After obtaining a doctorate in materials science from the University of Minnesota in 2011, Liang worked for Digizyme, a company that creates visual contexts for understanding science. He also did freelance illustration work for researchers all over the world.

After returning to China, he led a small team from the University of Science and Technology of China and Tsinghua University Press to launch the "Beautiful Chemistry" project in 2014, which earned wide acclaim and gave him the confidence to focus on the field.

To bring the beauty and wonder of chemistry to a wider audience, Liang started Envisioning Chemistry in 2017 and invited Zhu Wenting, a visual communication major, to help the team adopt a more artistic approach to filming.

His videos have gone viral on several social network platforms, garnering comments such as "If I had seen these videos in high school, I might have done much better in chemistry".

The videos have also received feedback from educators worldwide. Many have shared their experience of using these videos to engage students in the classroom.

"You have brought together visualization at a level of detail that does get my students excited. The oohs and aahs from the students when watching the electrodeposition (video) is, in a word, awesome," wrote a US high school teacher.