Zixuan Chen, male, born in 1987, is an Associate Professor and Ph.D. supervisor at the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University. He is a recipient of the NSFC Young Scientists Fund (B Class).

He obtained his Ph.D. from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Nanjing University in 2015. Since 2016, he has been working at Nanjing University, first as an Associate Researcher, and has served as an Associate Professor since 2021.

His main research interests include:

1. Development of optical microscopy instrumentation;

2. Sensing at the single-cell, single-molecule, and single-particle levels;

3. Nanoelectroanalytical chemistry.

He has published over 40 SCI papers in journals such as Nature Communications, Science Advances, Journal of the American Chemical Society, and Angewandte Chemie. He has led several research projects, including the NSFC Young Scientists Fund (B Class) and general programs.

1）Single-molecule, single-cell and single-nanoparticle studies

2）Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)

3）Electrochemiluminescence (ECL)

Selected publications:

1. Xing, Z.; Zhang, Z.; Liu, R.; Zhuang, J.; Gou, X.; Jiang, L.-P.; Ma, C.; Zhu, J.-J.; Chen, Z., Electrochemiluminescence microscopy for real-time, single-cell imaging of surface charge in electroactive bacteria. Nature Communications 2026, 10.1038/s41467-026-75226-y.

2. Li, J.; Wu, R.; Yang, R.; Tang, W.; Liu, Y.; Zhu, J.-J.; Zhu, W.; Chen, Z., Operando Nanocavity-Confined Raman Spectroscopy Uncovers a Drilling-Shearing Mechanism in Nanoplastic Photodegradation. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2026,148 (25), 26661-26671.

3. Tang, W.; Tang, Z.; Li, J.; Yang, R.; Jiang, L.-P.; Zhu, W.; Zhu, J.-J.; Chen, Z., Digital Decoding of Multicomponent Protein Systems via Nanocavity-Confined Single-Molecule Raman Fingerprinting. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2026,65 (6), e22371.

4. Zhou, K.; Tang, Z.; Liu, Y.; Xing, Z.; Zhu, J.-J.; Chen, Z., Ultrabright Gold Nanoclusters with Intra-Cluster Hydrogen Bonding Enable Near-Zero-Thickness Electrochemiluminescence Imaging of Subcellular Structures. Angewandte Chemie 2025,137 (52), e10193.

5. Liu, R.; Tang, Z.; Xia, Q.; Chen, Z.; Zhu, J.-J., Spinning Top-like Nanoprobes for Direct Visualization of Cooperative Ca2+-Binding-Induced Conformational Switching in Single Calmodulin Molecules. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2025,147 (31), 28251-28258.

6. Tang, Z.; Wu, J.; Wu, S.; Tang, W.; Zhang, J.-R.; Zhu, W.; Zhu, J.-J.; Chen, Z., Single molecule–driven nanomotors reveal the dynamic-disordered chemomechanical transduction of active enzymes. Science Advances 11 (5), eads0446.

7. Chen, X.; Gao, Y.; Qi, Y.; Li, J.; Hu, T. Y.; Chen, Z.; Zhu, J.-J., Label-Free Raman Probing of the Intrinsic Electric Field for High-Efficiency Screening of Electricity-Producing Bacteria at the Single-Cell Level. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2025,64 (4), e202416011.

8. Yang, R.; Cai, Y.; Qi, Y.; Tang, Z.; Zhu, J.-J.; Li, J.; Zhu, W.; Chen, Z., How local electric field regulates C–C coupling at a single nanocavity in electrocatalytic CO2 reduction. Nature Communications 2024,15 (1), 7140.

9. Gao, Y.; Wu, J.; Xia, Q.; Liu, J.; Zhu, J.-J.; Zhang, J.-R.; Chen, X.; Zhu, W.; Chen, Z., Operando Spectroscopic Elucidation of the Bubble Sunshade Effect in Inorganic–Biological Hybrids for Photosynthetic Hydrogen Production. ACS Nano 2024,18 (22), 14546-14557.

10. Li, J.; Qi, Y.; Yang, R.; Chen, X.; Chen, Z.; Zhu, J.-J., Intellectualized Visualization of Single-Particle Raman Spectra for Sensitive Detection and Simultaneous Multianalysis of Heavy Metal Ions. Analytical Chemistry 2023,95 (39), 14736-14745.

11. Gao, D.; Tang, Z.; Chen, X.; Wu, R.; Tian, Y.; Min, Q.; Zhang, J.-R.; Chen, Z.; Zhu, J.-J., Reversible Regulation of Long-Distance Charge Transport in DNA Nanowires by Dynamically Controlling Steric Conformation. Nano Letters 2023,23 (10), 4201-4208.

12. Tang, Z.; Liu, R.; Chen, X.; Gao, D.; Zhang, J.-R.; Zhu, J.-J.; Chen, Z., Plasmonic Probing Single-Cell Bio-Current Waves with a Shrinking Magnetite Nanoprobe. ACS Nano 2022,16 (12), 20842-20850.

13. Chen, X.; Gao, Y.; Zhan, J.; Xia, Q.; Chen, Z.; Zhu, J.-J., Spatiotemporal-Resolved Hyperspectral Raman Imaging of Plasmon-Assisted Reactions at Single Hotspots. Analytical Chemistry 2022,94 (23), 8174-8180.

14. Ma, C.; Wu, S.; Zhou, Y.; Wei, H.-F.; Zhang, J.; Chen, Z.; Zhu, J.-J.; Lin, Y.; Zhu, W., Bio-Coreactant-Enhanced Electrochemiluminescence Microscopy of Intracellular Structure and Transport. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2021,60 (9), 4907-4914.