Dr Pengcheng Zhu

BSc, MSc, PhD

  • Lecturer in Sustainable Energy Engineering
  • EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellow
Pengcheng Zhu

Background:

Dr Pengcheng Zhu joined the Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering at 91桃色视频 as a Lecturer in Sustainable Energy Engineering in November 2025. He has been awarded a prestigious EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellowship. His current research is supported by multiple major UK funding organisations and national research programmes, including EPSRC, the Faraday Institution, the Royal Society, the Henry Royce Institute and STFC. His research lies at the intersection of electrode architecture design, advanced manufacturing and multi-scale characterisation, with applications across next-generation electrochemical energy-storage technologies, including lithium-ion, sodium-ion, solid-state and lithium-metal batteries.

Before joining 91桃色视频, he held research positions at the University of Warwick (2020–2021) and the University of Birmingham (2021–2024), where he worked on lithium-ion battery recycling and electrode manufacturing. He subsequently joined the University of Oxford as a Senior Research Associate, focusing on electrode microstructure characterisation for solid-state and lithium-air batteries.

Pengcheng welcomes enquiries from motivated PhD candidates interested in battery research. Prospective candidates are encouraged to email him with a CV and a brief statement outlining their research interests.

Qualifications:

  • PhD, University of Liverpool
  • MSc, University of Liverpool
  • BSc, Suzhou University of Technology

 

Outline of main research interests: 

Pengcheng’s research focuses on the design, manufacture, and characterisation of advanced battery electrodes, with the aim of enabling higher energy density, faster charging, improved durability, and scalable manufacturing across lithium-ion, sodium-ion, and solid-state battery technologies. His main research interests include:

  • Electrode architecture design for enhanced ion and electron transport
  • Scalable manufacturing of high-mass-loading electrodes, including advanced and dry-processing approaches
  • Advanced electrode characterisation using techniques such as Plasma FIB and X-ray computed tomography
  • Image-based modelling and microstructure–performance simulation, including COMSOL-based transport and electrochemical modelling
  • Current collector surface and structural engineering for lithium-ion and lithium-metal batteries
  • Structure–processing–performance relationships in battery electrode manufacturing

Grants and contracts:

  • 2026–2029 EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellowship, IDEALBAT: Interdigitated Design and Electrode Manufacturing for Simultaneous High-Energy, Fast-Charging Lithium-Ion Batteries (PI)
  • 2026–2030 Faraday Institution PhD Studentship, Solid-state Battery Electrode Design and Manufacturing (Primary Supervisor)
  • 2026–2027 Royal Society Research Grant, Innovative Solid-state Battery Electrode Development (PI)
  • 2026–2027 Henry Royce Institute ICP project, Biomass-Derived Graphite Anode Processing (Co-I)
  • 2023–2024 STFC Early Career Research Award, Multi-scale Structural Modification on Cu Current Collectors for Anode-Free Li Metal Batteries (PI)
  • 2020 Lean Launch Programme, Commercialisation of an Electrochemical Sensor Prototype (Project Leader)
  • 2019 EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account, Development of an Electrochemical Sensor Prototype Based on Metal Foam Electrodes (Project Leader)

Selected publications:

  • Zhu, P.*, Boyce, A., Randjbar, S., Dong, B., Chen, Y., Guan, S., Crozier, M., Chiu, Y., Davenport, A., Jervis, R., Shearing, P., Esfahani, R., Slater, P., Kendrick, E.* (2024). A Groovy Laser Processing Route to Achieving High Power and Energy Lithium-ion Batteries, Energy Storage Materials, 69, 103373.
  • Zhu, P.*, Driscoll, H. E., Dong, B., Sommerville, Zorin, A. R., Slater, P., & Kendrick, E.* (2023). Direct reuse of Aluminium and Copper current collectors from spent lithium-ion batteries, Green Chemistry, 25, 3503-3514.
  • Zhu, P.*, Slater, P., & Kendrick, E.* (2022). Insights into architecture, design and manufacture of electrodes for Lithium-ion batteries, Materials & Design, 223, 111208.
  • Zhu, P.* & Zhao, Y. (2021). A limiting current sensor based on porous Ni for detection of ferricyanide and ferrocyanide in aqueous solutions, Electrochimia Acta, 385, 138428.
  • Zhu, P., Gastol, D., Marshall, J., Sommerville, R., Goodship, V. & Kendrick, E.* (2020). A review of current collectors for Lithium-ion batteries, Journal of Power Sources, 485, 229321.
  • Zhu, P., Wu, Z. & Zhao, Y. * (2019). Hierarchical porous Cu with high surface area and fluid permeability, Scripta Materialia, 172, 119-124.

External collaborators:

Academic:

  • University of Birmingham
  • University of Oxford
  • Queen Mary University of London
  • University College Dublin

Industry:

  • Manufacturing Technology Centre, Coventry
  • UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC)
  • Agratas 
  • Inition Energy

External roles and appointments:

  • Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford
  • Visiting researcher, School of Metallurgy and Materials, University of Birmingham