Originally from China, Lizhou began his research career there before moving to Sweden to pursue a PhD at KTH Royal Institute of Technology with Prof. Licheng Sun. He later continued his academic journey in Canada as a postdoctoral researcher, at the Sargent group at University of Toronto. Now, he has returned to Sweden to build an independent research programme at Linköping University.
"My scientific journey has become international," he says. "I am very happy to return to Sweden, not as a student this time, but to build a new research group at LiU."
Lizhou's research focuses on electrocatalysis, a field that use renewable electricity to drive the production of valuable fuels and chemicals. An urgent need in society is to reduce dependence on fossil resources and rebuild a sustainable carbon cycle. Meanwhile, intermittent renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, as well as the generated renewable electricity, offer promising opportunities when effectively utilized and stored.
"Electrocatalysis offers a way to store renewable electricity in chemical bonds by converting carbon dioxide, water and biomass-derived molecules into fuels and chemicals," says Lizhou Fan. "At LiU, we want to investigate, understand and optimise these processes, from the atomic scale all the way to device performance."
An interdisciplinary environment
Lizhou chose Linköping University because of its strong tradition in materials science and its collaborative research culture.
"Electrocatalysis is not only chemistry and not only materials science," he says. "To make real progress, we need expertise ranging from catalyst synthesis and spectroscopy to electrochemical testing, modelling and device development. LiU offers exactly this interdisciplinary environment and it also has a very collaborative research culture"
Another important factor was the Wallenberg Initiative Materials Science for Sustainability (WISE), which supports cutting-edge research in sustainable materials science.
"For me, WISE is much more than funding. It is a national platform that aligns closely with my research vision of developing catalytic materials and electrochemical systems for sustainable energy conversion."
Building a new research platform
The laboratory will focus on three interconnected areas. Researchers will design catalysts at the molecular and atomic level, use advanced operando spectroscopy techniques to observe catalysts while they are working, and optimise complete electrochemical systems and electrolyser devices.
“In catalysis, we often know what materials go into a system and what products come out, but understanding what happens during the reaction is much more difficult," he says. "By studying catalysts under real operating conditions, we can identify active sites, reaction intermediates and the mechanisms that control performance."
Recruiting a new generation of researchers
Lizhou Fan plans to recruit two PhD students and two postdoctoral researchers during the initial phase of building the group.The team will bring together expertise in catalyst design, materials synthesis, electrochemistry, spectroscopy, and electrolyser development.
Looking ahead, he hopes the research group will become internationally recognised and contribute both fundamental discoveries and practical solutions.
"We need sustainable ways to produce fuels, chemicals and carbon-based materials.” he says. “My ambition is to build a research direction at LiU that contributes to this challenge, both by advancing fundamental understanding and by developing technologies that can make a real difference."
