, Peng Huang, Bingjue Li, Youqiang Xing, Ze Wu, Tung-Chun Lee, Lei Liu, “Untethered soft robots based on 1D and 2D nanomaterials”, Adv. Mater., 2025, 37, 2413648.
49. Huimin Xie, Shuyu Zhu, Ping Wen, Deyue Zhou, Yidan Yin, Yang Lan, Tung-Chun Lee, Yuewen Zhang, and Qiaosheng Pu, “Raspberry-like plasmonic nanoaggregates with programmable hierarchical structures for reproducible SERS detection of wastewater pollutants and biomarkers”, Anal. Chem., 2024, 96, 17620–17630.
48. Tabitha Jones, Deyue Zhou, Jia Liu, Ivan P Parkin, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Quantitative multiplexing of uric acid and creatinine using polydisperse plasmonic nanoparticles enabled by electrochemical SERS and machine learning”, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2024, 12, 10563–10572. (Cover article)
47. Jia Liu, Su-Hang He, Hugues Lambert, and Tung-Chun Lee, "Modulation of redox reactivity of resazurin through host-guest complexation with Cucurbit[n]uril (n = 7, 8)", Front. Chem., 2023, 11:1295715.
46. Juhwan Kim, Jang-Hwan Han, Hyun Min Kim, Tung-Chun Lee, and Hyeon-Ho Jeong, “Plasmonic nano-rotamers with programmable polarization-resolved coloration”, Adv. Optical Mater., 2023, 2301730. (Cover article, Attention score: 103+ ranked top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric)
45. Katie McGuire, Suhang He, Jennifer Gracie, Charlotte Bryson, Dazhong Zheng, Alasdair W. Clark, Jesko Koehnke, David J. France, Werner M. Nau, Tung-Chun Lee, and William J. Peveler, “Supramolecular click chemistry for surface modification of quantum dots mediated by cucurbit[7]uril”, ACS Nano, 2023, 17, 21585–21594.
44. Suresh Moorthy, Hugues Lambert, Neetha Mohan, Thomas Schwarzlose, Werner M. Nau, Elina Kalenius, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Noncovalent modulation of chemoselectivity in the gas phase leads to a switchover in reaction type from heterolytic to homolytic to electrocyclic cleavage”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2023, 62, e202303491. (Cover article)
43. Xin Liu, Alei Dang, Tiehu Li, Yiting Sun, Tung-Chun Lee, Weibin Deng, Shaoheng Wu, Amir Zada, Tingkai Zhao, and Hao Li, “Plasmonic coupling of Au nanoclusters on a flexible MXene/graphene oxide fiber for ultrasensitive SERS sensing”, ACS Sens., 2023, 8, 1287–1298. (Featured by the Editor-in-Chief J. J. Gooding in Editorial “Some of our favorite papers from the first 10 years of ACS Sensors”, ACS Sens., 2025, 10, 1–3. Times cited: 104+)
42. Gemma Davison, Yidan Yin, Tabitha Jones, Ivan P. Parkin, William J. Peveler, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Multi-mode enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy using aggregation-free hybrid metal/metal-oxide nanoparticles with intrinsic oxygen vacancies”, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2023, 11, 3334–3341.
41. Gemma Davison, Tabitha Jones, Jia Liu, Juhwan Kim, Yidan Yin, Doeun Kim, Weng-I Katherine Chio, Ivan P. Parkin, Hyeon-Ho Jeong, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Computer-aided design and analysis of spectrally aligned hybrid plasmonic nanojunctions for SERS detection of nucleobases”, Adv. Mater. Technol., 2023, 2201400. (Times cited: 11+)
40. Jasmin Omar, Daniel Ponsford, Cécile A. Dreiss, Tung-Chun Lee, and Xian Jun Loh, “Supramolecular hydrogels: design strategies and contemporary biomedical applications”, Chem.: Asian J., 2022, 17, e202200081. (Cover article, top 10 most-cited paper published in Chem.: Asian J. in 2022–23, times cited 80+)
39. Suresh Moorthy, Alvaro Castillo Bonillo, Hugues Lambert, Elina Kalenius, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Modulating reaction pathway of phenyl diazonium ion using host-guest complexation with cucurbit[7]uril”, Chem. Commun., 2022, 58, 3617–3620. (Times cited: 10+)
38. Hugues Lambert, Alvaro Castillo Bonillo, Qiang Zhu, Yong-Wei Zhang, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Supramolecular gating of guest release from cucurbit[7]uril using de novo design”, npj Comput. Mater., 2022, 8, DOI: 10.1038/s41524-022-00702-0.
37. Weng-I Katherine Chio, Huimin Xie, Yuewen Zhang, Yang Lan, and Tung-Chun Lee, “SERS biosensors based on cucurbituril-mediated nanoaggregates for wastewater-based epidemiology”, Trends Anal. Chem., 2022, 116485. (Times cited: 30+)
36. Weng-I Katherine Chio, Jia Liu, Tabitha Jones, Jayakumar Perumal, Dinish U. S., Ivan P. Parkin, Malini Olivo, and Tung-Chun Lee, “SERS multiplexing of methylxanthine drug isomers via host-guest size matching and machine learning”, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2021, 9, 12624–12632. (Times cited: 19+)
35. Jia Liu, Hugues Lambert, Yong-Wei Zhang, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Rapid estimation of binding constants for cucurbit[8]uril ternary complexes using electrochemistry”, Anal. Chem., 2021, 93, 4223–4230. (Cover article)
34. Weng-I Katherine Chio, Gemma Davison, Tabitha Jones, Jia Liu, Ivan P. Parkin, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Quantitative SERS detection of uric acid via formation of precise plasmonic nanojunctions within aggregates of gold nanoparticles and cucurbit[n]uril”, J. Vis. Exp., 2020, 164, DOI: 10.3791/61682.
33. Da-Wei Zhao, Ming-Yu Yu, Ling-Ling Zheng, Ming Li, Shi-Jie Dai, Di-Chun Chen, Tung-Chun Lee, and Da-Qin Yun, “Enhanced efficiency and stability of planar perovskite solar cells using a dual electron transport layer of gold nanoparticles embedded in anatase TiO2 films”, ACS Appl. Energy Mater., 2020, 3, 9568−9575. (Times cited: 35+)
32. Hugues Lambert, Yong-Wei Zhang, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Supramolecular catalysis of m-xylene isomerization by cucurbiturils: Transition state stabilization, vibrational coupling and dynamic binding equilibrium”, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2020, 124, 11469−11479. (Cover article, times cited: 16+)
31. Weng-I Katherine Chio, Suresh Moorthy, Jayakumar Perumal, Dinish U. S, Ivan P. Parkin, Malini Olivo, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Dual-triggered nanoaggregates of cucurbit[7]uril and gold nanoparticles for multi-spectroscopic quantification of creatinine in urinalysis”, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2020, 8, 7051–7058. (Times cited: 23+)
30. Hugues Lambert, Neetha Mohan, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Ultrahigh binding affinity of a hydrocarbon guest inside cucurbit[7]uril enhanced by strong host-guest charge matching”, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2019, 21, 14521–14529. (Cover article, times cited: 24+)
29. Hyeon-Ho Jeong, Eunjin Choi, Elizabeth Ellis, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Recent advances in gold nanoparticles for biomedical applications: from hybrid structures to multi-functionality”, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2019, 7, 3480–3496. (Times cited: 161+)
28. Weng-I Katherine Chio, William J. Peveler, Khaleel I. Assaf, Suresh Moorthy, Werner M. Nau, Ivan P. Parkin, Malini Olivo, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Selective Detection of Nitro-Explosives Using Molecular Recognition within Self-Assembled Plasmonic Nanojunctions”, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2019, 123, 15769−15776. (Cover article, times cited: 38+)
27. William J. Peveler, Hui Jia, Tiffany Jeen, Kelly Rees, Thomas J. Macdonald, Zhicheng Xia, Weng-I Katherine Chio, Suresh Moorthy, Ivan P. Parkin, Claire J. Carmalt, W. Russ Algar, and Tung-Chun Lee, "Cucurbituril-mediated quantum dot aggregates formed by aqueous self-assembly for sensing applications", Chem. Commun., 2019, 55, 5495–5498. (Times cited: 20+)
26. Elizabeth Ellis, Suresh Moorthy, Weng-I Katherine Chio, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Artificial molecular and nanostructures for advanced nanomachinery”, Chem. Commun., 2018, 54, 4075–4090. (Feature article, front cover, times cited: 28+)
25. Chengwu Yang, Mingyu Yu, Dichun Chen, Yaqing Zhou, Wei Wang, Yang Li, Tung-Chun Lee, and Daqin Yun, “An annealing-free aqueous-processed anatase TiO2 compact layer for efficient planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells”, Chem. Commun., 2017, 53, 10882–10885. (Times cited: 36+)
24. Elizabeth Ellis, Kangyi Zhang, Qianyu Lin, Enyi Ye, Alessandro Poma, Giuseppe Battaglia, Xian Jun Loh, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Biocompatible pH-responsive nanoparticles with a core-anchored multilayer shell of triblock copolymers for enhanced cancer therapy”, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2017, 5, 4421–4425. (Emerging Investigators 2017 Issue, times cited 74+)
23. Hyeon-Ho Jeong, Andrew G. Mark, Tung-Chun Lee, Mariana Alarcón-Correa, Sahand Eslami, Tian Qiu, John G. Gibbs, and Peer Fischer, “Active nanorheology with plasmonics”, Nano Lett., 2016, 16, 4887–4894. (Times cited 72+)
22. Hyeon-Ho Jeong, Andrew G. Mark, Mariana Alarcón-Correa, Insook Kim, Peter Oswald, Tung-Chun Lee, and Peer Fischer, “Dispersion and shape engineered plasmonic nanosensors”, Nat. Commun., 2016, 7:11331. (Times cited 198+)
21. Xian Jun Loh, Tung-Chun Lee, Qingqing Dou, and G. Roshan Deen, “Utilising inorganic nanocarriers for gene delivery”, Biomater. Sci., 2016, 4, 70–86. (InCitesTM top 1% highly cited paper, times cited 348+)
20. Qingqing Dou, Xiaotian Fang, Shan Jiang, Pei Lin Chee, Tung-Chun Lee, and Xian Jun Loh, “Multi-functional fluorescent carbon dots with antibacterial and gene delivery properties”, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 46817–46822. (InCitesTM top 1% highly cited paper, times cited 265+)
19. Mariana Alarcón-Correa, Tung-Chun Lee, and Peer Fischer, “Dynamic inclusion complexes of metal nanoparticles inside nanocups”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2015, 54, 6730–6734. (Cover article)
18. Hyeon-Ho Jeong, Andrew G. Mark, Tung-Chun Lee, Kwanghyo Son, Wenwen Chen, Mariana Alarcón-Correa, Insook Kim, Gisela Schütz, and Peer Fischer, “Selectable nanopattern arrays for nanolithographic imprint and etch-mask applications”, Adv. Sci., 2015, 2, 1500016. (Cover article)
17. Sahand Eslami, John G. Gibbs, Yvonne Rechkemmer, Joris van Slageren, Mariana Alarcón-Correa, Tung-Chun Lee, Andrew G. Mark, Geert L.J.A. Rikken, and Peer Fischer, “Chiral nanomagnets”, ACS Photonics, 2014, 1, 1231–1236. (Times cited 90+)
16. Tian Qiu, Tung-Chun Lee, Andrew G. Mark, Konstantin I. Morozov, Raphael Münster, Otto Mierka, Stefan Turek, Alexander M. Leshansky, and Peer Fischer, “Swimming by reciprocal motion at low Reynolds number”, Nat. Commun., 2014, 5: 5119. (Attention score: 244+ ranked top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric, times cited: 448+)
15. Tung-Chun Lee, Mariana Alarcón-Correa, Cornelia Miksch, Kersten Hahn, John G. Gibbs, and Peer Fischer, “Self-propelling nanomotors in the presence of strong Brownian forces”, Nano Lett., 2014, 14, 2407–2412. (InCitesTM top 1% highly cited paper, times cited: 316+)
14. John G. Gibbs, Andrew G. Mark, Tung-Chun Lee, Sahand Eslami, Debora Schamel, and Peer Fischer, “Nanohelices by shadow growth”, Nanoscale, 2014, 6, 9457–9466. (Times cited 142+)
13. Xian Jun Loh, Jesús del Barrio, Tung-Chun Lee, and Oren A. Scherman, “Supramolecular polymeric peptide amphiphile vesicles for the encapsulation of basic fibroblast growth factor”, Chem. Commun., 2014, 50, 3033–3035. (Times cited: 72+)
12. Andrew G. Mark, John G. Gibbs, Tung-Chun Lee, and Peer Fischer, “Hybrid nanocolloids with programmed three-dimensional shape and material composition”, Nat. Mater., 2013, 12, 802–807. (InCitesTM top 1% highly cited paper, times cited: 538+)
11. Tung-Chun Lee, Elina Kalenius, Alexandra I. Lazar, Khaleel I. Assaf, Nikolai Kuhnert, Christian H. Grün, Janne Jänis, Oren A. Scherman, and Werner M. Nau, “Chemistry inside molecular containers in the gas phase”, Nat. Chem., 2013, 5, 376–382. (Cover article, times cited: 168+)
10. Dezhi Jiao, Jin Geng, Xian Jun Loh, Debapratim Das, Tung-Chun Lee, and Oren A. Scherman, “Supramolecular peptide amphiphile vesicles through host-guest complexation”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2012, 51, 9633 –9637. (Times cited 220+)
9. Xian Jun Loh, Mei-Hsuan Tsai, Jesús del Barrio, Eric A. Appel, Tung-Chun Lee, and Oren A. Scherman, “Triggered insulin release studies of triply responsive supramolecular micelles”, Polym. Chem., 2012, 3, 3180–3188. (Times cited: 81+)
8. Gabriel Loget, Tung-Chun Lee, Richard W. Taylor, Sumeet Mahajan, Olivia Nicoletti, Samuel T. Jones, Roger J. Coulston, Véronique Lapeyre, Patrick Garrigue, Paul A. Midgley, Oren A. Scherman, Jeremy J. Baumberg, and Alexander Kuhn, “Direct visualization of symmetry breaking during Janus nanoparticle formation”, Small, 2012, 8, 2698–2703. (Times cited: 25+)
7. Tung-Chun Lee, and Oren A. Scherman, “A facile synthesis of dynamic supramolecular aggregates of cucurbit[n]uril (n = 5 – 8) capped with gold nanoparticles in aqueous media”, Chem.–Eur. J., 2012, 18, 1628–1633. (Times cited: 90+)
6. Xian Jun Loh, Jesús del Barrio, Pearl Pei Chern Toh, Tung-Chun Lee, Dezhi Jiao, Urs Rauwald, Eric A. Appel, and Oren A. Scherman, “Triply triggered doxorubicin release from supramolecular nanocontainers”, Biomacromolecules, 2012, 13, 84−91. (Times cited: 178+)
5. Richard W. Taylor, Tung-Chun Lee, Oren A. Scherman, Ruben Esteban, Javier Aizpurua, Fu Min Huang, Jeremy J. Baumberg, and Sumeet Mahajan, “Precise sub-nm plasmonic junctions for SERS within gold nanoparticle assemblies using cucurbit[n]uril ‘glue’”, ACS Nano, 2011, 5, 3878–3887. (Times cited: 393+)
4. Roger J. Coulston, Samuel T. Jones, Tung-Chun Lee, Eric A. Appel, and Oren A. Scherman, “Supramolecular gold nanoparticle-polymer composites formed in water with cucurbit[8]uril”, Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 164–166. (Cover article, times cited: 98+)
3. Sumeet Mahajan, Tung-Chun Lee, Frank Biedermann, James T. Hugall, Jeremy J. Baumberg, and Oren A. Scherman, “Raman and SERS spectroscopy of cucurbit[n]urils”, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010, 12, 10429–10433. (Times cited 91+)
2. Tung-Chun Lee, and Oren A. Scherman, “Formation of dynamic aggregates in water by cucurbit[5]uril capped with gold nanoparticles”, Chem. Commun., 2010, 46, 2438–2440. (Times cited: 152+)
1. Adam D. Celiz, Tung-Chun Lee, and Oren A. Scherman, “Polymer-mediated dispersion of gold nanoparticles: using supramolecular moieties on the periphery”, Adv. Mater., 2009, 21, 3937–3940. (Times cited: 38+)
51. Huimin Xie, Shuyu Zhu, Jingwen Cao, JuHyeong Lee, Yidan Yin, Deyue Zhou, Jing Yan, Hyeon-Ho Jeong, Tung-Chun Lee, Yuewen Zhang, Qiaosheng Pu, Yang Lan, “Hollow raspberry-like nanoaggregates for sensitive SERS detection of PAHs in water”, Chem. Eng. J., 2025, 511, 161872.
50. Jingwen He, Peng Huang, Bingjue Li, Youqiang Xing, Ze Wu, Tung-Chun Lee, Lei Liu, “Untethered soft robots based on 1D and 2D nanomaterials”, Adv. Mater., 2025, 37, 2413648.
49. Huimin Xie, Shuyu Zhu, Ping Wen, Deyue Zhou, Yidan Yin, Yang Lan, Tung-Chun Lee, Yuewen Zhang, and Qiaosheng Pu, “Raspberry-like plasmonic nanoaggregates with programmable hierarchical structures for reproducible SERS detection of wastewater pollutants and biomarkers”, Anal. Chem., 2024, 96, 17620–17630.
48. Tabitha Jones, Deyue Zhou, Jia Liu, Ivan P Parkin, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Quantitative multiplexing of uric acid and creatinine using polydisperse plasmonic nanoparticles enabled by electrochemical SERS and machine learning”, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2024, 12, 10563–10572. (Cover article)
47. Jia Liu, Su-Hang He, Hugues Lambert, and Tung-Chun Lee, "Modulation of redox reactivity of resazurin through host-guest complexation with Cucurbit[n]uril (n = 7, 8)", Front. Chem., 2023, 11:1295715.
46. Juhwan Kim, Jang-Hwan Han, Hyun Min Kim, Tung-Chun Lee, and Hyeon-Ho Jeong, “Plasmonic nano-rotamers with programmable polarization-resolved coloration”, Adv. Optical Mater., 2023, 2301730. (Cover article, Attention score: 103+ ranked top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric)
45. Katie McGuire, Suhang He, Jennifer Gracie, Charlotte Bryson, Dazhong Zheng, Alasdair W. Clark, Jesko Koehnke, David J. France, Werner M. Nau, Tung-Chun Lee, and William J. Peveler, “Supramolecular click chemistry for surface modification of quantum dots mediated by cucurbit[7]uril”, ACS Nano, 2023, 17, 21585–21594.
44. Suresh Moorthy, Hugues Lambert, Neetha Mohan, Thomas Schwarzlose, Werner M. Nau, Elina Kalenius, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Noncovalent modulation of chemoselectivity in the gas phase leads to a switchover in reaction type from heterolytic to homolytic to electrocyclic cleavage”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2023, 62, e202303491. (Cover article)
43. Xin Liu, Alei Dang, Tiehu Li, Yiting Sun, Tung-Chun Lee, Weibin Deng, Shaoheng Wu, Amir Zada, Tingkai Zhao, and Hao Li, “Plasmonic coupling of Au nanoclusters on a flexible MXene/graphene oxide fiber for ultrasensitive SERS sensing”, ACS Sens., 2023, 8, 1287–1298. (Featured by the Editor-in-Chief J. J. Gooding in Editorial “Some of our favorite papers from the first 10 years of ACS Sensors”, ACS Sens., 2025, 10, 1–3. Times cited: 104+)
42. Gemma Davison, Yidan Yin, Tabitha Jones, Ivan P. Parkin, William J. Peveler, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Multi-mode enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy using aggregation-free hybrid metal/metal-oxide nanoparticles with intrinsic oxygen vacancies”, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2023, 11, 3334–3341.
41. Gemma Davison, Tabitha Jones, Jia Liu, Juhwan Kim, Yidan Yin, Doeun Kim, Weng-I Katherine Chio, Ivan P. Parkin, Hyeon-Ho Jeong, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Computer-aided design and analysis of spectrally aligned hybrid plasmonic nanojunctions for SERS detection of nucleobases”, Adv. Mater. Technol., 2023, 2201400. (Times cited: 11+)
40. Jasmin Omar, Daniel Ponsford, Cécile A. Dreiss, Tung-Chun Lee, and Xian Jun Loh, “Supramolecular hydrogels: design strategies and contemporary biomedical applications”, Chem.: Asian J., 2022, 17, e202200081. (Cover article, top 10 most-cited paper published in Chem.: Asian J. in 2022–23, times cited 80+)
39. Suresh Moorthy, Alvaro Castillo Bonillo, Hugues Lambert, Elina Kalenius, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Modulating reaction pathway of phenyl diazonium ion using host-guest complexation with cucurbit[7]uril”, Chem. Commun., 2022, 58, 3617–3620. (Times cited: 10+)
38. Hugues Lambert, Alvaro Castillo Bonillo, Qiang Zhu, Yong-Wei Zhang, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Supramolecular gating of guest release from cucurbit[7]uril using de novo design”, npj Comput. Mater., 2022, 8, DOI: 10.1038/s41524-022-00702-0.
37. Weng-I Katherine Chio, Huimin Xie, Yuewen Zhang, Yang Lan, and Tung-Chun Lee, “SERS biosensors based on cucurbituril-mediated nanoaggregates for wastewater-based epidemiology”, Trends Anal. Chem., 2022, 116485. (Times cited: 30+)
36. Weng-I Katherine Chio, Jia Liu, Tabitha Jones, Jayakumar Perumal, Dinish U. S., Ivan P. Parkin, Malini Olivo, and Tung-Chun Lee, “SERS multiplexing of methylxanthine drug isomers via host-guest size matching and machine learning”, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2021, 9, 12624–12632. (Times cited: 19+)
35. Jia Liu, Hugues Lambert, Yong-Wei Zhang, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Rapid estimation of binding constants for cucurbit[8]uril ternary complexes using electrochemistry”, Anal. Chem., 2021, 93, 4223–4230. (Cover article)
34. Weng-I Katherine Chio, Gemma Davison, Tabitha Jones, Jia Liu, Ivan P. Parkin, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Quantitative SERS detection of uric acid via formation of precise plasmonic nanojunctions within aggregates of gold nanoparticles and cucurbit[n]uril”, J. Vis. Exp., 2020, 164, DOI: 10.3791/61682.
33. Da-Wei Zhao, Ming-Yu Yu, Ling-Ling Zheng, Ming Li, Shi-Jie Dai, Di-Chun Chen, Tung-Chun Lee, and Da-Qin Yun, “Enhanced efficiency and stability of planar perovskite solar cells using a dual electron transport layer of gold nanoparticles embedded in anatase TiO2 films”, ACS Appl. Energy Mater., 2020, 3, 9568−9575. (Times cited: 35+)
32. Hugues Lambert, Yong-Wei Zhang, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Supramolecular catalysis of m-xylene isomerization by cucurbiturils: Transition state stabilization, vibrational coupling and dynamic binding equilibrium”, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2020, 124, 11469−11479. (Cover article, times cited: 16+)
31. Weng-I Katherine Chio, Suresh Moorthy, Jayakumar Perumal, Dinish U. S, Ivan P. Parkin, Malini Olivo, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Dual-triggered nanoaggregates of cucurbit[7]uril and gold nanoparticles for multi-spectroscopic quantification of creatinine in urinalysis”, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2020, 8, 7051–7058. (Times cited: 23+)
30. Hugues Lambert, Neetha Mohan, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Ultrahigh binding affinity of a hydrocarbon guest inside cucurbit[7]uril enhanced by strong host-guest charge matching”, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2019, 21, 14521–14529. (Cover article, times cited: 24+)
29. Hyeon-Ho Jeong, Eunjin Choi, Elizabeth Ellis, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Recent advances in gold nanoparticles for biomedical applications: from hybrid structures to multi-functionality”, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2019, 7, 3480–3496. (Times cited: 161+)
28. Weng-I Katherine Chio, William J. Peveler, Khaleel I. Assaf, Suresh Moorthy, Werner M. Nau, Ivan P. Parkin, Malini Olivo, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Selective Detection of Nitro-Explosives Using Molecular Recognition within Self-Assembled Plasmonic Nanojunctions”, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2019, 123, 15769−15776. (Cover article, times cited: 38+)
27. William J. Peveler, Hui Jia, Tiffany Jeen, Kelly Rees, Thomas J. Macdonald, Zhicheng Xia, Weng-I Katherine Chio, Suresh Moorthy, Ivan P. Parkin, Claire J. Carmalt, W. Russ Algar, and Tung-Chun Lee, "Cucurbituril-mediated quantum dot aggregates formed by aqueous self-assembly for sensing applications", Chem. Commun., 2019, 55, 5495–5498. (Times cited: 20+)
26. Elizabeth Ellis, Suresh Moorthy, Weng-I Katherine Chio, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Artificial molecular and nanostructures for advanced nanomachinery”, Chem. Commun., 2018, 54, 4075–4090. (Feature article, front cover, times cited: 28+)
25. Chengwu Yang, Mingyu Yu, Dichun Chen, Yaqing Zhou, Wei Wang, Yang Li, Tung-Chun Lee, and Daqin Yun, “An annealing-free aqueous-processed anatase TiO2 compact layer for efficient planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells”, Chem. Commun., 2017, 53, 10882–10885. (Times cited: 36+)
24. Elizabeth Ellis, Kangyi Zhang, Qianyu Lin, Enyi Ye, Alessandro Poma, Giuseppe Battaglia, Xian Jun Loh, and Tung-Chun Lee, “Biocompatible pH-responsive nanoparticles with a core-anchored multilayer shell of triblock copolymers for enhanced cancer therapy”, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2017, 5, 4421–4425. (Emerging Investigators 2017 Issue, times cited 74+)
23. Hyeon-Ho Jeong, Andrew G. Mark, Tung-Chun Lee, Mariana Alarcón-Correa, Sahand Eslami, Tian Qiu, John G. Gibbs, and Peer Fischer, “Active nanorheology with plasmonics”, Nano Lett., 2016, 16, 4887–4894. (Times cited 72+)
22. Hyeon-Ho Jeong, Andrew G. Mark, Mariana Alarcón-Correa, Insook Kim, Peter Oswald, Tung-Chun Lee, and Peer Fischer, “Dispersion and shape engineered plasmonic nanosensors”, Nat. Commun., 2016, 7:11331. (Times cited 198+)
21. Xian Jun Loh, Tung-Chun Lee, Qingqing Dou, and G. Roshan Deen, “Utilising inorganic nanocarriers for gene delivery”, Biomater. Sci., 2016, 4, 70–86. (InCitesTM top 1% highly cited paper, times cited 348+)
20. Qingqing Dou, Xiaotian Fang, Shan Jiang, Pei Lin Chee, Tung-Chun Lee, and Xian Jun Loh, “Multi-functional fluorescent carbon dots with antibacterial and gene delivery properties”, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 46817–46822. (InCitesTM top 1% highly cited paper, times cited 265+)
19. Mariana Alarcón-Correa, Tung-Chun Lee, and Peer Fischer, “Dynamic inclusion complexes of metal nanoparticles inside nanocups”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2015, 54, 6730–6734. (Cover article)
18. Hyeon-Ho Jeong, Andrew G. Mark, Tung-Chun Lee, Kwanghyo Son, Wenwen Chen, Mariana Alarcón-Correa, Insook Kim, Gisela Schütz, and Peer Fischer, “Selectable nanopattern arrays for nanolithographic imprint and etch-mask applications”, Adv. Sci., 2015, 2, 1500016. (Cover article)
17. Sahand Eslami, John G. Gibbs, Yvonne Rechkemmer, Joris van Slageren, Mariana Alarcón-Correa, Tung-Chun Lee, Andrew G. Mark, Geert L.J.A. Rikken, and Peer Fischer, “Chiral nanomagnets”, ACS Photonics, 2014, 1, 1231–1236. (Times cited 90+)
16. Tian Qiu, Tung-Chun Lee, Andrew G. Mark, Konstantin I. Morozov, Raphael Münster, Otto Mierka, Stefan Turek, Alexander M. Leshansky, and Peer Fischer, “Swimming by reciprocal motion at low Reynolds number”, Nat. Commun., 2014, 5: 5119. (Attention score: 244+ ranked top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric, times cited: 448+)
15. Tung-Chun Lee, Mariana Alarcón-Correa, Cornelia Miksch, Kersten Hahn, John G. Gibbs, and Peer Fischer, “Self-propelling nanomotors in the presence of strong Brownian forces”, Nano Lett., 2014, 14, 2407–2412. (InCitesTM top 1% highly cited paper, times cited: 316+)
14. John G. Gibbs, Andrew G. Mark, Tung-Chun Lee, Sahand Eslami, Debora Schamel, and Peer Fischer, “Nanohelices by shadow growth”, Nanoscale, 2014, 6, 9457–9466. (Times cited 142+)
13. Xian Jun Loh, Jesús del Barrio, Tung-Chun Lee, and Oren A. Scherman, “Supramolecular polymeric peptide amphiphile vesicles for the encapsulation of basic fibroblast growth factor”, Chem. Commun., 2014, 50, 3033–3035. (Times cited: 72+)
12. Andrew G. Mark, John G. Gibbs, Tung-Chun Lee, and Peer Fischer, “Hybrid nanocolloids with programmed three-dimensional shape and material composition”, Nat. Mater., 2013, 12, 802–807. (InCitesTM top 1% highly cited paper, times cited: 538+)
11. Tung-Chun Lee, Elina Kalenius, Alexandra I. Lazar, Khaleel I. Assaf, Nikolai Kuhnert, Christian H. Grün, Janne Jänis, Oren A. Scherman, and Werner M. Nau, “Chemistry inside molecular containers in the gas phase”, Nat. Chem., 2013, 5, 376–382. (Cover article, times cited: 168+)
10. Dezhi Jiao, Jin Geng, Xian Jun Loh, Debapratim Das, Tung-Chun Lee, and Oren A. Scherman, “Supramolecular peptide amphiphile vesicles through host-guest complexation”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2012, 51, 9633 –9637. (Times cited 220+)
9. Xian Jun Loh, Mei-Hsuan Tsai, Jesús del Barrio, Eric A. Appel, Tung-Chun Lee, and Oren A. Scherman, “Triggered insulin release studies of triply responsive supramolecular micelles”, Polym. Chem., 2012, 3, 3180–3188. (Times cited: 81+)
8. Gabriel Loget, Tung-Chun Lee, Richard W. Taylor, Sumeet Mahajan, Olivia Nicoletti, Samuel T. Jones, Roger J. Coulston, Véronique Lapeyre, Patrick Garrigue, Paul A. Midgley, Oren A. Scherman, Jeremy J. Baumberg, and Alexander Kuhn, “Direct visualization of symmetry breaking during Janus nanoparticle formation”, Small, 2012, 8, 2698–2703. (Times cited: 25+)
7. Tung-Chun Lee, and Oren A. Scherman, “A facile synthesis of dynamic supramolecular aggregates of cucurbit[n]uril (n = 5 – 8) capped with gold nanoparticles in aqueous media”, Chem.–Eur. J., 2012, 18, 1628–1633. (Times cited: 90+)
6. Xian Jun Loh, Jesús del Barrio, Pearl Pei Chern Toh, Tung-Chun Lee, Dezhi Jiao, Urs Rauwald, Eric A. Appel, and Oren A. Scherman, “Triply triggered doxorubicin release from supramolecular nanocontainers”, Biomacromolecules, 2012, 13, 84−91. (Times cited: 178+)
5. Richard W. Taylor, Tung-Chun Lee, Oren A. Scherman, Ruben Esteban, Javier Aizpurua, Fu Min Huang, Jeremy J. Baumberg, and Sumeet Mahajan, “Precise sub-nm plasmonic junctions for SERS within gold nanoparticle assemblies using cucurbit[n]uril ‘glue’”, ACS Nano, 2011, 5, 3878–3887. (Times cited: 393+)
4. Roger J. Coulston, Samuel T. Jones, Tung-Chun Lee, Eric A. Appel, and Oren A. Scherman, “Supramolecular gold nanoparticle-polymer composites formed in water with cucurbit[8]uril”, Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 164–166. (Cover article, times cited: 98+)
3. Sumeet Mahajan, Tung-Chun Lee, Frank Biedermann, James T. Hugall, Jeremy J. Baumberg, and Oren A. Scherman, “Raman and SERS spectroscopy of cucurbit[n]urils”, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010, 12, 10429–10433. (Times cited 91+)
2. Tung-Chun Lee, and Oren A. Scherman, “Formation of dynamic aggregates in water by cucurbit[5]uril capped with gold nanoparticles”, Chem. Commun., 2010, 46, 2438–2440. (Times cited: 152+)
1. Adam D. Celiz, Tung-Chun Lee, and Oren A. Scherman, “Polymer-mediated dispersion of gold nanoparticles: using supramolecular moieties on the periphery”, Adv. Mater., 2009, 21, 3937–3940. (Times cited: 38+)
Teaching
- TMSAMSSING01 MSc in Advanced Materials Science (Programme Developer, Coordinator and Admission Tutor)
- NSCI0012 Materials Design, Selection and Discovery (Module Designer, Tutor, Lecturer and Primary Examiner)
- NSCI0013 Advanced Materials Characterisation (Lecturer and Examiner)
- NSCI0015 Research Methodology (Module Designer, Lecturer and Examiner)
- NSCI0016 Literature Project (Tutor, Primary Supervisor and Examiner)
- NSCI0017 Research Project (Primary Supervisor and Examiner)
