缅北禁地

Dr. Chuan Cheng is a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the School of Engineering, 缅北禁地. He is a Chartered Engineer (CEng), a member of IET, IOM3, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). He has expertise in advanced manufacturing technologies for Li-ion batteries and Li-sulfur all-solid-state batteries, battery electrode design and optimization, high-capacity cathode materials, and electrochemical mechanics of electrochemical systems.

My research focuses on manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries and Li-sulfur all-solid-state batteries, in specific,

(i) design and optimise composite electrode structures to facilitate ion transport and promote redox reaction kinetics that are essential for the fast charging of batteries;

(ii) manufacture of all-solid-state batteries with sulfide solid-state electrolytes to operate under low stack pressures;

(iii) mitigate charge-induced strain/stress in composite electrodes that could lead to electro-chemo-mechanical degradations;

(iv) sustainable and scalable manufacturing technologies, including roll-to-roll electrode dry coating and continuous synthesis of energy storage materials.

Current Funding:

PI, Industrial fund, Manufacturing of lithium sulfur all-solid-state batteries.

PI, EPSRC Place-Based IAA: Northern Net Zero Accelerator, Manufacturing of lithium sulfur all-solid-state batteries.

CoI, Innovate UK, Advancing sustainable in electric vehicle battery recycling.

Lead supervisor, Tony Trapp PhD Studentship.

Lead supervisor, EPSRC Renewable Energy Northeast Universities Plus (ReNU+) CDT PhD Studentship.

Previous Funding:

PI, Royal Society Flexi-Grant, Solid-state electrochemical actuators as artificial muscles.

PI, HEIF, Solvent-free manufacturing of battery electrodes.

PI, British Academy, Manufacturing of the next generation all-solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries.

PI, EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account, Solvent-free manufacturing of dry electrodes for lithium-ion batteries.

PI, Capital Equipment Fund, WMG, University of Warwick, Battery Testing Equipment and Modelling Software.

PI, Humboldt Research Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Electrochemical Actuation of Low-Cost and Highly-Ordered Nanoporous Materials.

I am one of the supervisors of the 缅北禁地 Formula Student team: , where stage 3 and stage 4 project students build prototype, battery-powered, single-seat racing cars.

PhD Openings:

PhD Studentship in Energy Materials (2025 Entry):100% fees covered for four years and a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £19,237 (2024/25 UKRI rate). An additional allowance will be provided to contribute towards consumables, equipment, and travel related to the project.

Application deadline: 10 Feb 2025.

Application through University’s Apply to 缅北禁地 Portal: 

Interested candidates, please contact via Email: Chuan.Cheng@newcastle.ac.uk

Self-funded PhD (2025 Entry):

For the 2025 Entry.

I welcome self-funded/external-funded PhD applicants in the following research areas:

• Battery Electrode Manufacturing
• Li-S All-Solid-State Batteries
• Electrochemical Actuation

PhD Application Link: Mechanical and Systems Engineering MPhil, PhD | Postgraduate | 缅北禁地 (ncl.ac.uk).

Interested candidates please contact: Chuan.Cheng@newcastle.ac.uk

Postdoc Openings:

Host for Postdoc Fellowships

Interested candidates please contact: Chuan.Cheng@newcastle.ac.uk

ENG2022: Materials Science II

ENG1008: Introduction to Programming Languages (C, Matlab and Python)

MEC3098: Mechanical Engineering Project

MEC8095: MSc Project (Mechanical and Systems Engineering)

Former Teaching at the University of Warwick:

Battery Electrochemistry, Design and Manufacturing (Level 7) (Module Lead)

Energy Storage Systems (Level-6)

WMG Battery School for Faraday Institution & for Industry (CPD Short-Course Lead)

MSc in Sustainable Automotive Electrification (Full-Time, Level 7) (Course Lead)

• Articles

  • Zhou R, Ong HL, Fu YQ, Mamlouk M, Cheng C. . Energy Technology 2025, 13(11), 2500649.
  • Grant PS, Greenwood D, Pardikar K, Smith R, Entwistle T, Middlemiss LA, Murray G, Cussen SA, Lain MJ, Capener MJ, Copley M, Reynolds CD, Hare SD, Simmons MJH, Kendrick E, Zankowski SP, Wheeler S, Zhu P, Slater PR, Zhang YS, Morrison ART, Dawson W, Li J, Shearing PR, Brett DJL, Matthews G, Ge R, Drummond R, Tredenick EC, Cheng C, Duncan SR, Boyce AM, Faraji-Niri M, Marco J, Roman-Ramirez LA, Harper C, Blackmore P, Shelley T, Mohsseni A, Cumming DJ. . Journal of Physics: Energy 2022, 4, 042006.
  • Cheng C, Drummond R, Duncan SR, Grant PS. . Journal of Power Sources 2022, 542, 231758.
  • Cheng C, Lührs L, Krekeler T. . Advanced Electronic Materials 2021, 7(7), 2100381.
  • Cheng C, Lührs L. . Advanced Functional Materials 2021, 31(48), 2107241.
  • Cheng C, Grant PS, Lührs L. . Advanced Electronic Materials 2020, 6, 1900364.
  • Cheng C, Drummond R, Duncan SR, Grant PS. . Journal of Power Sources 2020, 448, 227376.
  • Cheng C, Drummond R, Duncan SR, Grant PS. . Journal of Power Sources 2019, 413, 59-67.
  • Cheng C, Lührs L, Krekeler T, Ritter M, Weissmüller J. Semiordered Hierarchical Metallic Network for Fast and Large Charge-Induced Strain. Nano Letters 2017, 17, 4774.
  • Cheng C, Weissmüller J, Ngan AHW. Fast and Reversible Actuation of Metallic Muscles Composed of Nickel Nanowire-Forest. Advanced Materials 2016, 28, 5315.
  • Cheng C, Ngan AHW. Reversible Electrochemical Actuation of Metallic Nanohoneycombs Induced by Pseudocapacitive Redox Processes. ACS Nano 2015, 9, 3984.

• Authored Book

  • Cheng C. Electro-Chemo-Mechanics of Anodic Porous Alumina Nano-Honeycombs: Self-Ordered Growth and ActuationC. Springer, 2015.

• Patent

  • Grant P, Duncan S, Drummond R, Cheng C. . Oxford University Innovation Limited (Oxford (Oxfordshire), GB), US patent number: US12164837B2, 10/12/2024.