Dr. Mengran (Aaron) Li

I am a lecturer at the Department of Chemical Engineering. I obtained my PhD degree from the University of Queensland (UQ), Brisbane in 2016.

After graduation, I worked as a postdoc at the HBIS-UQ Innovation Centre for Sustainable Steel at UQ for three years helping the steel industry reduce carbon emissions by developing carbon dioxide electrolysis. In May 2021, I started another postdoc at Delft University of Technology, Netherlands continuing my research on carbon dioxide electrolysis for the EU Horizon Project SELECTCO2 until the end of 2022. In January 2023, I joined the Chemical Engineering Department as a Lecturer. In 2023, I was awarded the ARC DECRA to work on integrating carbon capture and electrolysis to reduce the cost associated with carbon neutralisation. In the past, I also received several awards and research support, such as 2015 3M Asia-Pacific Research Award, 2016 UQ Dean's Award for Outstanding Higher Degree by Research Thesis, 2019 U21 ECR Travel Award, 2019 Most Effective Teacher from UQ, and 2020 Emerging Investigator from the Journal of Materials Chemistry A in the field of energy and sustainability.

I have supervised more than 20 research theses to completion, including three PhDs (co-supervision), 11 Masters, and four undergraduates, including one recipient of the Rising Star in the field of chemical engineering and materials by the Australian newspaper (Dr Garg, 2019). I am currently supervising three PhD (co-supervision) and two Master theses.

Meet the Team

  • Mengran (Aaron) Li

    Group leader of Li Energy Lab

  • Xiaohe Tian

    Xiaohe completed his Bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering from China University of Petroleum, China (2017) and his Master of Chemical Engineering from the University of Queensland, Australia (2019). His master thesis was conducted under the supervision of Prof. Thomas E. Rufford and Dr. Mengran Li. Here, he studied the metal catalyst synthesis using electrochemical method for the reduction of CO2. His finding of high-performance Cu-Sn catalyst has been published at Applied Materials & Interfaces as a co-first author. He then moved back to Shanghai (China) to work on food manufacturing activities at Mars Wrigley, one of the largest global FMCG corporates, where he worked as a graduate management trainee to lead an effective production team for driving operation excellence. In August 2023, he joined University of Melbourne as a PhD candidate. His research focus is on developing a highly efficient, selective, and stable CO2 electrolysis through an engineering approach.

  • Qi Gao

    Qi completed her BEng in Applied Chemistry from Dalian University of Technology and her MEng in Chemical Engineering from University of Melbourne. Her current research focuses on developing an integrated CO2 capture and electrolysis system.

  • Haowei Zhang

    Haowei completed his Bachelor Honour degree and Master of Philosophy in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from The University of Sydney. In January 2024, he joined University of Melbourne as a PhD candidate. His current research is on developing the efficient and stable bipolar membranes for CO2 electrolysis.

  • Dr Andre Chamber

    Dr Andre Chambers is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow working on electrolyser design and optimisation. Completing his PhD in Physics at the University of Melbourne in 2023, his research focussed on theoretical and experimental aspects of semiconductor electrochemistry for both biomedical and energy storage applications. His current research focus is high temperature, high pressure electrolysis. Completing his PhD in 2023, he has received multiple awards for his research, including the Klein Prize in Experimental Physics, the Kenneth Head Award, and the Borland Forum Award. 

Alumni

  • Wenchester Charlson Sy

    Wenchester completed a Master research project with us on the role of torque and electrode compressibility in determining the cell compression of the membrane electrode assembly for carbon dioxide electrolysis.

  • Jinyang Li

    Jinyang completed a Master research project (minor thesis) with us and Prof. George Franks on the development of dense thin film proton-conducting ceramic film for high-temperature electrochemical energy conversions. After graduation, he will work as an engineer with BASF.

  • Qilin Zhou

    Qilin Zhou completed a Master research project with us on the role of anion in affecting co-ion sorption of the anion exchange membrane and the potassium cation crossover for supporting the development of membrane electrode assembly used in CO2 electrolysis.