BEEE is delighted to announce the appointment of Prof. Chen Di as an Associate Professor, effective from 2 July 2026. He is also a recipient of PolyU’s Presidential Young Scholars Scheme and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Chemistry.
Prof. Chen received his bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Tsinghua University and his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was awarded an MIT Energy Initiative Fellowship. After two years in industry, he completed his postdoctoral training at Stanford University.
In Nov. 2019, Prof. Chen joined the Future Laboratory at Tsinghua University as an Associate Professor in research-track （副研究員）and established his independent research group. He received an “Excellent” rating in Tsinghua University’s Annual Faculty Performance Review for four consecutive years from 2021 to 2024 and was promoted to Professor in research-track （研究員）in Dec. 2025.
Prof. Chen has published 50 peer-reviewed articles. His work has been published in Nature Catalysis (twice), the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and Advanced Functional Materials, and he has also contributed to collaborative studies published in Science, Nature Materials and Nature Nanotechnology. He is the PI of two National Key R&D projects (Young Scientist and International Cooperation), an NSFC project, and collaborative projects with Sinopec, Apple, Microsoft, Country Garden, and governments of Foshan and Kunshan. Postdocs under his supervision have secured five NSFC Youth Fund projects and five grants from the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation. Seven former postdocs from his group have taken faculty positions.
His research focuses on surface electrocatalysis and functional materials for energy and environmental applications. By combining atomically precise materials design with operando characterisation, he investigates fundamental surface and interfacial processes in high-temperature fuel cells, waste-gas and VOC treatment, antibacterial building ceramics, and refractory materials for harsh thermal environments.
