Fan Liu

Fan Liu is an assistant professor in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Penn State University, with an affiliate appointment in the Materials Research Institute (MRI). Prior to joining Penn State, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Idaho National Laboratory (2024–2026), where his research focused on the manufacturing of high-performance, long-term durable protonic ceramic electrochemical cells for hydrogen production.

Liu earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Kansas State University (2019–2024). His doctoral thesis is “Developing Advanced Ceramic Electrochemical Cells for Future Sustainable Energy Solutions.” He received his bachelor’s degree in metal materials engineering from Liaoning Petrochemical University, China, where he worked on the fabrication and characterization of ferrite-based perovskite oxides and efficient fluorescent materials.

At Penn State, Liu’s research interests broadly center on ceramic materials processing and electrochemical systems for sustainable energy conversion and storage. His work integrates materials synthesis and processing, interface engineering, device fabrication, and collaborative modeling to address challenges in energy efficiency, durability, and sustainability. Applications of his research include power generation, critical materials recycling and extraction, valuable chemical production, and natural gas upgrading. His research emphasizes understanding structure-processing-performance relationships through interdisciplinary collaboration.