Dr Peng Zhang PhD

Dr Peng Zhang

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Research Fellow

Contact details

Telephone
07398598427
Email
p.zhang.1@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
Address
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University 麻豆精选
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Zhang is considered a leading researcher with a broad vision and innovative ideas in developing solutions for sustainable nanotechnology and nano-enabled agriculture. He pioneered the use of synchrotron-radiation based techniques to study the transformation of nanomaterials in plants. He specifically established an isotope labeling approach for tracing the fate of nanoscale CeO2 in plants and the environment, which enhanced the detection sensitivity by several thousand-fold. In addition to advancing an understanding of the environment and health implications of nanotechnology, including neurological effects of nanoparticles, he has provided a unique roadmap that combines nanotechnology and artificial intelligence to enable and advance sustainable agriculture.

Dr Zhang was awarded the 2022 American Chemical Society James J Morgan Early Career Award.

Biography

Dr. Zhang joined the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Science at the University 麻豆精选 as a Marie Curie Fellow in 2018. He completed a Ph.D. followed by a 2-year assistant professorship at the Chinese Academy of Science at the Institute of High Energy Physics. He also completed a research fellowship at McGill University, Canada. His research interests span nanosafety, environmental toxicology of emerging contaminants, nanomaterials application in agriculture, and environmental remediation.

Research

Research Interests

Dr Zhang is an environmental scientist having broad research interests in environmental toxicology and chemistry of traditional (e.g., heavy metals) and emerging (e.g., engineered nanomaterials, nano-/micro- plastic) environmental contaminants, and using nanotechnology to solve environmental and agricultural issues. In particular, he has extensive expertise on labeling and tracing of contaminants using isotope (radioactive or stable isotope) labeling approach, and chemical speciation analysis using synchrotron radiation based analytical tools.

He has expanded his work to develop engineered nanomaterials for environmental and agricultural application, for example, developing antifouling materials; developing nanofertilizer and nanopesticides for improving use efficiency of agrochemicals for sustainable and reduced pollution agriculture. A key aspect of his research is to understand the chemical/biological reactions at biointerface, which is essential to understand the behavior and fate contaminants/materials in environment, and the interaction of contaminants/materials with biological organisms. 

Dr Zhang has published over 80 papers in journals including Nature Protocols, Nature Plants, Nature Communications, PNAS, Nano Today, ACS Nano, ES&T, ES&T Letters, Environment International and Environmental Science: nano, with a H-index 30 and total citations over 3300.

Other activities

Youth Editor - The Innovation (Cell Press), 2021-present

Editorial Board - Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 2021-present

Review Editor - Frontiers in Plant Science, 2021-present

Review Editor - Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 2022- present

Editor - PLoS One, 2019-present

Topic Editor - Agriculture, 2021-present

Editor of book - Nano-enabled agriculture (Elsevier), 2021 (ongoing)

Guest Editor - Environmental Pollution, 2021

Guest Editor - Frontiers in Toxicology, 2020

Editorial Board - Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 2018-2021

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Wang, X, Wu, K, Ning, P, Guo, Z, Zhang, P, Wu, L & Lynch, I 2025, '', Journal of Water Process Engineering, vol. 72, 107438.

Zhang, P, Cao, M, Chetwynd, AJ, Faserl, K, Abdolahpur Monikh, F, Zhang, W, Ramautar, R, Ellis, LJA, Davoudi, HH, Reilly, K, Cai, R, Wheeler, KE, Martinez, DST, Guo, Z, Chen, C & Lynch, I 2024, '', Nature protocols, vol. 19, pp. 3000鈥�3047.

An, C, Huang, B, Jiang, J, Wang, X, Li, N, Liu, H, Shen, Y, Sun, C, Zhan, S, Li, X, Wang, C, Zeng, Z, Cui, H, Wu, Q, Zhang, Y, Guo, Z, Zhang, P, Lynch, I, Gao, J-M & Wang, Y 2024, '', ACS Nano, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 662-679.

Li, M, Zhang, P, Guo, Z, Zhao, W, Li, Y, Yi, T, Cao, W, Gao, L, Tian, CF, Chen, Q, Ren, F, Rui, Y, White, JC & Lynch, I 2024, '', Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 1211-1222.

Yang, K, Wang, X, Lynch, I, Guo, Z, Zhang, P & Wu, L 2024, '', Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 333, 125902.

Deng, Y, Wang, X, Lynch, I, Guo, Z, Zhang, P, Wu, L, Wu, X & Li, T 2024, '', Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 330, 125207.

Song, Z, Dang, X, Zhao, L, Hou, H, Guo, Z, Lynch, I, Nadezhda, T & Zhang, P 2024, '', Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 31, no. 8, pp. 12499-12510.

Wang, X, Zheng, Y, Ning, P, Lynch, I, Guo, Z, Zhang, P & Wu, L 2024, '', Environmental Research, vol. 258, 119360.

Wang, X, Jiang, M, Lynch, I, Guo, Z, Zhang, P, Wu, L & Ma, J 2023, '', Environmental Pollution, vol. 336, 122280.

Guo, Z, Zhang, P, Xie, C, Voyiatzis, E, Faserl, K, Chetwynd, AJ, Monikh, FA, Melagraki, G, Zhang, Z, Peijnenburg, WJGM, Afantitis, A, Chen, C & Lynch, I 2023, '', ACS Nano, vol. 17, no. 7, pp. 6350-6361.

Chapter

Zhang, P, Lynch, I, Handy, RD & White, JC 2023, . in Nano-enabled Sustainable and Precision Agriculture. Elsevier, pp. 3-14.

Review article

Zhang, P, Jiang, Y, Schwab, F, Monikh, FA, Grillo, R, White, JC, Guo, Z & Lynch, I 2024, '', Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 58, no. 21, pp. 9051-9060.

Zhu, G, Zhang, P, Zhao, W, Shakoor, N, Sun, Y, Wang, Q, Wang, Q, Li, M, Jiang, Y, Tan, Z, Rui, Y & Lynch, I 2024, '', Toxin Reviews.

Sun, Y, Jiang, Y, Li, Y, Wang, Q, Zhu, G, Yi, T, Wang, Q, Wang, Y, Dhankher, OP, Tan, Z, Lynch, I, White, JC, Rui, Y & Zhang, P 2024, '', Chemical Science.

Li, X, Chen, Y, Xu, J, Lynch, I, Guo, Z, Xie, C & Zhang, P 2023, '', Plant physiology and biochemistry : PPB, vol. 203, 108051.