Yanlei Yu

13.5k total citations · 5 hit papers
143 papers, 11.4k citations indexed

About

Yanlei Yu is a scholar working on Mechanical Engineering, Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials and Biomedical Engineering. According to data from OpenAlex, Yanlei Yu has authored 143 papers receiving a total of 11.4k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 107 papers in Mechanical Engineering, 78 papers in Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials and 69 papers in Biomedical Engineering. Recurrent topics in Yanlei Yu's work include Advanced Materials and Mechanics (103 papers), Liquid Crystal Research Advancements (76 papers) and Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials (63 papers). Yanlei Yu is often cited by papers focused on Advanced Materials and Mechanics (103 papers), Liquid Crystal Research Advancements (76 papers) and Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials (63 papers). Yanlei Yu collaborates with scholars based in China, Japan and United States. Yanlei Yu's co-authors include Tomiki Ikeda, Makoto Nakano, Jun‐ichi Mamiya, Jia Wei, Lang Qin, Mizuho Kondo, Jiu‐an Lv, Yuyun Liu, Motoi Kinoshita and Christopher J. Barrett and has published in prestigious journals such as Nature, Journal of the American Chemical Society and Advanced Materials.

In The Last Decade

Yanlei Yu

139 papers receiving 11.2k citations

Hit Papers

Directed bending of a polymer film by light 2003 2026 2010 2018 2003 2016 2008 2007 2019 500 1000 1.5k
What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

  1. Directed bending of a polymer film by light
    2003 1.9k citations Yanlei Yu et al. profile →
  2. Photocontrol of fluid slugs in liquid crystal polymer microactuators
    2016 923 citations Jia Wei, Lang Qin et al. profile →
  3. Photomobile Polymer Materials: Towards Light‐Driven Plastic Motors
    2008 875 citations Yanlei Yu et al. profile →
  4. Photomechanics of Liquid‐Crystalline Elastomers and Other Polymers
    2007 862 citations Yanlei Yu et al. profile →
  5. Photodeformable Azobenzene‐Containing Liquid Crystal Polymers and Soft Actuators
    2019 432 citations Chongyu Zhu, Lang Qin et al. Advanced Materials profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

Peers by citation overlap · career bar shows stage (early→late) cites · hero ref

Name h Career Trend Papers Cites
Yanlei Yu China 45 6.5k 4.7k 4.6k 4.4k 2.3k 143 11.4k
Timothy J. White United States 59 8.5k 1.3× 6.6k 1.4× 5.8k 1.3× 3.4k 0.8× 3.0k 1.3× 236 13.8k
Cees W. M. Bastiaansen Netherlands 49 3.3k 0.5× 3.6k 0.8× 3.3k 0.7× 2.9k 0.7× 1.7k 0.7× 209 9.7k
Ryan C. Hayward United States 60 5.5k 0.9× 1.3k 0.3× 5.6k 1.2× 4.1k 0.9× 1.9k 0.8× 180 13.2k
Heino Finkelmann Germany 60 8.2k 1.3× 9.5k 2.0× 4.8k 1.0× 3.3k 0.8× 3.3k 1.4× 266 14.3k
Dirk J. Broer Netherlands 69 9.8k 1.5× 9.5k 2.0× 7.2k 1.6× 5.1k 1.2× 2.7k 1.2× 347 19.4k
Shaoli Fang United States 48 2.5k 0.4× 2.0k 0.4× 5.2k 1.1× 6.4k 1.4× 2.1k 0.9× 103 11.4k
Zunfeng Liu China 45 1.9k 0.3× 3.7k 0.8× 6.7k 1.4× 6.3k 1.4× 2.8k 1.2× 148 13.5k
Rusen Yang China 56 2.0k 0.3× 2.3k 0.5× 7.7k 1.7× 6.4k 1.5× 3.5k 1.5× 179 14.0k
Timothy J. Bunning United States 68 3.0k 0.5× 9.0k 1.9× 3.0k 0.7× 4.8k 1.1× 1.3k 0.6× 371 14.9k
Wei Lü China 52 2.7k 0.4× 655 0.1× 4.6k 1.0× 3.1k 0.7× 1.5k 0.7× 146 8.7k

Countries citing papers authored by Yanlei Yu

Since Specialization
Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Yanlei Yu's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by Yanlei Yu with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Yanlei Yu more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Yanlei Yu

Since Specialization
Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Yanlei Yu. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by Yanlei Yu. The network helps show where Yanlei Yu may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of Yanlei Yu

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of Yanlei Yu. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of Yanlei Yu based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with Yanlei Yu. Yanlei Yu is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

20 of 20 papers shown
1.
Feng, Pan, et al.. (2025). Adaptive Locomotion of Pleurotya Caterpillar‐Inspired Segmental Crawling Robots with Multiple Postures. Advanced Functional Materials. 35(42). 5 indexed citations
2.
Jiang, Lixin, Lang Qin, Pan Feng, & Yanlei Yu. (2025). All-Optical Microfluidic Technology Enabled by Photodeformable Linear Liquid Crystal Polymers. Accounts of Materials Research. 6(3). 274–284. 1 indexed citations
3.
Zhao, Xin, Xiaoyu Zhang, Pu Yu, et al.. (2025). A Liquid Crystal Polymer With Thermally‐Induced Deformation and Reversible Fluorescence Switching. Advanced Optical Materials. 13(14). 2 indexed citations
4.
Yu, Pu, et al.. (2025). Multi-stimuli responsive bionic actuators constructed by linear liquid crystal polymers. 1(1). 100003–100003. 2 indexed citations
5.
Wang, Jinlei, Pan Feng, Xiaojun Liu, Lang Qin, & Yanlei Yu. (2025). Shape-Switchable Liquid-Crystal Polymer Actuators with Light-Induced Shape Memory Effect. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 17(34). 48815–48823.
6.
Zhang, Xiaoyu, et al.. (2025). Nature‐Inspired Liquid Crystal Polymer Actuators: From Alignment Regulation to Nano‐composition. Advanced Materials. 37(51). e09892–e09892.
7.
Cheng, Yuxuan, et al.. (2024). Visible‐Light‐Actuated Bidirectional Photochromism in Chiral Nanostructures with Multi‐Degree of Freedom. Advanced Optical Materials. 13(3). 5 indexed citations
8.
Zhang, Xiaoyu, Jia Wei, Lang Qin, & Yanlei Yu. (2024). Liquid crystal polymer actuators with complex and multiple actuations. Journal of Materials Chemistry B. 12(28). 6757–6773. 6 indexed citations
9.
Feng, Pan, et al.. (2024). Dual-Mode Patterns Enabled by Photofluidization of an Azobenzene-Containing Linear Liquid Crystal Copolymer. Langmuir. 40(22). 11766–11774. 3 indexed citations
10.
Liu, Xiaojun, Shuzhen Cui, Lang Qin, & Yanlei Yu. (2023). Two‐Chromatic Printing Creates Skin‐Inspired Geminate Patterns Featuring Crosstalk‐Free Chemical and Physical Colors. Advanced Optical Materials. 12(12). 10 indexed citations
11.
Lu, Yao, Lang Qin, Quan Liu, et al.. (2022). Contactless manipulation of mixed phase fluids in liquid crystal polymer microtubes assisted with light-driven vortex. NPG Asia Materials. 14(1). 13 indexed citations
12.
Wei, Jia, et al.. (2022). Three-dimensional liquid crystal polymer actuators assembled by athermal photo-welding. Soft Matter. 19(5). 999–1007. 11 indexed citations
13.
Qin, Lang, Xiaojun Liu, Guodong Yu, et al.. (2021). Geminate labels programmed by two-tone microdroplets combining structural and fluorescent color. Nature Communications. 12(1). 699–699. 220 indexed citations
14.
Zhu, Chongyu, Yao Lu, Lixin Jiang, & Yanlei Yu. (2021). Liquid Crystal Soft Actuators and Robots toward Mixed Reality. Advanced Functional Materials. 31(39). 93 indexed citations
15.
Sun, Jiahao, Bo Peng, Yao Lu, et al.. (2021). A Photoorganizable Triple Shape Memory Polymer for Deployable Devices. Small. 18(9). e2106443–e2106443. 40 indexed citations
16.
Qin, Lang, et al.. (2021). Soft Actuators of Liquid Crystal Polymers Fueled by Light from Ultraviolet to Near Infrared. Advanced Optical Materials. 9(7). 76 indexed citations
17.
Zhu, Chongyu, Yao Lu, Jiahao Sun, & Yanlei Yu. (2020). Dynamic Interfacial Regulation by Photodeformable Azobenzene-Containing Liquid Crystal Polymer Micro/Nanostructures. Langmuir. 36(24). 6611–6625. 25 indexed citations
18.
Liu, Xiaojun, Lang Qin, Yuanyuan Zhan, Meng Chen, & Yanlei Yu. (2020). Phototuning of Structural Colors in Cholesteric Liquid Crystals. Acta Chimica Sinica. 78(6). 478–478. 9 indexed citations
19.
20.
Yu, Yanlei, et al.. (2010). Domestic development of structural configurations,applications and properties of cable-stayed spatial grid structures. Zhendong yu chongji. 29(1). 128–132. 1 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Timothy J. White Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Cees W. M. Bastiaansen Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Ryan C. Hayward Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Heino Finkelmann Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Dirk J. Broer Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Shaoli Fang Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Zunfeng Liu Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Rusen Yang Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Timothy J. Bunning Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Wei Lü
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