Biography

Dr Chen Han is currently a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow (since 2025) in Prof. Erwin Reisner’s group at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge.

She obtained her PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 2024 under the supervision of Prof. Rose Amal and Prof. Xiaojing Hao. She received a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) in 2019 and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Technology from China University of Petroleum (East China) (UPC) in 2016.

Her research focuses on integrating interdisciplinary technologies for sustainable, solar-driven chemical conversion and synthesis, utilizing CO₂ emissions, pollutants, and wastes to advance the circular economy. She is also an expert in developing advanced in situ/operando characterization techniques for mechanistic understanding and in process engineering for scale-up toward practical applications. She has published more than 29 peer-reviewed journal articles and has an h-index of 20.

Research Interests

Advanced Materials, Catalysis, Solar Energy, Chemical Engineering, Process Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Devices, Chemistry, Sustainability, Circular Economy, Advanced Characterization Techniques

Experience

Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry
University of Cambridge, September 2025-

Postdoctoral Research Associate at Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry
University of Cambridge, January 2024-August 2025

Education

Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering
University of New South Wales, 2020-2024
Master in Chemical Engineering
East China Univeristy of Science and Technology, 2016-2019
Bachelor in Chemical Engineering and Technology
China Univeristy of Petroleum (East China), 2012-2016

Honors & Awards

2025     Early Career Fellowship (Grant number ECF-2025-573) Link
Leverhulme Trust, United Kingdom

2023     The Rising Stars 
The Asian Deans' Forum, Japan

2023     ECR Oral Presentation Prize from ChemComm
International Conference on Materials Innovation 2023, Australia

2022     Best HDR Talk from Sustainable Energy & Fuels
International Symposium on Advanced Materials & Sustainable Technologies, Australia

2020-2023     University International Postgraduate Award (UIPA) Scholarship
UNSW, Australia

2016-2019     Scholarship for Outstanding Academic Performance
ECUST, China

2016     China Scholarship Council Scholarship for Outstanding Undergraduate Students
Visiting Scholarship to Curtin Univeristy (Australia) for undergraduate thesis research

2016     Outstanding Graduate in Shandong Province
China

2016     Excellent Graduate Design and Paper Award
UPC, China

2016     Top 10 Tech Innovation Student in Univeristy
UPC, China

2015     Top 10 Scientific Research Team in Univeristy
UPC, China

2015     First Prize
National Unveristies Student Competition of Chemical Engieering Design, China

2014     Golden Medal
National Unveristies Student Competition of Chemical Process and Safety Design, China

2014     China National Scholarship
China

Leadership

2025     Chair of Committee
5th International Solar Fuels Conference (ECR session)

2022-2024     Outreach Co-Chair 
Australia Research Councile Industrial Transformation Traning Center for the Global Hydrogen Economy (GlobH2E)

Selected Publications

Han, Chen,* and Kai Wang. "Recent Advances in Photoelectrochemical Synthesis of Nitrogen-Containing Solar Fuels and Chemicals." Energy & Fuels 39.34 (2025): 16065-16077. (Front Cover article) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.5c02821)

Han, Chen, et al. "Nanostructured hybrid catalysts empower the artificial leaf for solar-driven ammonia production from nitrate." Energy & Environmental Science 17.15 (2024): 5653-5665. (doi: https://doi.org/10.1039/D3EE03836J)

Hoang, Minh Tam,# Han, Chen,# et al. "Efficient CO2 reduction to formate on CsPbI3 nanocrystals wrapped with reduced graphene oxide." Nano-Micro Letters 15.1 (2023): 161. (doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-023-01132-3)

Lin, Zeheng, Han Chen, et al. "Recent progress on electrode design for efficient electrochemical valorisation of CO2, O2, and N2." Angewandte Chemie International Edition 62.38 (2023): e202301435. (doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202301435)

Han, Chen, et al. "Differentiating the Impacts of Cu2O Initial Low‐and High‐Index Facets on Their Reconstruction and Catalytic Performance in Electrochemical CO2 Reduction Reaction." Advanced Functional Materials 33.12 (2023): 2210938. (doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202210938)

Zhang, Mingjie,# Han, Chen,# et al. "Active sites and reaction mechanism for N-doped carbocatalysis of phenol removal." Green Energy & Environment 5.4 (2020): 444-452. (doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gee.2020.05.006)

Han, Chen, et al. "Role of electronic properties in partition of radical and nonradical processes of carbocatalysis toward peroxymonosulfate activation." Carbon 153 (2019): 73-80. (doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2019.06.107)