Prof. LI Xing

Prof. LI Xing

李興教授

PhD (National University of Singapore)

Assistant Professor

Contact Information

Office:	YEUNG-P5308
Phone:	+852 3442-6347
Fax:	+852 3442-0522
Email:	xing.li@cityu.edu.hk
ORCID ID:	0000-0002-5470-1043
Google Scholar:	View
Researchgate:	View
Linkedin:	View
Homepage:	View

Xing Li received his B.Sc. degree with first-class honors from Nanyang Technological University (2014) and his Ph.D. from National University of Singapore (2018). From 2018 to 2021, Dr. Li was a research fellow in the Department of Chemistry at the National University of Singapore. He then moved to the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, where he worked as a postdoctoral fellow from 2021 to 2024. In May 2024, Dr. Li joined the City University of Hong Kong as the inaugural Presidential Assistant Professor.

Dr. Li’s research interest focuses on developing molecular nanoporosity and stimuli-responsive materials to enable emerging technologies in energy storage and environmental applications. His work spans covalent organic frameworks (COFs), hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs), electrochemical carbon capture, metal-gas batteries, and redox-flow batteries. During his Ph.D., he pioneered the first tunable white-emissive COFs and developed methods for bandgap engineering of COFs. From 2018 to 2021, he discovered antiparallel stacking in layered COFs, addressed challenges in the ultrafast, scalable synthesis and layer-controlled exfoliation of highly crystalline COFs, created new reactivity in COFs for robust heterogeneous catalysis, and developed killer applications of COFs for energy storage. Between 2021 and 2024, he developed efficient methods to electrify conventional carbon capture processes and resolved long-standing stability issues at the molecular level.

Dr Li’s interdisciplinary work in chemistry, materials science, and chemical engineering has been recognized by prestigious journals, including Nature Chemistry, Nature Synthesis, Nature Energy, Nature Communications, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie, and Advanced Materials. His contributions to COFs have been highlighted in Nature Collection, “Celebrating 15 Years of Covalent Organic Frameworks” “Synthesis and Enabling Technologies” and “Synthesis of Materials for Energy Applications”. His work on electrochemical carbon capture has also been featured by Nature Collection, “Carbon Dioxide Removal, Capture and Storage” and “Chemical Engineering Distilled”.

Dr. Li's group is now open for PhD students, postdoctoral fellows, and research assistants.

Interested candidates please send the following documents to xing.li@cityu.edu.hk

A cover letter detailing your research interests and career goals.
CV/Resume.
Academic transcripts.
Contact information for at least two references.

Representative Publications

(‡ Denotes equal contributions; * Denotes corresponding authors)

Full publication list: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HUiTz6gAAAAJ&hl=en

Q. Gao^‡*, G. Jiang^‡, X. Liu‡, M. Sun, C. Qian, C. Yuan, W. P. D. Wong, J. Niu, Y. Xu, S. Xu, G. Ma, Z. Li, J.-W. Hu, P. Zhang, B. Huang^*, W. Wei^*, X. Li^*, Selective Pore Modulation in Layered Molecular Crystals. Nature Synthesis, 2026, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-026-01123-3
W. Feng, G. Jiang, X. Li^*, Sorbent Design for Electrochemical Carbon Capture in Water-Lean Systems: from Molecules to Reticular Materials. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2026, 14, 36951-36970. (Selected in Themed collections: 2026 Journal of Materials Chemistry A Emerging Investigators)
X. Li^*, C. B. Musgrave, A. Liu, J. Meng, J. Zhang, W. A. Goddard, Y. Liu^*, Electrifying Amine Carbon Capture with Robust Redox-Tunable Acids. Nature Communications, 2025, 16, 4339.
X. Li, X. Zhao, L. Zhang, A. Mathur, Y. Xu, Z. Fang, L. Gu, Y. Liu, Y. Liu^*, Redox-Tunable Isoindigos for Electrochemically Mediated Carbon Capture. Nature Communications, 2024, 15, 1175.
X. Li, A. Mathur, A. Liu, Y. Liu, Electrifying Carbon Capture by Developing Nanomaterials at the Interface of Molecular and Process Engineering. Accounts of Chemical Research, 2023, 56, 2763-2775.
X. Li^‡, K. Zhang^‡, Z. Li^‡, Y. Yan, Y. Yuan, L. Ma, K. Xie^*, K. P. Loh^*, Rational Design of Covalent Organic Frameworks as Gas Diffusion Layers for Multi-atmosphere Lithium-Air Batteries. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2023, e202217869. (VIP paper)
X. Li^‡, X. Zhao^‡, Y. Liu^*, T. A. Hatton^*, Y. Liu^*, Redox-Tunable Lewis Bases for Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Capture. Nature Energy, 2022, 7, 1065-1075. (Highlighted by Nature Energy News & Views, selected in Nature Collection - Carbon Dioxide Removal, Capture and Storage and Nature Collection - Chemical Engineering Distilled)
X. Li^‡, K. Zhang^‡, G. Wang, Y. Yuan, G. Zhan, T. Ghosh, W. P.D. Wong, F. Chen, H.-S. Xu, U. Mirsaidov, K. Xie, J. Lin^*, K. P. Loh^*, Constructing Ambivalent Imidazopyridinium-linked Covalent Organic Frameworks. Nature Synthesis, 2022, 1, 382-392. (Highlighted by Nature Synthesis News & Views, selected in Nature Collection - Synthesis of Materials for Energy Applications)
X. Li, H.-S. Xu, K. Leng, S. W. Chee, X. Zhao, N. Jain, H. Xu, J. Qiao, Q. Gao, I.-H. Park, S. Y. Quek, U. Mirsaidov and K. P. Loh^*, Partitioning the Interlayer Space of Covalent Organic Frameworks by Embedding Pseudorotaxanes in Their Backbones. Nature Chemistry, 2020, 12, 1115-1122. (Cover Article, selected in Nature Collection - Celebrating 15 Years of Covalent Organic Frameworks and selected in Nature Collection - Synthesis and Enabling Technologies as cover article)
X. Li, P. Yadav, K. P. Loh^*, Function-Oriented Synthesis of Two-dimensional (2D) Covalent Organic Frameworks - from 3D Solids to 2D Sheets. Chemical Society Reviews, 2020, 49, 4835. (Inside Back Cover Article)
X. Li^‡, J. Qiao‡, S. W. Chee, H.-S. Xu, X. Zhao, H. S. Choi, W. Yu, S. Y. Quek, U. Mirsaidov, K. P. Loh^*, Rapid, Scalable Construction of Highly Crystalline Acylhydrazone Two-Dimensional Covalent Organic Frameworks via Dipole-Induced Antiparallel Stacking. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2020, 142, 4932-4943. (Highly Cited Paper from Web of Science)
X. Li^‡, H. Wang‡, Z. Chen, H.-S. Xu, W. Yu, C. Liu, X. Wang; K. Zhang, K. Xie^*, K. P. Loh^*, Covalent-Organic-Framework-Based Li-CO2 Batteries. Advanced Materials, 2019, 31, 1905879.
X. Li, Q. Gao, J. Wang, Y. Chen, Z.-H. Chen, H.-S. Xu, W. Tang, K. Leng, G.-H. Ning, J. Wu, Q.-H. Xu, S. Y. Quek, Y. Lu, K. P. Loh^*, Tuneable Nearly White-Emissive Two-Dimensional Covalent Organic Frameworks. Nature Communications, 2018, 9, 2335. (Selected in Nature Collection - Celebrating 15 Years of Covalent Organic Frameworks)