RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Electron holography and tomography of electromagnetic fields and potentials

• Magnetic topological solitons

• Electrical and magnetic characterization using transmission electron microscopy

EDUCATION

• June 2015 - May 2020, Ph.D., Experimental Physics RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

• Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany

• September 2010 - July 2013, M. E., Materials Physics and Chemistry

• Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, China

• August 2006 - July 2010,B. E., Mechanical Engineering and Automation

• Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

WORK EXPERIENCE

• May 2022 - Present,Professor

• Spin-X Institute & Electron Microscopy Center, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

• June 2020 – April 2022,Post-doctoral researcher

• Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany

• August 2013 - May 2015,Research assistant

• Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

1. Zheng, F.*, Kiselev, N. S.*, Rybakov, F. N.*, Yang, L., Wen, S., Blügel, S., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Hopfion rings in a cubic chiral magnet. Nature in press (2023).

2. Zheng, F.*, Kiselev, N. S.*, Yang, L., Kuchkin, V. M., Rybakov, F. N., Blügel, S., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Skyrmion–antiskyrmion pair creation and annihilation in a cubic chiral magnet. Nature Physics 18, 863-868 (2022).

3. Zheng, F., Rybakov, F. N., Borisov, A. B., Song, D., Wang, S., Li, Z-A., Du, H.*, Kiselev, N. S.*, Caron, J., Kovacs, A., Tian, M., Zhang, Y., Blügel, S., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Experimental observation of chiral magnetic bobbers in B20-type FeGe. Nature Nanotechnology 13, 451-455 (2018).

4. Zheng, F. *, Rybakov, F. N.*, Kiselev, N. S.*, Song, D., Kovacs, A., Du, H., Blügel, S., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Magnetic skyrmion braids. Nature Communications 12, 5136 (2021).

5. Zheng, F., Li, H., Wang, S., Song, D., Jin, C., Wei, W., Kovacs, A., Zang, J.*, Tian, M., Zhang, Y., Du, H.*, Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Direct imaging of a zero-field target skyrmion and its polarity switch in a chiral magnetic nanodisk. Physical Review Letters 119, 197205 (2017).

AWARDS

• 2022 Jülich Excellence Prize

• 2018 Chinese government award for outstanding self finance students abroad

FUNDS

• 2023 General Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China

• 2022 National Natural Science Foundation for Excellent Young Scientists Fund Program (Overseas)

• 2022 Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Outstanding Youth)

FULL PUBLICATIONS

38.Zheng, F.*, Kiselev, N. S.*, Rybakov, F. N.*, Yang, L., Wen, S., Blügel, S., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Hopfion rings in a cubic chiral magnet. Nature in press (2023). 

37.Yang, T-Y., Gu, S-W., Zhang, Y-X., Zheng, F., Kong, D., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E., Wu, D., Ge, Z-H.*, Feng, J.*, Jin, L.* Pseudopolymorphic phase engineering for improved thermoelectric performance in copper sulfides. Advanced Materials in press (2023).

36. Kong, D., Kovacs, A.*, Charilaou, M., Zheng, F., Wang, L., Han, X.*, Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Direct observation of tensile-strain-induced nanoscale magnetic hardening. Nature Communications 14, 3963 (2023).

35.Zheng, F.*, Migunov, V., Caron, J., Du, H., Pozzi, G., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Nanoscale three-dimensional charge density and electric field mapping by electron holographic tomography. Nano Letters 23 (3), 843-849 (2023).

34.Li, L., Song, D. *, Wang, W. *, Zheng, F., Kovacs, A., Tian, M., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E., Du, H. * Transformation from magnetic soliton to skyrmion in a monaxial chiral magnet. Advanced Materials 35, 2209798 (2023).

33.Lu, Y.*, Zheng, F.*, Lan, Q., Schnedler, M.*, Ebert, Ph., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Counting point defects at nanoparticle surfaces by electron holography. Nano Letters 22 (17), 6936-6941 (2022).

32.Zheng, F.*, Kiselev, N. S.*, Yang, L., Kuchkin, V., Rybakov, F. N., Blügel, S., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Skyrmion–antiskyrmion pair creation and annihilation in a cubic chiral magnet. Nature Physics 18, 863-868 (2022).

31.Zheng, F.*, Beleggia, M., Migunov, V., Giulio, P., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Electron-beam-induced charging of an Al2O3 nanotip studied using off-axis electron holography. Ultramicroscopy 241, 113593 (2022).

30.Zhang, F., Qi, X., He, M., Zheng, F., Jin, L. *, Peng, Z., Chao, X., Yang, Z., Wu, D. * Contrasting roles of Bi-doping and Bi2Te3 alloying on the thermoelectric performance of SnTe. Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers 9, 5562 (2022).

29.Savchenko, A. S.*, Zheng, F.*, Kiselev, N. S.*, Yang, L., Rybakov, F. N, Blügel, S., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Diversity of states in a chiral magnet nanocylinder. APL Materials 10, 061110 (2022).

28. Song, D.*, Zheng, F., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Prospect for measuring two-dimensional van der Waals magnets by electron magnetic chiral dichroism. Ultramicroscopy 234, 113476 (2022).

27.Ge, Z-H., Li, W-J., Feng, J., Zheng, F., Jia, C-L., Wu, D. *, Jin, L. * Atomic-scale observation of off-centering rattlers in filled skutterudites. Advanced Energy Materials 12, 2103770 (2022).

26.Zheng, F.*, Rybakov, F. N.*, Kiselev, N. S.*, Song, D., Kovacs, A., Du, H., Blügel, S., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Magnetic skyrmion braids. Nature Communications 12, 5136 (2021).

25. Gu, W-H., Zhang, X-Y., Guo, J., Cai, J-F., Zhu, Y-K., Zheng, F., Jin, L.*, Xu, J., Feng, J., Ge, Z-H.* Realizing high thermoelectric performance in n-type SnSe polycrystals via (Pb, Br) co-doping and multi-nanoprecipitates synergy. Journal of Alloys and Compounds 864, 158401 (2021).

24.Zheng, F.*, Kovacs, A.*, Denneulin, T., Caron, J., Weßel, T., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Magnetic field mapping using off-axis electron holography in the transmission electron microscope. Journal of Visualized Experiments 166, e61907 (2020).

23.Zheng, F.*, Migunov, V., Caron, J., Beleggia, M., Pozzi, G., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Measurement of charge density in nanoscale materials using off-axis electron holography. Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena 241, 146881 (2020).

22.Zheng, F.*, Pozzi, G., Migunov, V., Pirker, L., Remskar, M., Beleggia, M., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Quantitative measurement of charge accumulation along a quasi-one-dimensional W5O14 nanowire during electron field emission. Nanoscale 12, 10559-10564 (2020).

21.Wang, Y., Schnedler, M.*, Lan, Q., Zheng, F., Freter, L., Lu, Y., Breuer, U., Eisele, H., Carlin, L. -F., Butte, R., Grandjean, N., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E., Ebert, Ph.* Interplay of anomalous strain relaxation and minimization of polarization changes at nitride semiconductor heterointerfaces. Physical Review B 102, 245304 (2020).

20. Song, D., Wang, L., Wang, W., Zheng, F., Tang, J., Wang, S., Zhu, C., Caron, J., Kovacs, A., Liu, Z., Mandrus, D., Tian, M., Du, H.*, Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Robust nature of the chiral spin helix in CrNb3S6 nanostructures studied by off-axis electron holography. Physical Review B 102, 064432 (2020).

19.Guo, J., Zhang, Y-X., Wang, Z-Y., Zheng, F., Ge, Z-H.*, Fu, J.*, Feng, J.* High thermoelectric properties realized in earth-abundant Bi2S3 bulk via carrier modulation and multi-nano-precipitates synergy. Nano Energy 78, 105227 (2020).

18.Jiang, J., Sun, X., Chen, X., Wang, B., Chen, Z., Hu, Y., Guo, Y., Zhang, L., Ma, Y., Gao, L.*, Zheng, F., Jin, L., Chen, M., Ma, Z., Zhou, Y., Padture, N. P., Beach, K., Terrones, H., Shi, Y., Gall, D., Lu, T-M., Wertz, E., Feng, J.*, Shi, J.* Carrier lifetime enhancement in halide perovskite via remote epitaxy. Nature Communications 10, 4145 (2019).

17.Wu, D., Chen, X., Zheng, F.*, Du, H., Jin, L.*, Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Dislocation evolution and migration at grain boundaries in thermoelectric SnTe. ACS Applied Energy Materials 2, 2392-2397 (2019).

16.Wang, L-M.*, Qdemat, A., Petracic, O., Kentzinger, E., Rücker, U., Zheng, F., Lu, P-H., Wei, X-K., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E., Brückel, T. Manipulation of dipolar magnetism in low-dimensional iron oxide nanoparticle assemblies. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 21, 6171-6177 (2019).

15. Zheng, F., Rybakov, F. N., Borisov, A. B., Song, D., Wang, S., Li, Z-A., Du, H.*, Kiselev, N. S.*, Caron, J., Kovacs, A., Tian, M., Zhang, Y., Blügel, S., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Experimental observation of chiral magnetic bobbers in B20-type FeGe. Nature Nanotechnology 13, 451-455 (2018).

14.Singh, G.*, Bucker, R., Kassier, G., Barthelmess, M., Zheng, F., Migunov, V., Kruth, M., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E., Purcell, S. T., Dwayne Miller, R. J. Fabrication and characterization of a focused ion beam milled lanthanum hexaboride based cold field electron emitter source. Applied Physics Letters 113, 093101 (2018).

13.Ge, Z-H.*, Zhang, Y-X., Song, D., Chong, X., Qin, P., Zheng, F., Feng, J.*, Zhao, L-D.* Excellent ZT achieved in Cu1.8S thermoelectric alloys through introducing rare-earth trichlorides. Journal of Materials Chemistry A 6 (29), 14440-14448 (2018).

12.Zhang, Y-X., Ma, Z., Ge, Z-H.*, Qin, P., Zheng, F., Feng, J. Highly enhanced thermoelectric properties of Cu1.8S by introducing PbS. Journal of Alloys and Compounds 764, 738-744 (2018).

11. Zheng, F., Li, H., Wang, S., Song, D., Jin, C., Wei, W., Kovacs, A., Zang, J.*, Tian, M., Zhang, Y., Du, H.*, Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Direct imaging of a zero-field target skyrmion and its polarity switch in a chiral magnetic nanodisk. Physical Review Letters 119, 197205 (2017).

10.Ge, Z-H., Song, D., Chong, X., Zheng, F.*, Jin, L., Chang, C., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E., Qin, P., Feng, J.*, Zhao, L-D.* Boosting the thermoelectric performance of (Na, K) co-doped polycrystalline SnSe by synergistic tailoring of the band structure and atomic-scale defect phonon scattering. Journal of the American Chemical Society 139 (28), 9714-9720 (2017).

9.Li, Z-A.*, Zheng, F., Tavabi, A., Caron, J., Jin, C., Du, H., Kovacs, A., Tian, M., Farle, M., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Magnetic skyrmion formation at lattice defects and grain boundaries studied by quantitative off-axis electron holography. Nano Letters 17 (3), 1395-1401 (2017).

8.Jin, C., Li, Z-A.*, Kovacs, A., Caron, J., Zheng, F., Rybakov, F. N., Kiselev, N. S.*, Du, H.*, Blügel, S., Tian, M., Zhang, Y., Farle, M., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Control of morphology and formation of highly geometrically confined magnetic skyrmions. Nature Communications 8, 15569 (2017).

7.Wu, D., Zhao, L-D., Zheng, F., Jin, L., Kanatzidis, M. G., He, J.* Understanding nanostructuring processes in thermoelectrics and their effects on lattice thermal conductivity. Advanced Materials 28 (14), 2737-2743 (2016).

6.Feng, D., Zheng, F., Wu, D., Wu, M., Li, W., Huang, L., Zhao, L-D., He, J.* Investigation into the extremely low thermal conductivity in Ba heavily doped BiCuSeO. Nano Energy 27, 167-174 (2016).

5. Wu, H., Zheng, F., Wu, D., Ge, Z-H., Liu, X., He, J.* Advanced electron microscopy for thermoelectric materials. Nano Energy 13, 626-650 (2015).

4.Wu, D., Zhao, L-D., Hao, S., Jiang, Q., Zheng, F., Doak, J. W., Wu, H., Chi, W., Gelbstein, Y., Uher, C., Wolverton, C., Kanatzidis, M. G., He, J.* Origin of the high performance in GeTe-based thermoelectric materials upon Bi2Te3 doping. Journal of the American Chemical Society 136 (32), 11412-11419 (2014).

3.Pei, Y-L., Wu, H., Wu, D., Zheng, F., He, J.* High thermoelectric performance realized in a BiCuSeO system by improving carrier mobility through 3D modulation doping. Journal of the American Chemical Society 136 (39), 13902-13908 (2014).

2.Wu, H., Zhao, L-D., Zheng, F., Wu, D., Pei, Y-L., Tong, X., Kanatzidis, M. G.*, He, J.* Broad temperature plateau for thermoelectric figure of merit ZT>2 in phase-separated PbTe0.7S0.3. Nature Communications 5, 5155 (2014).

1.Zheng, F., Logvenov, G., Bozovic, I., Zhu, Y.*, He, J.* Structural origin of enhanced critical temperature in ultrafine multilayers of cuprate superconducting films. Physical Review B 89, 184509 (2014).

CONFERENCE PAPERS

1. Zheng, F.*, Caron, J., Savchenko, A., Wang, S., Wang, W., Denneulin, T., Kovacs, A., Du, H-C., Du, H-F., Kiselev, N., Blügel, S., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Towards three-dimensional mapping of skyrmionic spin textures in an FeGe nanodisk using off-axis electron holography. Microscopy and Microanalysis 29 (S1), 1396-1397 (2023).

2. Zheng, F.*, Migunov, V., Caron, J., Du, H., Pozzi, G., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Nanoscale three-dimensional charge density and electric field mapping by electron holographic tomography. Microscopy and Microanalysis 29 (S1), 1392-1393 (2023).

3. Zheng, F.*, Migunov, V., Caron, J., Du, H., Pozzi, G., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Three-dimensional charge density and electric field mapping of an electrically-biased needle using off-axis electron holography. Microscopy and Microanalysis 26 (S2), 1540-1542 (2020).

4. Zheng, F.*, Migunov, V., Caron, J., Du, H., Pozzi, G., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Three-dimensional electric field mapping of an electrically-biased atom probe needle using off-axis electron holography. Microscopy and Microanalysis 25 (S2), 326-327 (2019).

5. Zheng, F.*, Caron, J., Migunov, V., Pozzi, G., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Model-based iterative reconstruction of charge density in nanoscale materials using off-axis electron holography. Microscopy and Microanalysis 25 (S2), 48-49 (2019).

6. Völkl, E.*, Zheng, F., Migunov, V., Beleggia, M., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Live measurement of electrical charge density in materials using off-axis electron holography. Microscopy and Microanalysis 25 (S2), 44-45 (2019).

7. Zheng, F.*, Migunov, V., Ramsperger, U., Pescia, D., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E. Quantitative measurement of the charge distribution along a tungsten nanotip using transmission electron holography. European Microscopy Congress 2016: Proceedings, 737-738 (2016).