A professor at Beijing University of Technology, Manling Sui has built a career at the intersection of physics and materials engineering. Her work has focused on using advanced characterization techniques to better understand how materials behave and evolve, with applications ranging from energy and catalysis to advanced structural materials.
Over the course of her career, Sui has published more than 200 research papers and collaborated with international institutions including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Cambridge, and the Risø National Laboratory in Denmark. Her contributions to science have also been recognized through numerous honors, including the 2026 Wiley Women in Science Award.
Beyond her scientific research, Sui has also been a strong advocate for women in physics. She currently serves as the chair of the Status of Women in Physics Committee of the International Organization of Chinese Physicists and Astronomers, where she is involved in organizing panels and mentorship activities, surveying the status of women in physics across China, and advocating for equitable policies and opportunities for women in academic and research institutions.
Sui has played an important role in initiating an annual women’s special issue of Physics magazine, now running for more than two decades, as well as establishing a prize recognizing female physicists in China and launching an annual outreach program for young students in remote areas across the country.
What sparked your interest in electron microscopy and advanced materials?
My connection to electron microscopy began quite naturally through my master’s supervisor; Professor K.H. Kuo was a renowned Chinese physicist, metallurgist, and crystallographer, celebrated as a pioneer in the development of electron microscopy in China. That was my first exposure to high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) — it felt like opening a window to the atomic world.
I was fascinated by how TEM allows us to directly see the arrangement of atoms and defects that determine a material’s properties. In materials science, macroscopic properties—whether mechanical strength, catalytic activity, or energy conversion efficiency—are fundamentally governed by atomic-scale structures, defects, and interfaces.
As time went by, I came to realize that many key behaviors of advanced materials, especially at the nanoscale, cannot be fully understood without real-time, on-site observation. That curiosity drove me to dedicate my career to developing and applying in-situ/operando TEM techniques to solve fundamental materials science problems.
What are your main research interests right now?
My research focuses on understanding how advanced materials evolve at the atomic scale to guide their future design. Currently, we aim to understand the structure–property relationships and dynamic evolution of advanced materials.
We work on energy-related materials, particularly next-generation lithium-ion and sodium-ion battery cathodes and halide perovskite solar cells, where we study degradation, interfacial reactions, and ion transport. We are also interested in catalytic materials at the atomic scale, including photocatalysts, electrocatalysts for water splitting, and in nanostructured materials and lightweight alloys, where we study deformation, phase transitions, and the evolution of interfaces and precipitates during heat treatment and loading.
A key part of our work is developing and applying in situ operando and low-dose TEM techniques. These allow us to observe the dynamic structural and chemical evolution of materials under real-world conditions, while minimizing electron-beam damage to beam-sensitive materials.
The ultimate goal is to bridge the gap between microscopic physics and macroscopic performance, shifting our role from simply observing materials to actively guiding their design for clean energy and structural applications. I also hope to contribute to making advanced electron microscopes more accessible and shareable, and to cultivate more young researchers who are capable of using this technology.
What are the main applications of this research?
Our research directly supports the development of clean energy technology and advanced structural materials. In energy storage and conversion, we study degradation and failure mechanisms in battery electrodes and perovskite solar cells to guide more stable material design. In catalysis, we observe the atomic-scale dynamics of single-atom catalysts and photocatalysts to help optimize their activity and stability. For structural materials, we investigate deformation and failure mechanisms in advanced alloys for lightweight, high-strength applications.
Ultimately, our goal is to bridge atomic-scale observations with macroscopic material performance under real-world conditions. By revealing why materials degrade or fail at the atomic scale, we provide the fundamental design principles needed to engineer safer batteries, more stable solar cells, high-efficiency and long-lasting catalysts, and stronger alloys.
How has this field evolved over the past decade?
Over the past decade, electron microscopy has shifted from mainly providing static, ex-situ structural images to becoming a dynamic, multimodal characterization platform. Key changes include the widespread adoption of aberration-corrected TEM and low-dose techniques, the integration of in situ / operando capabilities, and a growing use of data-driven and machine-learning-assisted image analysis to handle large datasets from dynamic experiments.
The field is no longer just about “seeing atoms” — it’s about watching how they move and react under realistic conditions.
I expect the future of electron microscopy to become more integrated, intelligent, and interdisciplinary. Ultimately, I think TEM will play an even more central role in rational materials design rather than just providing post-mortem analysis.
What are the key challenges that still need to be overcome?
Several persistent challenges remain. One is mitigating electron-beam damage, especially for soft, organic, or ionic materials such as perovskites, batteries, and catalysts. The electron beam itself can alter or destroy the structure we want to observe, so managing the dose and understanding beam-matter interactions is critical.
Another challenge is replicating realistic working environments inside the TEM, and separating real physics from artifacts, such as beam-induced effects or local thermal and electrical perturbations. There is also the challenge of managing and quantitatively interpreting the huge amount of data generated by these experiments, moving beyond qualitative movies to quantitative, reliable kinetic and mechanistic data.
More broadly, accessibility remains a challenge, since advanced in situ TEM setups are expensive and not equally accessible worldwide, which can create gaps in global collaboration.
Why is it important to actively recruit and retain women in physics?
Physics benefits from diverse perspectives in problem-solving, experimental design, and collaboration — diversity strengthens science. Historically, women have faced structural and cultural barriers that lead to leakage at every career stage, from undergraduate to faculty. If we don’t actively recruit and retain women, we lose a large pool of talent and creativity.
Beyond fairness, it’s about scientific excellence; we need the best minds working on global challenges, regardless of gender. Creating a supportive, equitable environment also sets an example for younger generations that physics is a field where anyone who loves it can belong and contribute.
The Wiley Women in Science Awards 2026, held in March at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, brought together leading scientists and scholars to honor the outstanding contributions of nine exceptional women researchers for their impactful contributions and dedication to innovation. The establishment of the Wiley Women in Science Awards, supported by the journal Advanced Physics Researchaims to inspire the next generation of researchers and support a more inclusive and diverse research community.
Featured Image Credit: Beijing University of Technology
Source: www.advancedsciencenews.com
