Over the years, Professor Zou's research interest has been focused on the understanding of the evolution of advanced, smart and nano-scaled materials and the understanding of fundamental properties of these materials through detailed correlating their fabrication and demonstrated properties with their morphological, structural and chemical characteristics (determined by electron microscopy); and on the formation of high-performance functional nanomaterials and their advanced applications, particular in the fields of energy and environmental protection. So far, Professor Zou published nearly 700 SCI articles with most of them published in leading international journals, which have attracted over 26,500 citations and led to an H-indecx of 78.