The finalists
Ten universities. Ten projects. Ten academics.
Zuankai Wang
Three-dimensional capillary ratchet-induced liquid directional steering
Liquid on a surface is usually thought to spread wherever surface energy dictates, largely regardless of the liquid itself. This work shows that three-dimensional capillary ratchets can steer liquids of differing surface tension in chosen directions by creating an asymmetric spreading profile both along and out of the surface plane, with self-propulsion and high flow velocity as useful accompaniments.
Giovanni Traverso
Bioplastics for a circular economy
Plastics made from biological sources promise a way out of a linear take, make and dispose economy. This work considers bioplastics in the context of a circular economy, examining what such materials would need to deliver for that promise to hold and where the idea currently stands.
Abdelfattah Amari
Nanomaterials are usually made with harsh chemistry, but plants and microbes can do much of the work instead. This review surveys green synthesis, in which microorganisms, plant extracts or proteins act as reducing and capping agents, and covers recent developments alongside applications reported in agrochemicals, food, drug delivery, cosmetics, cellular imaging and biomedicine.
Abdullah M. Al-Mayouf
Physical Model for the Current-Voltage Hysteresis and Impedance of Halide Perovskite Memristors
Al-Mayouf heads the Electrochemical Sciences Research Chair at King Saud University, researching porous and nanostructured materials, electrocatalysts and photocatalysts. In this seven-institution collaboration spanning Spain, Argentina, South Korea and Saudi Arabia, he helped establish a physical model explaining current-voltage hysteresis and impedance in halide perovskite memristors, informing the design of emerging memory devices.
Madhavi Srinivasan
Srinivasan develops advanced electrode materials for lithium-ion, sodium-ion and multivalent batteries and technologies to recover critical materials from electronic waste. Through the NTU Singapore-CEA joint laboratory on circular economy, this collaborative review with French CEA and CNRS partners set out green recycling routes for spent lithium-ion batteries, advancing a circular approach to energy-storage materials.
Seeram Ramakrishna
Ramakrishna directs the Center for Nanofibers and Nanotechnology at NUS and is among the world's most cited materials engineers. With co-authors at Donghua University, the University of Edinburgh and Universiti Malaysia Pahang, he produced the definitive methods primer on electrospinning of nanofibres, covering fabrication principles and applications from filtration to biomedical scaffolds.
Qingbin Zheng
As 5G devices multiply, so does the need to keep electromagnetic interference in check. This review gathers recent progress in flexible shielding materials, explains the mechanisms by which they work, considers what a green measure of shielding performance should look like, and summarises strategies for building several functions into one lightweight material.
Hao Pan
Ultrahigh energy storage in high-entropy ceramic capacitors with polymorphic relaxor phase
Multilayer ceramic capacitors are critical components in electrical and electronic systems, but combining high energy density with high efficiency has been a major challenge. Applying a high-entropy design to lead-free barium titanate ceramics with a polymorphic relaxor phase, the team achieved an energy density of 20.8 joules per cubic centimetre at 97.5 per cent efficiency, an approach they suggest could apply universally to high-performance dielectrics.
Gรกbor Cลanyi
Gaussian Process Regression for Materials and Molecules
Machine learning has changed how atoms are simulated, and Gaussian process regression is one of its workhorses. This review introduces the method for materials science and chemistry, focusing on how interatomic potentials are built within the Gaussian Approximation Potential framework, how reference data are generated and represented, and how such data-driven models should be validated.
Jiapeng Liu
Catalysts rarely stay exactly as they were made: their surfaces rearrange while they work. Rather than treating that restructuring as damage to be endured, the work redirects it in a layered transition metal oxide, showing how a catalyst's own transformation can be steered towards markedly better water oxidation.
Exclusive to partners
The Subject Awards are open to partner universities.
Partners verify their data, feature their academics, and are eligible for the Subject Awards. Finalists are identified from open data; winners are decided by our editorial team and announced on 15 September 2026.
Explore partnership →The wider slate
Fifteen more candidate partnerships behind the finalists.
Harvesting waste heat with flexible Bi2Te3 thermoelectric thin film
The <i>CCP</i>4 suite: integrative software for macromolecular crystallography
Ultrahigh specific strength in a magnesium alloy strengthened by spinodal decomposition
The <i>CCP</i>4 suite: integrative software for macromolecular crystallography
Graphene oxide for photonics, electronics and optoelectronics
Friction of Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>T<sub><i>x</i></sub> MXenes
Multi-heterojunctioned plastics with high thermoelectric figure of merit
Developing fibrillated cellulose as a sustainable technological material