Principal Investigator
Dr. XiaoliangYu (於曉亮)
Assistant Professor (Research)
Rm FG623 6/F Core FG
Department of Mechanical Engineering
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
+852 3400 2558
Xiaoliang Yu (於曉亮) joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) as an Assistant Professor (Research) in July 2020. He leads the YU’s Smart Battery Lab, which currently has 4 Postdoctoral Fellows, and 5 PhD students. The lab has been sponsored by various funding bodies since its establishment in 2020. It was also funded with three PhD quotas by the highly-competitive PolyU Presidential PhD Fellowship Scheme (PPPFS) in 2022/23 and 2023/24 admissions. Our sponsors include Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (香港研究資助局), Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission (香港創新科技署), Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province (广东省科学技术厅), and world-leading battery companies, such as CATL (寧德時代) and XFH (翔豐華), etc.
Before joining PolyU, he was a postdoctoral fellow at National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan, from 2016 to 2020. He received his Ph.D and Bachelor’s degrees, both from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2016 and 2011, respectively, advised by Professor Feiyu Kang. Xiaoliang has published more than 40 peer-reviewed research papers, many of which were published on prestigious journals like Adv. Mater., Adv. Energy Mater. Adv. Funct. Mater., etc. His research work has been cited widely, leading to more than 3000 Google scholar citations with an H-index of 26 (as of May. 2024). One paper was listed as the ESI Highly Cited Paper. Xiaoliang is a reviewer for many prestigious journals, such as Nat. Commun., Adv. Mater., Adv. Energy Mater., etc. He serves as Lead Guest Editor of Frontiers in Chemistry (JCR Q2, IF=5.2) and an Organizing Committee Member of IMLB2024. He was elected as a Fellow of the International Association of Advanced Materials in 2024. His research focuses on smart and sustainable battery manufacturing, from electrolyte formulation, electrode preparation to cell fabrication, health monitoring and recycling.
Research Grants
[1] General Research Fund project of Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong, GDST, 2025-2027, RMB 100,000, PI
[2] Young Collaborative Research Grant, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, 2024-2027, HKD 1,017,532 allocated, Co-PI
[3] Innovation and Technology Support Programme, The Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong, 2023-2025, HKD 1,297,100, PI
[4] Innovation and Technology Support Programme, The Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong, 2025-2026, HKD 3,010,000, PI
[5] 無負極鋰金屬電池梯度功能化電極製備技術研究及示範，內蒙古自治區科學技術廳-重點研發和成果轉化計劃, 2023-2026, RMB 300,000 allocated, co-PI
[6] 基於功能化塗碳集流體的先進無負極鈉金屬電池開發及產業化中試，內蒙古自治區科學技術廳-科技成果轉移轉化, 2022-2025, RMB 400,000 allocated, co-PI
[7] General Research Fund project of Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong, GDST, 2023-2025, RMB 100,000, PI
[8] Research Talent Hub, The Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong, 2023-2025, HKD 1,864,400, PI
[9] Postdoc Matching Fund Scheme, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2025-2026, HKD 365,800.00, PI
[10] Postdoc Matching Fund Scheme, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2025-2026, HKD 364,749.19, PI
[11] Joint Postdoc Scheme, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2022-2024, HKD 578,100.00, PI.
[12] Joint Postdoc Scheme, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2021-2023, HKD 578,100.00, PI.
[13] Start-up Fund, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2020-2024, HKD 500,000.00, PI.
Teaching
Manufacturing Fundamentals for BEng (Hons) Scheme
Manufacturing Fundamentals for BEng (Hons) in Product Analysis and Engineering Design
Postdoctoral Fellows
Tao Zhang
Background:
Ph.D.: Shanghai Jiaotong University
M.S.: Xiamen University
B.S.: Shandong University
Research Area: Solid state electrolyte, lithium metal anode for lithium sulfur batteries, lithium rich alloys anodes for Li ion battery.
Yue Guo
Background:
Ph.D.: Nanjing University
B.S.: Dalian University of Technology
Research Area: Metal-sulfur batteries, separator engineering, sodium/magnesium metal batteries.
Ban Fei
Background:
Ph.D.: Fuzhou University (3 years), Trinity College Dublin (2 years, joint training)
M.S.: Dalian Polytechnic University
B.S.: Hubei Institute of Technology
Research Area: Electrode materials for metal-sulfur Batteries, metal-ion batteries, and aqueous zinc-based batteries
Kai Shi
Background:
Ph.D.: Helmholtz Institute Ulm/Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
M.S.:Tsinghua University
B.S.: Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Aeronautics
Research Area: Sustainable electrochemical energy storage, including solid-state electrolytes for safe alkali-metal anodes, organic batteries and sustainable processing
Ph.D Students
Liang Hu
Background:
M.S.: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
B.E.: Central South University
Research Area: Liquid electrolyte design for high voltage sodium metal battery
Xiuyun Ren (PPPFS)
Background:
M.E.: Sichuan University
B.E.: Qingdao University
Research Area: Formulating thermally-stable electrolytes for sodium batteries
Genyuan Wang (PPPFS)
Background:
M.S.: Xiamen University
B.S.：Nanjing Tech University
Research Area: Development of advanced solid electrolytes for sodium batteries
Fei Zheng (Top 3+1)
Background:
M.E.: Beijing University of Chemical Technology
B.E.: Beijing University of Chemical Technology
Research Area: Advanced polymer electrolyte design and interface engineering for sodium-metal batteries
Yu Zhao (PPPFS)
Background:
M.S.: Soochow University
B.S.: Sichuan University
Research Area: Advanced gel polymer electrolytes for high-performance quasi-solid-state anode-free sodium metal batteries
Alumni
Cuicui Li
Postdoc fellow: 2022.10-2024.10
Ph.D.: Northeastern University
M.S.: China University of Geoscience
B.S.: Huainan Normal University
Research Area: Battery electrode design, electrolyte formulation, mechanistic study of new battery chemistry
Current position: Associate Professor at Liaoning Petrochemical University
Bingcheng Ge
Postdoc fellow: 2022.02-2023.08
Ph.D.: Yanshan University
B.S.: University of Science and Technology Liaoning
Research Area: Low temperature electrolyte for sodium metal battery
Current position: Assistant Professor at Henan Normal University
Junxiong Wu
Postdoc fellow: 2020.10-2021.10
Ph.D.: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
M.S.: Tsinghua University
B.S.: Fuzhou University
Research Area: Electrode modification for anode-free sodium metal battery
Current position: Professor at Fujian Normal University
