Welcome

Welcome to Ling research lab at School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology at NTU, Singapore!

The research programs in our laboratory combine chemistry, nanotechnology, and materials science approaches to develop functional nanostructures for novel catalysis, diagnosis and sensing applications. Our research activities involve nanoparticle synthesis, surface chemistry, self-assembly, nanopatterning, nanofabrication, materials and device characterization. We use molecular-specific surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to perform study on the fundamentals and applications of catalysis, sensing, diagnosis and plasmonic studies at real time, within nanometer range of spatial resolution and spectroscopically

Xing Yi Ling is a President’s Chair in Chemistry from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She received her Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from University of Twente, the Netherlands in 2009, and her postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley between 2009-2011. She joined Chemistry and Biological Chemistry division at Nanyang Technological University in 2011, where she was promoted to professor in 2021. Since January 2024, Xing Yi serves as the Editor-in-Chief the ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces and Applied Materials portfolio, a family of eight journals focused on materials, interfacial processes, and their applications. Her research focuses in using nanotechnology for fundamental studies and applications in environmental and healthcare fields. Specifically, she is interested in self-assembling shape-controlled noble metal nanoparticles into superlattices to impart new structure-to-function properties and applications in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). 

News Board

Aug 2026: Welcome to the group, Hancheng. We're excited to have yo with us and wish you a great PhD journey ahead. 🎉

Aug 2026: Congratualtion to Dr. Lam on receiving the Dr. and Mrs. Alex Tan Pang Kee Gold Medal for PhD in Chemistry in recognition of outstanding academic achievement.

Jul 2026: Our collaborative work with Prof. Zhiyang Zhang and Prof. Lingxin Chen, "Field-deployable full-range underwater pH sensor using a polyprotic SERS probe," has been published in Nature Sensors. Congratulations to everyone involved!

Apr 2026: Xing Yi has been appointed as President’s Chair in Chemistry.

Apr 2026: Haoming’s paper on "From Hotspots to Hotspaces: Cascaded Photonic-Plasmonic Coupling Enables SERS-based Deep Profiling of Whole Small Extracellular Vesicles" has been accepted by Science Advances, congrats!

Mar 2026: Check out Emily’s latest review, “Interfacial Chemistry in SERS: Mechanisms, Controls, and Materials,” now published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Congrats!

Mar 2026: Tu’s paper on "Dynamic Electrochemical Reorientation at SERS Hotspots Enables Composition, Length, and Sequence Reading of DNA Oligonucleotides" has been accepted by JACS, congrats!

Feb 2026: Happy New 马 Year! 🐎🎉“愿您如马般坚韧自由，跨越挑战，驰向好运与光明未来!" "Happy New Horse Year! May you be resilient and free like a horse, overcoming challenges and galloping toward good fortune and a bright future!" 🐎✨

Feb 2026: Qizhi’s collaborative work on an in situ photo-regenerative phenolic interface for continuous precious metal recovery is in press at Nature Water

Dec 2025: Our favorite cooking session returns! Take a look at the latest album for all the delicious highlights.

Aug 2025: The Great Comeback Group Hike - MacRitchie Edition

July 2025: It is that time of the year again, putting on the academic robes, walking the stage, and celebrate and saying goodbye to our graduates! Wishing the Class of 2025 a bright future. Onward to your next, even more exciting chapter! Special shoutout to Emily: Every outline and figure draft full of edits and comments, and you pushed through it all! It was not easy, but you made it. So proud of you, Dr. Tan! 👏 #ClassOf2025 #NTU Convocation

Jul 2025: Emily's paper on "Chemistry-informed recommender system to predict optimal molecular receptors in SERS nanosensors" has been accepted by Nature Communications, congrats!

Jul 2025: Shan Huei's paper on merging direct and indirect approaches for enhanced analysis of multiplex plasticizer analogs in matrices has been accepted by Angew Chemie, congrats!

Jul 2025: AMIC2025 has concluded—a vibrant celebration of science, ideas, and community, where collaborations sparked and a global family came together. Thank you to all who joined us, and heartfelt thanks to the volunteers from our group who made it all possible. Congratulations to Jaslyn, Tu, and Qizhi for winning the Best Poster Awards! Your outstanding work truly stood out—well done!

Jul 2025: Emily's paper on Transfer Learning-Assisted SERS for Unknown Mixtures has been accepted by Angew Chemie, congrats!

June 2025: Emily has been selected to attend the 74th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (Chemistry), where she will join ~600 top early-career researchers from around the world to engage directly with Nobel laureates. This prestigious platform highlights her scientific impact and leadership. Her story is featured on the Lindau-supported Women in Research blog. Learn more about the 74th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (Chemistry) on the official website. Congratulations, Emily!

Apr 2025: Yue's paper has been accepted by Angew Chem, congrats!

Feb 2025: Jaslyn 's paper has been accepted by JACS, congrats!

Jan 2025: Happy New 蛇 Year！愿您像蛇一样智慧敏捷，蜕去旧岁烦恼，迎接新年好运🐍🎉！ "Happy New Snake Year! May you be as wise and agile as a snake, shedding the worries of the past year and welcoming the good fortune of the new year!" 🐍🎉"

Jan 2025: Please join us in welcoming our new members, Deng Rong and Luyang, who are joining us as exchange research scholars.

Jan 2025: Emily has successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis. Great job, Dr. Tan! ​

Recent Publications