CV

Education

2023.11 - 2027 Doctorate degree, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
2021.09 - 2023.09 M.Sc., École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
2017.09 - 2021.07 B.Sc., Peking University, China

2023.11 - : Doctoral researcher, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion
- I use solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to study heterogenous catalytic processes. With the significant line-narrowing achieved with the advent of new fast magic-angle spinning (MAS) techniques, the engagement of various types of noncovalent interactions can be resolved and identified.
- Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Thomas Wiegand
2023.02 - 2023.08: Master’s project, ETH Zürich
- The experiment time and hence the sensitivity and resolution of pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) experiments are limited by fast decoherence of the electron. One way to extend this coherence life time is hyperfine decoupling. By analytically and numerically solving Liouville-von Neumann equation, I simulated the evolution of electron magnetization under hyperfine decoupling.
- Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Gunnar Jeschke
2022.03 - 2023.02: Master’s student, EPFL
- Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) has the potential to increase the sensitivity of NMR by 600-fold, but it is limited only to 100 K at present. To conduct DNP experiments at high temperature requires new polarizing agents and new matrices. In this project, I investigated the viability of polymers as room-temperature DNP matrices.
- Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Lyndon Emsley

Y. Wu, Y. Zhang, W. Leitner, A. Bordet, T. Wiegand. Chem. Eur. J. Formic Acid Stabilization on Supported Ionic Liquid Phases: Insights from Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy. DOI: 10.1002/chem.70950 (2026)
H.G. Zahedi, J. Hertel, B. Paul, L. Kang, J. Johny, Y. Wu, T. Wiegand, S. DeBeer, W. Leitner, A. Bordet. J. Am. Chem. Soc. Selective Hydrogenation of Heteroarenes Using Supported Ruthenium Phosphide Nanoparticle Catalysts. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c16144 (2026)
M. Durai, Y. Wu, J. Johny, W. Hetaba, T. Wiegand, W. Leitner, A. Bordet. Chem. Sci. One-pot synthesis of E-chalcones using a multifunctional catalyst comprised of ruthenium nanoparticles and palladium N-heterocyclic carbene complexes immobilized on silica. DOI: 10.1039/D4SC07773C (2025).
G. Jeschke, N. Wili, Y. Wu, S. Kuzin, H. Karas, H. Hintz, A. Godt. Magn. Reson. Electron-spin decoherence in trityl radicals in the absence and presence of microwave irradiation. DOI:10.5194/mr-6-15-2025 (2025).
V. Timoshev, L. A. Haufe, M. Seifert, O. Busse, Y. Wu, T. Wiegand, J. J. Weigand. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. Enhancing Hydrothermal Stability of ZSM-5 Cracking Additives with Aluminum Phosphates. DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.4c01852 (2024).

Oral presentation, Fuel Science International Conference, 2026.06.23-25, Aachen Germany.
Poster & flash talk, EUROMAR, 2025.07.06-10, Oulu Finnland.
Oral presentation, Fuel Science International Conference, 2025.06.03-05, Aachen Germany.
Poster, FGMR, 2024.09.09-12, Rostock Germany
Poster, Fuel Science International Conference, 2024.06.11-13, Aachen, Germany

Teaching assistant for Master’s lecture Advanced Magnetic Resonance at RWTH Aachen University (Spring 2025, Spring 2026). I prepared and presented the exercise problem sets and solutions to the students. I have also prepared a series of python simulation scripts to help the students understand some of the key topics in NMR.
Supervising bachelor’s and master’s students at RWTH Aachen University.

narumii, a personal toolbox for numerical spin dynamics simulations and parameter optimization using SIMPSON written in python. The toolbox provides fine control over simulation processes and can be run on both personal computers and high-performance computing clusters.
rotor_management_elabftw, a web app used for checking and updating information about solid-state NMR rotors in the lab. The frontend is built in python and connected to eLabFTW as a database.