Dr Qiyuan Li | UNSW Research

Fields of Research (FoR)

Water Treatment Processes, Renewable Power and Energy Systems Engineering (excl. Solar Cells), Mechanical Engineering, Computational Heat Transfer, Catalytic Process Engineering, Carbon Capture Engineering (excl. Sequestration)

SEO tags

Solar-Thermal Energy

Biofuel (Biomass) Energy

Hydrogen Production from Renewable Energy

Biography

Dr. Qiyuan Li is a Lecturer in the School of Chemical Engineering at UNSW and Founder of DecarbAir. He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from UNSW in 2016, worked at the UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and Technology (2016–2019), and joined the Particle and Catalysis Research Group (PartCat) in 2019. His research focuses on solar-powered catalytic modules and systems for water treatment, green hydrogen/chemical production, and...view more

He has supervised or co-supervised 3 Ph.D. students and over 20 undergraduate/master’s students, and currently co-supervises 1 Ph.D. and 1 Master by Research student. He has published over 40 journal papers, 3 book chapters, and 10 conference papers in leading venues such as Energy & Environmental Science, Applied Energy, and Water Research. He is an inventor on 3 granted Chinese patents and 1 European patent.

During his Ph.D., he received the “UNSW Student Innovator of the Year 2014” and “UNSW Innovation Award 2014.” In 2024–2025, he was awarded the UNSW Founders ECA Startup Fellowship and was selected for commercialization accelerator programs, including the UNSW Pre-Accelerator (Pre-X) and Beanstalk Drought Resilience Lab.

My Grants

Onsite Hydrogen Peroxide Generation for Sustainable Future Farming (2025), CRC for Future Food Systems / Research Project, Amal, R; Li, Q; Zhang, D (AU $150,000)

UNSW 2024 Research Infrastructure Scheme (2024), “Harnessing and utilizing renewable energy at a demonstration scale for research, teaching and outreach”, Amal, R, Scott, J, ...., Li, Q, et al. (AU $183,000)

NSW Department of Planning and Environment (2023), “NSW Evaporative Cooling Roadmap”, Taylor, R, Omar, A, Li, Q, Leslie, GL. (AU$ 95,179)

NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) / Circular Solar Trials Grants Program. (2022-2025) “Highly efficient and flexible recycling technology for end-of-life silicon photovoltaic panels towards NSW circular economy: from reactors design to system optimisation”, Shen, Y, Green, M, Amal, R, Leslie, GL, Hao, X, Bao, J, Sun, K, Liu, Z, Chang, N, Deng, R, Li, Q, Zhuo, Y. (AU$ 1,000,000)

My Awards

UNSW Founders ECA Startup Fellowship (2024-2025), UNSW Founders

Finalist of Academic Sharp Brain, 2017, Melbourne

Winner of UNSW Innovation Awards 2014 - UNSW Student Innovator of the Year Award

Winner of UNSW Innovation Awards 2014 - Early Stage Innovation Awards

Winner of The New Employee Award, Foxconn Technology Group 2007

My Research Activities

CO₂ capture, including Direct Air Carbon Capture (DAC), and utilization in applications such as greenhouses and green fuel production

Development of hydrogen peroxide electrolyzer modules and integrated systems

Solar reforming (hydrothermal, electrochemical, and photochemical) of waste organics for clean hydrogen and chemical production

My Research Supervision

Areas of supervision

Design engineering (computer aided design, simulation and manufacturing);

Renewable Energy (solar PV-Thermal, biomass, hydrogen production);

Chemical engineering (wastewater treatment, desalination, CO2 capture and utilization, and catalyst development).

Currently supervising

Dr. Siti Suhailah Binti Rosli – Analysis of Hydrogen Peroxide Disinfection Capabilities, Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy (TRaCE) Mobility Fellowship Program – UNSW

Mr. Qingyi Liu (Master by Research) – Molten Salt-Promoted MgO-Based Sorbents for Intermediate-Temperature CO₂ Capture: Performance Assessment for Post-Combustion Applications and Mechanistic Role of LiNO₃

Mrs. Sumaya Sarmin (Ph.D. candidate) – Transforming Sugar-Containing Wastewater to Renewable Hydrogen