Professor Surrey wins a £2 million scholarship to develop clean energy using AI

Professor Jin Xuan from the University of Surrey has won the prestigious Open Fellowship from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to develop the next generation of clean energy devices using advanced artificial intelligence.

As well as using electrochemical technology to explore established applications such as green hydrogen production and CO2 reduction, Prof Xuan will also develop future technologies, with a particular focus on cleaner and greener fertilizers.

Prof Xuan said:

“Making fertilizer to help plants grow is very carbon intensive, but if we can achieve breakthroughs at the difficult electrochemical reduction of nitrogen to produce ammonia, we can make significant strides towards addressing this.

“The answer lies in artificial intelligence to design complex electrochemical devices, but many existing algorithms in this area do not provide an explanation for how AI arrives at its conclusions. The relationship between input and output is a mystery, but I plan to open the ‘black box’ to find reliable, explainable and transferable results.”

The five-year fellowship will enable Prof Xuan to develop explainable artificial intelligence tools and models that lead to the automated rotation of materials design, fabrication and testing of electrochemical devices. Prof Xuan will work with industry partners from Siemens PSE, Intelligent Energy and Johnson Matthey.

Prof Xuan said:

“My ambitions for this research are huge and can only be achieved with such long-term support. The flexibility offered to me through this fellowship will allow me to shape my research as findings emerge, following the solutions uncovered through my work, in partnership with other academia and industry. I am very grateful to EPSRC for this support.”

University of Surrey President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Max Lu, said:

“Jin exemplifies Surrey’s values ​​of inspiration and innovation. He is ambitious to solve global challenges, working collaboratively with interdisciplinary researchers and innovators. We are very proud of him for winning this fellowship.”

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Note to editors

• The University of Surrey is a world-leading center for excellence in sustainability – where our multi-disciplinary research links society and technology to equip humanity with the tools to tackle climate change, clean the air, reduce the health impact of pollution, and help us live better lives, live more sustainably. The University is committed to increasing its own resource efficiency on its plantations and is a sector leader, aiming to become carbon neutral by 2030. A focus on research that makes a difference to the world has contributed to Surrey being ranked 55th in the world in Times Higher Education ( THE) University Impact Rankings 2022, which assesses the performance of more than 1,400 universities against the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

• For further information, please contact the University of Surrey press office via (email protected)