Rate My Professor Sam Chen

Dr. Sam Chen is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Science at the University of Newcastle, part of the College of Engineering, Science and Environment. He earned his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Western Australia in 2014, following Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology in China. Chen's academic career includes postdoctoral research with Professor Colin L. Raston at Flinders University, a Research Fellowship at the Institute for Basic Science Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea from 2015 to 2017, and a Research Associateship at the University of New South Wales School of Chemistry from 2017 to 2021. Since 2021, he has served as a Lecturer in the School of Environmental and Life Sciences at the University of Newcastle, advancing to his current position as Senior Lecturer.

Dr. Chen's research specializes in carbon materials, materials chemistry, materials science, and nanoscience, emphasizing functional materials and nanomaterials. He received the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellowship in 2017. His research efforts have secured over $3.9 million in funding across 19 grants, including ARC Discovery Projects on new carbon phases synthesized under extreme conditions (2023-2025, $592,000) and diamane as a new frontier in materials science (2023-2025, $364,430), as well as an ARC LIEF grant for advanced materials characterization (2025, $570,000). Key publications encompass highly cited works such as "Interaction of black phosphorus with oxygen and water" (Chemistry of Materials, 2016), "Vortex fluidic exfoliation of graphite and boron nitride" (Chemical Communications, 2012), "Capturing the active sites of multimetallic (oxy)hydroxides for the oxygen evolution reaction" (Energy & Environmental Science, 2020), and recent contributions like "Large-Area Transfer of Nanometer-Thin C60 Films" (ACS Nano, 2025). Through these high-impact publications and extensive international collaborations spanning Australia, China, Korea, France, and the United States, Dr. Chen exerts considerable influence in advancing nanomaterials for energy storage and conversion applications.