Wenxian Li is a Senior Lecturer and an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow in the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). He completed his undergraduate degree in Metallurgical Engineering at Northeastern University and his PhD in Materials Engineering at the University of Wollongong (UOW). In 2011, he received the UOW VC’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, followed by an ARC Postdoctoral Fellowship...view more
Wenxian Li is a Senior Lecturer and an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow in the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). He completed his undergraduate degree in Metallurgical Engineering at Northeastern University and his PhD in Materials Engineering at the University of Wollongong (UOW). In 2011, he received the UOW VC’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, followed by an ARC Postdoctoral Fellowship (Industrial) in 2012. He then joined the University of Western Sydney as a Lecturer and was awarded an Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2015, he became a Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning, Shanghai University. Wenxian joined UNSW in 2022 and was awarded the ARC Future Fellowship in 2023.
My Grants
2025 TRaCE-Lab to Market: Closed-loop green chemical recycling and upcycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
2025 BAJC R&D Fund Projects: High entropy catalysts in efficient water electrolyser for green hydrogen producing opportunity/challenge
2025 UNSW Conference Sponsorship 2025: Energy Oceania 2025: 6th International Conference on Global Renewable Energy
2024 UNSW Science Translational Impact Seed Fund: Activated carbon for energy applications made from natural lake asphalt.
2024 UNSW Conference Sponsorship 2024 (School of Chemical Engineering): Energy Oceania 2024: 5th International Conference on Global Renewable Energy
2024 ARC Hub (IH230100010)-BAJC Project: Data-driven theories and models for AI modelling in high-entropy alloy based catalysts for green hydrogen evolution,
2024 ANSTO ACNS & NDF: Synthesis mechanism of high entropy LLZO via in-situ neutron pattern diffraction
2024 MicroTau Pty. Ltd. Contract Research: Roll to Roll UV NIL Process Development
2023 Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowships
2023 ARC Centre of Excellence for Carbon Science and Innovation
2023 BAJC R&D Fund Projects
2023 University of Queensland: PPMS Measurements.
2023 MicroTau Pty Ltd: Roll to Roll process development.
My Qualifications
PhD in Materials Engineering, University of Wollongong, 2010
My Research Activities
Li's research focuses on thermodynamics and kinetics of catalytic reactions to develop catalysts with low energy consumption and high mass exchange. He published 10 book chapters and over 200 refereed papers on superconductors, solar energy, and catalysts. He also serves on the Editorial Committees of the Journal of Advanced Ceramics and Scientific Reports.
My Research Supervision
Supervision keywords
Areas of supervision
Physical properties of materials
Catalysis and mechanisms of reactions
Electrochemistry
Reaction kinetics and dynamics
Carbon capture engineering (excl. sequestration)
Chemical engineering design
Electrochemical energy storage and conversion
Waste plastic recycling and upcycling
My Teaching
CEIC6799 Special Studies in Chemical Engineering and Food Science
MATS6002 Fundamentals of Materials Design
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