Po-Chun Hsu

Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Po-Chun Hsu’s research group aims to develop innovative materials for light and heat management. With the application and desired functions in mind, we design, synthesize, and fabricate the materials and devices with ideal photonic structure, chemical properties, or heat transfer characteristics. Focus areas include smart textiles, photonic fibers, solar desalination, and solid-state cooling.

He received his Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University in 2016 and B.S. also in Materials Science and Engineering from National Tsing Hua University in 2007. His PhD works involve radiative heating/cooling textiles, electrochromic devices, nanofiber electrospinning, and metal nanowire transparent electrodes. During 2016-2018, he was a postdoctoral researcher in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, focusing on electrocaloric cooling and thermal properties study of van der Waals heterostructure materials. Having the training in both materials science and heat transfer and participated in a wide range of projects, Dr. Hsu embraces interdisciplinary, multiscale, and solution-oriented research that can benefit humanity.

Appointments and Affiliations

• Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Contact Information

• Office Location: 140 Science Drive, Gross Hall Room 389, Durham, NC 27708
• Office Phone: (919) 660-5409
• Email Address: pochun.hsu@duke.edu
• Websites:
  • Google scholar
  • Hsu group

Education

• Ph.D. Stanford University, 2016

Research Interests

Smart multifunctional textiles, camouflage fabrics, stimuli-responsive polymer, wearable electronics, photon management, radiation heat transfer, solar desalination and water harvesting, electrochemical devices, electrospinning and fiber fabrication

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

• Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. National Science Foundation. 2022

Courses Taught

• ME 336L: Fluid Mechanics
• ME 492: Special Projects in Mechanical Engineering
• ME 555: Advanced Topics in Mechanical Engineering
• ME 592: Research Independent Study in Mechanical Engineering or Material Science
• MSEG 591: Independent Study

In the News

• K-12 Outreach: Let There Be LITE (Apr 21, 2022 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• Hsu Wins NSF CAREER Award to Develop Energy-Saving Wearable Device (Jan 25, 2022 | Duke Engineering News)
• Innovative Textile Vents to Release Heat When You Sweat (Jan 5, 2022 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• Engineers Develop Heating and Cooling Device That Could Reduce HVAC energy use by nearly 20 percent (Dec 3, 2020 | Pratt School of Engineering)

Representative Publications

• Hsu, P-C; Song, AY; Catrysse, PB; Liu, C; Peng, Y; Xie, J; Fan, S; Cui, Y, “Radiative human body cooling by nanoporous polyethylene textile” Science, vol 353 no. 6303 (2016), pp. 1019-1023
• Hsu, P-C; Liu, C; Song, AY; Zhang, Z, Peng, Y; Xie, J; Liu, K; Wu, C-L; Catrysse, PB; Cai, L; Zhai, S; Majumdar, A; Fan, S; Cui; Y, “Dual-mode textile for human body radiative heating and cooling” Science Advances, vol 3 no. 11 (2017), e1700895
• Hsu, P-C; Liu, X; Liu, C; Xie X; Lee, HR; Welch, AJ; Zhao, T; Cui, Y; “Personal thermal management by metallic nanowire-coated textile” Nano Letters, vol 15 no. 1 (2015), pp. 365-371
• Hsu*, P-C; Wang*, S; Wu, H; Narasimhan, VK; Lee, HY; Cui, Y, “Performance enhancement of metal nanowire transparent conducting electrodes by mesoscale metal wires” Nature Communications, vol 4 no. 2522 (2013)
• Hsu, P-C; Kong, D; Wang, S; Wang, H; Welch, AJ; Wu, H; Cui, Y, “Electrolessly deposited electrospun metal nanowire transparent electrodes” Journal of American Chemical Society, vol 136 no. 30 (2014), pp. 10593-10596
• Hsu, P-C; Wu, H; Carney, TJ; McDowell, MT; Yang, Y; Garnett, EC; Li, M; Hu, L; Cui, Y, “Passivation coating on electrospun copper nanofibers for stable transparent electrodes” ACS Nano, vol 6 no. 6 (2012), pp. 5150-5156
• Deng*, B; Hsu*, P-C; Chen, G; Chandrashekar, BN; Liao, L; Ayitimuda, Z; Wu, J; Guo, Y; Lin, L; Zhou, Y; Aisijiang, M; Xie, Q; Cui, Y; Liu, Z; Peng, H, "Roll-to-roll encapsulation of metal nanowires in graphene and plastic substrate for high-performance flexible transparent electrodes" Nano Letters, vol 15 no. 6 (2015), pp. 4206-4213
• Liu*, C; Hsu*, P-C; Lee, HW; Ye, M; Zheng, G; Liu, N; Li, W; Cui, Y, “Transparent air filter for high-efficiency PM2. 5 capture” Nature Communications, vol 6 no. 6205 (2015)
• Chen, Z; Hsu, P-C; Lopez, J; Li, Y; To, JWF; Liu, N; Wang, C; Andrews, SC; Liu, J; Cui, Y; Bao, Z, “Fast and reversible thermoresponsive polymer switching for safer batteries” Nature Energy, vol 1 no. 15006 (2016)
• Peng*, Y; Chen*, J; Song*, AY; Catrysse*, PB; Hsu, P-C; Cai, L; Liu, B; Zhu, Y; Zhou, G; Wu, DS; Lee, HR; Fan, S; Cui, Y, “Nanoporous polyethylene microfibres for large-scale radiative cooling fabric” Nature Sustainability, vol 1 no. 2 (2018), pp. 105-112