About
Prof. Xin Tu received PhD in Physics from Université de Rouen (CORIA CNRS UMR 6614, France) and PhD in Thermal Engineering from Zhejiang University (China) in 2007. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium, from 2008 to 2009 (with Prof. Bert Sels). In September 2009, he joined the University of Manchester (UK), working as a Research Associate in the School of Chemistry (with Prof. Christopher Whitehead). He was appointed as a Lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics at the University of Liverpool in 2012 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2015, Reader in 2017 and Chair in 2019.
His research mainly focuses on plasma chemistry and plasma catalysis for environmental remediation and the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals via Power-to-X. His work covers a broad range of topics, including CO2 conversion, CH4 activation (including methane cracking to H2 and carbon), biogas conversion, hydrogen production, nitrogen fixation (ammonia synthesis and nitric acid production), ammonia decomposition, tar reforming/syngas cleaning for biomass gasification, heavy oil conversion, and plastics conversion. Prof. Tu has published over 260 peer-reviewed papers (26 WoS Highly Cited Papers) in leading international journals such as Nat. Rev. Mater., Nat. Rev. Clean Technol., Chem, Nat. Commun., J. Am. Chem. Soc., JACS Au, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Adv. Mater., Appl. Catal. B: Environ., ACS Catal.(Google H-index 79, total citation>19000). He has given over 130 invited/keynote/plenary talks at leading international conferences/workshops and has a sustained record of presenting at national and international conferences.
Prof. Tu has received several prestigious awards, including recognition as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in 2025 and the William Crookes Prize from the European Physical Society in 2024. He served as the lead editor of “Plasma Catalysis: Fundamentals and Applications” (Springer Nature, 2019) and “Low Temperature Plasma Chemical Engineering” (Elsevier 2025) and co-led the 2020 Plasma Catalysis Roadmap (J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 2020, 53, 443001).
Prizes or Honours
- William Crookes Prize (European Physical Society and Institute of Physics, 2024)
- Club Liverpool Recognition Award (Liverpool City Council, 2023)
- Faculty Learning, Teaching and Student Experience Award (Faculty of Science and Engineering at UoL, 2020)
- B. Eliasson Award (ISPCEM, 2014)