Staff Profile

Dr. Chuan Cheng is a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the School of Engineering at Newcastle University. He obtained a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hong Kong with an exchange at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He had six years postdoctoral training from the University of Hong Kong, Hamburg University of Technology, and the University of Oxford. Before joining Newcastle, he worked as an Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick where he led the MSc in Sustainable Automotive Electrification (full-time) and coordinated the WMG Battery Schools for Faraday Institution & for Industry. 

Dr. Cheng's research focuses on lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, advanced manufacturing technologies for battery electrodes, and electrochemical mechanics of nanoporous materials.

Openings:

Please contact me if you are interested to conduct PhD (or Postdoctoral) research on Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion in the following areas:

1. Lithium-Ion Battery Electrode Manufacturing
2. Electrochemical Modelling of Batteries
3. Electrochemical Actuators based on Nanoporous Metals / Polymers

Call for Postdoctoral Applicants:

EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellow, Closing Date: 28 March 2023, Salary: £32,348 per annum, Web-Link: EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellow (ncl.ac.uk)

Newcastle University invites applications for the prestigious EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship. The Fellowship is an opportunity for EPSRC-funded PhD students to receive 24 months of additional support following the successful completion of their PhD. To be considered, you should identify an appropriate academic member of staff, referred to as a ‘Project Sponsor.’ You are welcome to approach me by email to discuss your planned research proposal.

Call for Papers:

Guest Editor: Materials (IF 3.748) | Special Issue : Challenges of Current and Next-Generation Electrochemical Energy Storage Materials (mdpi.com), submission deadline: 20 September 2023.

• Articles

  • 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. Roadmap on Li-ion battery manufacturing research. Journal of Physics: Energy 2022, 4, 042006.
  • Drummond R, Cheng C, Grant PS, Duncan SR. Modelling the Impedance Response of Graded LiFePO₄ Cathodes for Li-Ion Batteries. Journal of The Electrochemical Society 2022, 169, 010528.
  • Cheng C, Drummond R, Duncan SR, Grant PS. Extending the energy-power balance of Li-ion batteries using graded electrodes with precise spatial control of local composition. Journal of Power Sources 2022, 542, 231758.
  • Cheng C, Lührs L, Krekeler T. Simultaneous Enhancement of Actuation Strain and Mechanical Strength of Nanoporous Ni–Mn Actuators. Advanced Electronic Materials 2021, 7(7), 2100381.
  • Cheng C, Lührs L. Robust Metallic Actuators Based on Nanoporous Gold Rapidly Dealloyed from Gold–Nickel Precursors. Advanced Functional Materials 2021, 31(48), 2107241.
  • Cheng C, Grant PS, Lührs L. Electrochemical Mechanics of Metal Thin Films: Charge‐Induced Reversible Surface Stress for Actuation. Advanced Electronic Materials 2020, 6, 1900364.
  • Cheng C, Drummond R, Duncan SR, Grant PS. Combining composition graded positive and negative electrodes for higher performance Li-ion batteries. Journal of Power Sources 2020, 448, 227376.
  • Cheng C, Drummond R, Duncan SR, Grant PS. Micro-scale graded electrodes for improved dynamic and cycling performance of Li-ion batteries. 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.
  • Cheng C, Ng KY, Aluru NR, Ngan AHW. Simulation and experiment of substrate aluminum grain orientation dependent self-ordering in anodic porous alumina. Journal of Applied Physics 2013, 113, 204903.
  • Cheng C, Ngan AHW. Growth Sustainability of Nanopore Channels in Anodic Aluminum Oxide Guided with Prepatterns. Journal of Physical Chemistry C 2013, 117, 12183.
  • Cheng C, Ngan AHW. Fast fabrication of self-ordered anodic porous alumina on oriented aluminum grains by high acid concentration and high temperature anodization. Nanotechnology 2013, 24, 215602.
  • Cheng C, Ngan AHW. Chemo-mechanical softening during in situ nanoindentation of anodic porous alumina with anodization processing. Journal of Applied Physics 2013, 113, 184903.
  • Cheng C, Ngan AHW. Charge-induced reversible bending in nanoporous alumina-aluminum composite. Applied Physics Letters 2013, 102, 213119.
  • Cheng C, Ngan AHW. Quantitative characterization of acid concentration and temperature dependent self-ordering conditions of anodic porous alumina. AIP Advances 2011, 1, 042113.
  • Cheng C, Ngan AHW. Modelling and simulation of self-ordering in anodic porous alumina. Electrochimica Acta 2011, 56, 9998.

• Authored Book

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

• Book Chapter

  • Cheng C, Ngan AHW. Theoretical Pore Growth Models for Nanoporous Alumina. In: Losic, D; Santos, A, ed. Nanoporous Alumina: Fabrication, Structure, Properties and Applications. Springer, 2015.