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Yun Jung Lee

Yun Jung Lee, from Hanyang University, China, is scientific editor of Materials Horizons and associate editor of Journal of Materials 深夜福利国产精品 A and Materials Advances. Her research journey has been shaped as much by curiosity and persistence as by performance metrics. From unexpected early work to a long-term focus on solid-state batteries, she reflects on how her thinking has evolved and what really matters when evaluating research that aims to move the field forward.

How did your research interests develop over time, and what led you to focus on energy storage and solid-state battery systems?

I didn鈥檛 begin my research career with a clear plan to specialise in energy storage. What pulled me in was a more basic question: why do some battery systems work better than expected, while others fail even when the materials look similar?

During my PhD, I followed that question in a direction that surprised even me. I worked with viruses, using them as nanoscale templates to shape battery materials. It wasn鈥檛 an obvious combination. At times, it felt like I was moving between two different research cultures. Still, that experience left a strong impression. It made me pay attention to structure and assembly, not just chemistry.

After that, my interests didn鈥檛 shift all at once. They drifted. I started looking less at individual materials and more at what happens where things meet - interfaces, layers, and the way devices are put together. That way of thinking eventually led me away from conventional lithium-ion systems and toward ideas that felt less settled, such as Li鈥揳ir batteries, all-solid-state batteries, and flexible devices.

鈥淎 scientific career isn鈥檛 about speed. It鈥檚 about endurance.鈥�

One paper in particular changed how I thought about my work. In 2022, we published a study in Journal of Materials 深夜福利国产精品 A on . We were trying to understand lithium deposition on porous interlayers. People had seen the effect before, but the explanation was vague. Working through the mechanism took time, and there were many false starts. But once things began to make sense, it became clear to me that solid-state systems would be a long-term focus of my research.

My involvement with the RSC developed in a similarly gradual way. Being included in the at JMCA came early and gave me encouragement when I needed it. Later, I joined the advisory boards of JMCA and Materials Advances. Now, as a scientific editor for Materials Horizons, my role feels different. It鈥檚 less about presenting my own work, and more about helping decide which ideas move the field forward.

What personal or professional challenges have shaped your career, and what helped you persist during more demanding periods?

For a long time, I thought the hardest part of my career would be solving scientific problems. That turned out not to be true. What challenged me more was learning how to keep going as a researcher while raising children at the same time.

There were days when the schedule alone felt overwhelming. Childcare, housework, deadlines, experiments - everything overlapped. I didn鈥檛 suddenly become more capable; I simply had no choice but to work in shorter windows of time and with sharper focus. It鈥檚 not something I had planned for, and it鈥檚 hard to appreciate from the outside.

I also learned very quickly that this wasn鈥檛 something I could manage by myself. Progress during that period depended heavily on my family. Conversations at home mattered as much as decisions in the lab. Keeping relationships stable while trying to move forward professionally took patience, and sometimes trial and error. Looking back, that process changed how I think about success and responsibility.

Around then, someone told me that a scientific career isn鈥檛 about speed. It鈥檚 about endurance. At the time, I didn鈥檛 fully believe it. I was still measuring myself by short-term output and constant momentum. But gradually, that advice became more meaningful. It allowed me to slow down mentally, even when life itself didn鈥檛 slow down. Focusing on the long arc of my work helped me stay in the field during periods when quitting would have been the easier option.

When you assess submissions as an editor, what qualities signal that a Materials Horizons paper will have lasting impact?

For me, what ultimately distinguishes a Materials Horizons paper is whether it presents a genuinely new way of thinking. Incremental performance gains, even when supported by excellent data, are usually not enough. The papers that stand out are those that reshape how we understand a material or a mechanism, often by resolving a long-standing question and translating that insight into a broadly applicable design strategy.

A good example is the Materials Horizons communication on . Rather than treating phase segregation as a synthesis-dependent issue, the study traced the problem to a clear physical origin - Ni虏鈦�-driven superexchange interactions and antisite defects that destabilise domain mixing. By linking this mechanism to a simple off-stoichiometric lithium design, the work moved beyond a system-specific optimisation and offered a transferable framework for cathode design. That combination of mechanistic clarity and generality is what, in my view, defines a strong Materials Horizons contribution.

鈥淪trong performance may attract attention at first, but clear physical understanding is what allows results to last.鈥�

Based on your experience, what guidance would you offer early-career researchers who are developing new materials and approaches?

Developing a new material with impressive performance is always exciting. But I think what matters just as much is paying attention to the things we don鈥檛 fully understand. When a result looks good, but the reason isn鈥檛 clear, that 鈥渨hy鈥� is often the most interesting part.

I try to encourage early-career researchers to stay curious about the fundamentals. Taking the time to understand the underlying material properties鈥攅ven when it slows things down - often leads to more meaningful contributions. Strong performance may attract attention at first, but clear physical understanding is what allows results to last and to be built upon by others.

Looking ahead, which scientific problem do you most hope to see solved, and why does it matter beyond the lab?

I keep coming back to the same thing. A solid-state battery that really works outside the lab. Not just something that looks safe on paper, or survives a few clean test cycles. We鈥檝e improved a lot, but interfaces still break down. Mechanical damage still builds up. Those problems don鈥檛 disappear just because the electrolyte is solid. If we can reach a point where solid-state batteries are genuinely safe, deliver enough energy for real electric vehicles, and don鈥檛 rely on problematic materials, that would matter far beyond research. That would actually change how people use energy.

鈥淚f we assume safety is guaranteed, we stop asking the right questions.鈥�

Are there any widely held assumptions in your research area that you think deserve closer scrutiny?

People often assume that 鈥渟olid-state鈥� automatically means 鈥渟afe.鈥� I understand why, but it鈥檚 not that simple. Removing liquid electrolytes helps, but it doesn鈥檛 remove failure. Solids crack. Lithium still finds pathways. Short circuits still happen. They just happen differently.

That misunderstanding matters. If we assume safety is guaranteed, we stop asking the right questions. Solid-state batteries still need to be tested, stressed, and questioned -just like conventional systems. Maybe even more carefully, because the failure modes are harder to see.

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Progress in materials science depends on asking better questions, not just delivering better numbers. As this interview shows, advancing the field requires curiosity about failure, patience over the long term, and a willingness to rethink established assumptions.

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