Jenny Y. Yang

Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine

Joint Appointee, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Biography

Jenny Y. Yang, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine, where she also serves as the Director of the Center for Closing the Carbon Cycle, a Department of Energy Energy Frontier Research Center. She holds a joint appointment at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Yang received a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed postdoctoral training at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Prior to joining UC Irvine in 2013, she served as Senior Research Scientist at the California Institute of Technology, where she was Scientist Lead for Molecular Electrocatalysts for CO₂ Reduction at the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis.

Yang's research focuses on molecular electrocatalysis for carbon dioxide reduction and hydrogen evolution, with particular emphasis on understanding how secondary coordination sphere effects and proton-coupled electron transfer influence catalytic reactivity. Her work spans the development of molecular catalysts for CO₂ capture and conversion, studies of metal hydride complexes for selective reduction reactions, and investigations of how positioned pendant bases and cationic charges affect catalytic mechanisms. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Yang is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering. She has received the Department of Energy Early Career Award, the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and was named a Sloan Foundation Fellow and CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar. Yang has served on the National Academies of Science & Engineering committee on Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, Research and Development, and holds editorial advisory board positions with Accounts of Chemical Research, ACS Energy Letters, Organic and Inorganic Chemistry Au, and Chem.

Education

B.S. in Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, 2001
Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007

Distinctions

Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2024
Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE), 2017
ACS Catalysis Lectureship (member of team award from work at PNNL), 2015
Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow, 2017
Research Corporation Scialog Fellow for Negative Emissions Science, 2020
Research Corporation Scialog Fellow for Advanced Energy Storage, 2017
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar, 2018
Inorganic Chemistry Lectureship, 2021
Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, 2019
Camille and Henry Dreyfus Environmental Postdoctoral Mentor, 2015

Areas of Expertise

Molecular Electrocatalysis
Hydrogen Evolution Catalysis
Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer
Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Capture
Reactive Carbon Capture Systems
Redox-Active Quinone Design

Recent Publications

Cypcar A.D., Yang J.Y., “Thiophene-Based Bidentate Phosphine Ligands for Aqueous Chemistry: Synthesis, Rhodium Complexation, and Electrochemical Properties” (opens in new tab), Organometallics, vol. 45, pp. 544-551, 2026.
Brar, A., Wang, X. S., Yang, J. Y., Findlater, M., “Challenges in Product Selectivity for Electrocatalytic Reduction of Amine-Captured CO2: Implications for Reactive Carbon Capture” (opens in new tab), ACS Omega, vol. 10, no. 21, pp. 21980-21984, 2025.
Flinkingshelt, F., Click, Sophia, Kwon, H., Ziller, J. W., Pham, T. A., Ogitsu, T., Dukovic, G., Yang, J. Y., “Synthesis and Characterization of [Ni(H2O)(7-PPh2NArSO3)2](NaBF4) for Light-Driven Quantum Dot-Catalyst Hydrogen Evolution” (opens in new tab), Energy and Fuels, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 2196-2202, 2025.
Payong, J. E. L., Léonard, N. G., Anderson-Sanchez, L. M., Ziller, J. W., Yang, J. Y., “Synthesis and anion binding properties of (thio)urea functionalized Ni(II)-salen complexes” (opens in new tab), Dalton Transactions, vol. 54, pp. 934-9, 2025.
Gillis C.N., Pauker H., Ross R.D., Hahn C., Nielsen R.J., Yang J.Y., “Integrated CO2Capture and Conversion to Formate with a Molecular Platinum Bis(diphosphine) Electrocatalyst” (opens in new tab), Jacs Au, vol. 5, pp. 5359-5366, 2025.
Mir A.Q., Banerjee A., Ihiri F., Chiu S., Alexandrova A.N., Morales-Guio C., Yang J.Y., “Optimizing CO2-Loaded Aqueous Amine Solutions for Higher Electrocatalytic CO2Reduction Activity” (opens in new tab), Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 147, pp. 39123-39133, 2025.
Stanley J.S., Pauker H.N., Kuker E., Dong V., Nielsen R.J., Yang J.Y., “RETRACTED: Sorbent Mediated Electrocatalytic Reduction of Dilute CO2to Methane” (opens in new tab), Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 147, pp. 16099-16106, 2025.
Cypcar, A., Yang, J. Y., “Controlling Hydrogen Evolution and CO2 Reduction at Transition Metal Hydrides” (opens in new tab), Accounts of Chemical Research, vol. 57, no. 24, pp. 3488–3499, 2024.
Cypcar, A., Bui, K., Yang, J. Y., “Suppressing H2 Evolution with Sterically Encumbered Proton Sources to Improve the Faradaic Efficiency for CO2 Reduction to Formate” (opens in new tab), ACS Catalysis, vol. 14, pp. 14517–14523, 2024.
King, R. P., Yang, J. Y., “Diversification of 2,2'-Bipyridines and Azaheterocycles via Nucleophilic Displacement of Trimethylaminiums” (opens in new tab), ACS Organic and Inorganic Au, vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 526–533, 2024.
Zito, A., Yang, J. Y., “Electrolyte Effects on the Reduction Potential and Carbon Dioxide Binding Affinity of Quinones” (opens in new tab), Journal of the Electrochemical Society, vol. 171, pp. 043502, 2024.
Li, C., Ziller, J., Barlow, J. M., Yang, J. Y., “Aqueous Electrochemical and pH Studies of Redox-Active Guanidino Functionalized Aromatics for CO2 Capture” (opens in new tab), ACS Organic and Inorganic Au, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 387-394, 2024.
Yang, J. Y., Appel, A. M., “Maximum and Comparative Efficiency Calculations for Integrated Capture and Conversion CO2” (opens in new tab), ACS Energy Letters, vol. 9, pp. 768-770, 2024.
King, R. P., Yang, J. Y., “Modular Preparation of Cationic Bipyridines and Azaarenes via C–H Activation” (opens in new tab), Chemical Science, vol. 14, pp. 13530-13536, 2024.
Stanley, J. S., Wang, X. S., Yang, J. Y., “Selective Electrocatalytic Reduction of Nitrous Oxide to Dinitrogen with an Iron Porphyrin Complex” (opens in new tab), ACS Catalysis, vol. 19, pp. 12617-12622, 2023.
Wang, X. S., Yang, J. Y., “Translating Aqueous CO2 Hydrogenation Activity to Electrocatalytic Reduction with a Homogeneous Cobalt Catalyst” (opens in new tab), Chemical Communications, vol. 59, pp. 338-341, 2023.
Cypcar, A. D., Kerr, T. A., Yang, J. Y., “Thermochemical Studies of Nickel Hydride Complexes with Cationic Ligands in Aqueous and Organic Solvents” (opens in new tab), Organometallics, vol. 41, no. 18, pp. 2605-2611, 2022.
Zito, A. M., Bim, D., Vargas, S., Alexandrova, A. N., Yang, J.Y., “Computational and Experimental Design of Quinones for Electrochemical CO2 Capture and Concentration” (opens in new tab), ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, vol. 10, no. 34, pp. 11387-11395, 2022.
Barlow, J. M., Yang, J. Y., “Oxygen Stable Electrochemical CO2 Capture and Concentration through Alcohol Additives” (opens in new tab), Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 144, no. 31, pp. 14161-14169, 2022.
Zhang, Z., Kummeth, A., Yang, J. Y., Alexandrova, A. N, “Inverse Molecular Design of Alkoxides and Phenoxides for Aqueous Direct Air Capture of CO2” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 119, no. 25, pp. e2123496119, 2022.

Most Cited Publications

Jacobsen, G. M., Yang, J. Y., Twamley, B., Wilson, A. D., Bullock, R. M., DuBois, M. R., DuBois, D. L., “Hydrogen Production Using Cobalt-Based Molecular Catalysts Containing a Proton Relay in the Second Coordination Sphere” (opens in new tab), Energy and Environmental Science, vol. 1, pp. 167-174, 2008.
Yang, J. Y., Bullock, R. M., Shaw, W. J., Twamley, B., Fraze, K., DuBois, M. R., DuBois, D. L., “Mechanistic Insights into Catalytic H2 Oxidation by Ni Complexes Containing a Diphosphine Ligand with a Positioned Amine Base” (opens in new tab), Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 131, pp. 5935-5945, 2009.
Shafaat, H. S., Yang, J. Y., “Uniting Biological and Synthetic Chemical Strategies for Selective CO2 Reduction” (opens in new tab), Nature Catalysis, vol. 4, pp. 928-933, 2021.
Yang, J. Y., Smith, S. E., Liu, T., Dougherty, W. G., Hoffert, W. A., Kassel, W. S., DuBois, M. R., DuBois, D. L., Bullock, M. R., “Two Pathways for Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Hydrogen by a Nickel Bis(diphosphine) Complex with Pendant Amines in the Second Coordination Sphere” (opens in new tab), Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 135, pp. 9700-9712, 2013.
Smith, S. E., Yang, J. Y., Bullock, R. M., DuBois, D. L., “Reversible Electrocatalytic Production and Oxidation of Hydrogen at Low Overpotentials by a Functional Hydrogenase Mimic” (opens in new tab), Angewandte Chemie International Edition, vol. 51, pp. 3152-3155, 2012.
Leonard, Nadia G., Dhaoui, R., Chantarojsiri, T., Yang, J. Y., “Electric Fields in Catalysis: From Enzymes to Molecular Catalysts” (opens in new tab), ACS Catalysis, vol. 11, pp. 10923-10932, 2021.
Ceballos, B. M., Yang, J. Y., “Directing the Reactivity of Metal Hydrides for Selective CO₂ Reduction” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 115, no. 50, pp. 12686-12691, 2018.
Yang, J. Y., Chen, S., Dougherty, W. G., Kassel, W. S., Bullock, R. M., DuBois, D. L., Raugei, S., Rousseau, R., Dupuis, M., DuBois, M. R., “Hydrogen Oxidation Catalysis by a Nickel Diphosphine Complex with Pendant tert-Butyl Amines” (opens in new tab), Chemical Communications, vol. 46, pp. 8618-8620, 2010.
Barlow, J. M., Yang, J. Y., “Thermodynamic Considerations for Optimizing Selective CO2 Reduction by Molecular Catalysts” (opens in new tab), ACS Central Science, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 580-588, 2019.
Reath, A., Ziller, J., Tsay, C., Ryan, A. J., Yang, J. Y., “Redox Potential and Electronic Structure Effects of Proximate Non-Redox Active Cations in Cobalt Schiff Base Complexes” (opens in new tab), Inorganic Chemistry, vol. 56, no. 6, pp. 3713-3718, 2017.

Contact Information

Website: https://yanggroup.weebly.com/

Email: j.yang@uci.edu

Address: 4080 Samueli Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering

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Last updated on 4/30/2026.