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) 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. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025, n/a, e22371.

(2) 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. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025, n/a, e10193.

(3) 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. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2025, 147, 28251-28258.

(4) Tu, K.; Xu, X.; Li, J.; Zhu, W.; Chen, Z. Thin-Layer Covalent Organic Framework-Coated Gold Superstructures for Label-Free Raman Spectroscopic Monitoring of Multiple Volatile Organic Compounds. Anal. Chem. 2025, 97, 15173-15180.

(5) 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. Sci. Adv. 2025, 11, eads0446.

(6) 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. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025, 64, e202416011.

(7) 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. Nat. Commun. 2024, 15, 7140.

(8) Wu, S.; Tang, W.; Wang, Z.; Tang, Z.; Zheng, P.; Chen, Z.; Zhu, J.-J. High Dynamic Range Probing of Single-Molecule Mechanical Force Transitions at Cell–Matrix Adhesion Bonds by a Plasmonic Tension Nanosensor. JACS Au. 2024, 4, 1155-1165.

(9) Wu, R.; Cao, Y.; Liu, Y.; Zhou, Y.; Chen, Z.; Zhu, J.-J. Alkynyl Ligands Templated Assemblies of Silver Nanoclusters with Exceptional Electrochemiluminescence Activity for Pancreatic Cancer Specific tsRNAs Measurement. Anal. Chem. 2024, 96, 19396-19403.

(10) 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, 14546-14557.

(11) 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. Anal. Chem. 2023, 95, 14736-14745.

(12) 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 Lett. 2023, 23, 4201-4208.

(13) 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, 20842-20850.

(14) 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. Anal. Chem. 2022, 94, 8174-8180.