Group Leader: Prof. Yong Li
Deputy Director, Institute of Acoustics, Tongji University
Deputy Director, Civil Aviation Key Laboratory of Intelligent Assisted Airworthiness for Aircraft Structures
Research Interests: Physical Acoustics, Acoustic Metamaterials, Noise and Vibration Control, Intelligent Acoustic Field Manipulation
Prof. Li's research focuses on acoustic functional materials for sound-field control in complex environments, spanning fundamental wave physics, acoustic metamaterials, and noise-control applications. He has published more than 110 papers as first or corresponding author, including co-first and co-corresponding roles, in leading journals such as Physical Review Letters, National Science Review, Science Advances, Nature Communications, Nature Reviews Materials, Nature Reviews Physics, Reports on Progress in Physics, and Science Bulletin; 14 of these papers are ESI Highly Cited Papers. His work has been selected as Editors' Suggestions and featured by APS, AIP, Phys.org, Physics Buzz, Science Daily, and other media outlets. His publications have received more than 14,800 citations, with an H-index of 56. He has been recognized on Highly Cited Researchers lists and the world's top 2% scientists list for career-long impact. His honors include the First Prize of the Ministry of Education Natural Science Award and the Wei Mo’an Acoustics Award from the Shanghai Acoustical Society. His students have won a National Gold Medal in the China International College Students Innovation Competition. Patents on acoustic metamaterial absorbers have been transferred and deployed in large-scale compressor noise-reduction systems, supporting low-noise operation of major equipment.
🌀 Research Interests
1. Acoustic Functional Materials for Exotic Wave-Field Control
We study how artificial structures and functional materials shape acoustic fields in complex media, with an emphasis on wave propagation, interference, localization, wavefront shaping, resonant coupling, and nonreciprocal transport. This direction aims to clarify sound-matter interactions and establish design principles for precise acoustic energy control and advanced acoustic devices.
2. Applications of Acoustic Functional Materials
We develop acoustic functional materials for noise control and acoustic performance optimization in major engineering systems. This direction focuses on high-performance sound-absorbing metamaterials and multifunctional composites based on deep-subwavelength structures, with particular attention to resonance, coupling, interference, and dissipation. The goal is to enable broadband, efficient, lightweight, and programmable solutions for sound absorption and insulation in transportation, aerospace, and precision acoustic engineering.
3. Non-Hermitian and Topological Acoustics
We explore the intersection of non-Hermitian physics and topological acoustics, focusing on acoustic implementations of gain/loss modulation, exceptional points (EPs), and topological edge states. This direction investigates nonreciprocal sound propagation, asymmetric mode coupling, and robust energy transport, with the broader aim of advancing acoustic communication, reconfigurable wave control, and intelligent acoustic systems.
📢 Highlights
- 📝 In July, Dr. Chao Song published a Letter on robust Fabry–Perot bound states in the continuum in Physical Review B
- 🔬 In June, Dr. Ruizhi Dong was awarded a China Postdoctoral Science Foundation General Program grant
- 🪪 In April, Dr. Nengyin Wang was named a Shanghai Outstanding Graduate
- 📝 In February, Hua Ding and Nengyin Wang published a paper on acoustic metamaterial liners in Physical Review Applied
- 📝 In February, Kaijing Liu and Yihuan Zhu published a paper on AI-driven acoustic metamaterials in Chinese Physics Letters
- 📝 In January, Yu Xiao published a paper on scattering singularities in acoustic metasurfaces in Science China: Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy
- 📝 In January, Yujie Cheng and Hua Ding published a paper on lightweight acoustic metaliners in Journal of Materials Chemistry A
- 🪪 In January, Prof. Yong Li was named to the 2025 Elsevier “Highly Cited Chinese Researchers” list
- 🪪 In December, Chuanhao Ge received a 2025 Tongji University Outstanding MSc Thesis Award
- 🔬 In December, Quansen Wang was selected for the CAST Young Scientists Development Program (PhD Track)
- 🔬 In December, Yihuan Zhu was selected for the CAST Young Scientists Development Program (PhD Track)
- 🔬 In December, Dr. Ruizhi Dong was selected for the Shanghai “Super Postdoctoral” Incentive Program
- 🪪 In November, Nengyin Wang received the Tongji University Outstanding Student Award
- 🪪 In November, Nengyin Wang received the Bronze Convergence Award at the 5th “HaiJu YingCai” Global Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition
- 🪪 In November, Yihuan Zhu received the Tongji University Outstanding PhD Student Scholarship
- 🪪 In November, Prof. Yong Li joined the Editorial Advisory Board of APS Open Science
- 🪪 In November, Dr. Sibo Huang was named to a National Young Talent Program
- 🔬 In November, Dr. Zhiling Zhou received the Hong Kong RGC Junior Research Fellow Award
- 💼 In October, Dr. Sibo Huang was appointed Associate Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University
- 🪪 In October, Nengyin Wang received the National PhD Scholarship
- 🪪 In October, Quansen Wang received the National PhD Scholarship
- 🪪 In October, Chun Liu received the National MSc Scholarship
- 📝 In September, Dr. Jingyi Chen and Dr. Zhiling Zhou published a paper on hybrid degeneracy points in Physical Review Letters
- 🪪 In September, Prof. Yong Li was listed among the World’s Top 2% Scientists (Career Impact)
- 📝 In August, Quansen Wang and Chun Liu published a paper on asymmetric acoustic information transport in Nature Communications
- 🪪 In June, Chun Liu received the ORION MSc Scholarship from Université de Lorraine, France
- 📝 In June, Chuanhao Ge and Nengyin Wang published a paper on acoustic absorber limits in Physical Review Letters
- 📝 In May, Nengyin Wang, Dr. Zhiling Zhou, and Dr. Sibo Huang published a paper on ultra-broadband metamaterial absorbers in National Science Review
- 📝 In May, Ruizhi Dong and Yihuan Zhu published a paper on topological bound states in the continuum in Physical Review Letters
- 🪪 In May, Nengyin Wang received a Tongji University “Pursuit of Excellence” Student Award nomination