After graduating, Yang received an EPSRC PhD+ Fellowship, an Early Career
Leverhulme Trust Fellowship in 2011 at
The University of Nottingham. He later received the Nottingham Research Fellowship in 2013 and in 2015 moved to
The University of Manchester where he currently is at the position of
Professor. He develops solid materials for applications in clean-air technology, catalysis, biomass conversion, energy storage, separation and conductivity. His team studies a wide range of porous materials based upon metal-organic frameworks, zeolites, and inorganic materials. The key research interest is to investigate the chemical processes involved in host-guest binding underpinning their materials property using state-of-the-art structural and dynamic studies by synchrotron X-ray diffraction, spectroscopy and neutron scattering, combined with modelling. Porous materials containing nanosized cavities (1-20 nm), the walls of which are decorated with designed active sites, can form unique functional platforms to study and re-define the chemistry and reactivity of small molecules within the confined space. Research in his group involves design, synthesis and characterisation of the materials, and more importantly, the structural and dynamic studies at National Facilities to understand their materials function at a molecular level. Recent finding includes the discovery of catalytic origins for a range of important biomass conversions, and a series of new metal-organic frameworks showing emerging properties for the clean-up of air pollutants, such as SO2 and NOx.
Notable work In 2018, Yang led a research with
Martin Schröder where they designed a novel robust
Metal Organic Framework (MFM - 300(Al)) which exhibited reversible NO2 isotherm uptake of 14.1 mmol g−1 and also showed the capability to selectively remove low concentrations of NO2 (5,000 to < 1 ppm) from gaseous mixtures. • CCDC Chemical Crystallography Prize for Younger Scientists (2019) • ISIS Neutron & Muon Source Impact Awards (2019) •
Institute of Physics B T M Willis Prize (2013)
Major publications • {{cite journal|last1=Yang|first1=Sihai|last2=Schröder|first2=Martin|last3=Teat|first3=Simon J.|last4=Ramirez-Cuesta|first4=Anibal J.|last5=McCormick McPherson|first5=Laura J.|last6=Tuna|first6=Floriana|last7=McInnes|first7=Eric J. L.|last8=Sun|first8=Junliang|last9=Sheveleva|first9=Alena M. |last10=Daemen|first10=Luke L.|last11=Cheng|first11=Yongqiang|last12=Zhang|first12=Xinran|title=Capture of nitrogen dioxide and conversion to nitric acid in a porous metal–organic framework • {{cite journal|last1=Yang|first1=Sihai|last2=Schröder|first2=Martin|last3=Thomas|first3=K. Mark|last4=Ramirez-Cuesta|first4=Anibal J.|last5=George|first5=Michael W.|last6=Drathen|first6=Christina|last7=Tuna|first7=Floriana|last8=McInnes|first8=Eric J. L.|last9=Sun|first9=Junliang|last10=Sheveleva|first10=Alena M. |last11=Daemen|first11=Luke L.|last12=Cheng|first12=Yongqiang|last13=Davies|first13=Andrew J.|last14=Briggs|first14=Lydia|last15=Godfrey|first15=Harry G. W.|last16=Han|first16=Xue|title=Reversible adsorption of nitrogen dioxide within a robust porous metal–organic framework • {{cite journal|last1=Yang|first1=Sihai|last2=Schröder|first2=Martin|last3=Manuel|first3=Pascal|last4=Ramirez-Cuesta|first4=Anibal J.|last5=Callear|first5=Samantha K.|last6=Garcia-Sakai|first6=Victoria|last7=Campbell|first7=Stuard I. |last8=Newby|first8=Ruby|last9=Tang|first9=Chiu C.|title=Supramolecular binding and separation of hydrocarbons within a functionalized porous metal–organic framework • {{cite journal|last1=Yang|first1=Sihai|last2=Schröder|first2=Martin|last3=Lin|first3=Xiang|last4=Lewis|first4=William|last5=Bichoutskaia|first5=Elena|last6=Suyetin|first6=Mikhail|last7=Parker|first7=Julia E.|last8=Tang|first8=Chiu C.|last9=Allan|first9=David R.|last10=Rizkallah|first10=Pierre J. |last11=Hubberstey|first11=Peter|last12=Champness|first12=Neil R.|last13=Thomas|first13=K. Mark|last14=Blake|first14=Alexander|title=A partially interpenetrated metal–organic framework for selective hysteretic sorption of carbon dioxide • {{cite journal|last1=Yang|first1=Sihai|last2=Schröder|first2=Martin|last3=Thomas|first3=K. Mark|last4=Ramirez-Cuesta|first4=Anibal J.|last5=Callear|first5=Samantha K.|last6=David|first6=William I. F.|last7=Anderson|first7=Daniel P.|last8=Newby|first8=Ruby|last9=Sun|first9=Junliang|last10=Blake|first10=Alexander|last11=Parker|first11=Julia E. |last12=Tang|first12=Chiu C.|title=Selectivity and direct visualization of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide in a decorated porous host ==References==