Academic Staff

Brief Biosketch

Dr. Xu is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Dr. Xu received his BSc degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Zhejiang University (2012) and PhD degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2016). Before joining ISE at PolyU, he worked as Postdoc/Research Fellow at HKUST, PolyU and Seoul National University. His research interest mainly lies in the design, fabricate and characterization of advanced energy materials and devices, such as rechargeable batteries. He has also established multimodal in-situ characterizations, including electrochemical testing, in-situ TEM, operando synchrotron X-ray etc, to probe into the fundamentals in energy storage/conversion systems. His work has been published on top journals in the field including Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, Energy Environmental Science, Progress in Materials Science and Advanced Energy Materials.

Research Interests

• Advanced energy materials and devices
• In-situ characterizations
• Computational and experimental electrochemistry

Selected Journal Publications

• Z.L. Xu, J. Park, J. Wang, H. Moon, G. Yoon, J. Lim, Y.J. Ko, S.P. Cho, S.Y. Lee and K. Kang, A new high-voltage calcium intercalation host for ultra-stable and high-power calcium rechargeable batteries, Nat. Commun. 2021, 12:3369.
• Z.L. Xu, S.J. Kim, D. Chang K.Y. Park, K.S. Dae, K. Dao, J.M. Yuk and K. Kang, Visualization of regulated nucleation and growth of lithium sulfides for high energy lithium sulfur batteries, Energy Environmental Science 2019, 12: 3144.
• Z.L. Xu, S. Lin, N. Onofrio, L. Zhou, F. Shi, W. Lu, K. Kang, Q. Zhang and S. P. Lau, Exceptional catalytic effects of black phosphorus quantum dots in shuttling-free lithium sulfur batteries, Nature Communications 2018, 9: 4164.
• Z.L. Xu, G. Yoon, K.Y. Park. H. Park, O. Tamwattana, S.J. Kim, W.M. Seong and K. Kang, Tailoring sodium intercalation in graphite for high energy and power sodium ion batteries, Nature Communications 2019,10: 2598.
• J. Park,† Z.L. Xu,† G. Yoon,† S.K. Park, J. Wang, H. Hyun, H. Park, J. Lim, Y.J. Ko and K. Kang, Stable and High power calcium ion batteries enabled by calcium intercalation in graphite, Advanced Materials 2019, 1904411. (first co-authored)
• Z.L. Xu, J.Q. Huang, W.G. Chong, X. Qin, X. Wang, L. Zhou, J.K. Kim, In-situ TEM study of volume expansion in porous carbon nanofiber/sulfur cathodes with exceptional high-rate performance, Advanced Energy Materials 2017, 7(9):1602078.
• Z.L. Xu, K. Lim, K.Y. Park, G. Yoon, W.M. Seong and K. Kang, Engineering solid electrolyte interphase for pseudocapacitive anatase TiO2 anodes in sodium ion batteries, Advanced Functional Materials 2018, 1802099.
• Z.L. Xu, X. Liu, Y. Luo, L. Zhou and J.K. Kim, Nanosilicon anodes for high performance rechargeable batteries, Progress in Materials Science 2017, 90:1-44.
• Z.L. Xu, J.K. Kim, Kang, Carbon nanomaterials for advanced lithium sulfur batteries, Nano Today 2018, 19:84-107.
• Z.L. Xu, B. Zhang and J.K. Kim, Electrospun carbon nanofiber anodes containing monodispersed Si nanoparticles and graphene oxide with exceptional high rate capacities, Nano Energy 2014, 6: 27-35.
• Z.L. Xu, S. Yao, J. Cui and J.K. Kim, Atomic scale, amorphous FeOx/carbon nanofiber anodes for Li-ion and Na-ion batteries, Energy Storage Mater. 2017, 8:10-19.
• Z.L. Xu, K. Cao, S. Abouali, M. Akbari Garakani, J. Huang, J. Q. Huang, E. Kamali Heidari, H. Wang and J.K. Kim, Study of lithiation mechanisms of high-performance carbon-coated Si anodes by in-situ microscopy, Energy Storage Materials 2016, 3: 45-54.
• Z.L. Xu, B. Zhang, Y. Gang, K. Cao, M. A. Garakani, S. Abouali, J. Huang, J. Huang, E. Kamali Heidari, H. Wang, J.K. Kim, In-situ TEM examination and exceptional long-term cyclic stability of ultrafine Fe3O4 nanocrystal/carbon nanofiber composite electrodes, Energy Storage Mater. 2015, 1: 27-34.

Community Service

• Member of Electrochemical Society (2017-)
• Member of Materials Research Society (2018-)