Dr Ben B. Xu FRSC, FIMMM, FRSA, FICS, is a professor(full) in materials and energy with a multi-disciplinary research interest covering functional materials, energy conversion&storage, applied mechanics, micro-engineering, and sustainable and enrironmental technology. Ben obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Heriot-watt University in 2011. He subsequently worked as a postdoc researcher in Department of Polymer Science and Engineering at University of Massachusetts Amherst (US, 2011-2013). Ben is a visiting professor in UCLA (US), University of Alberta (CA), The University of Sydney (AU), Manipal University (India), etc.
Ben is a regional lead (Northeast of England) for The Association of British Chinese Professors (ABCP) andchair for the Materials Characterisation&Properties Group in the Institute of Materials, Mining and Minerals (IoM3). He has published 14 patents, 9 book(incl. chapter) and over 300 peer-reviewed articles in the leading journals, including Sci. Adv.,Nat. Commun., Adv. Mater., Angewandte Chemie, Adv. Energy. Mater., Adv. Fun. Mater., Energy. Environ. Sci., Chem. Soc. Rev., ACS Nano, Nano Letters, Chem. Sci., Phys. Rev. Lett.,etc(h-index 75). Ben has been invited to give 120+ invited/plenary talks in international conferences/leading institutions, chaired 40+ international events and reviewed paper publications for 100+ journals. He serves as an associate editor for EcoMat (Wiley) and Advanced Devices & Instrumentation (AAAS), and an editorial board member for Nano Materials Science (Elesevier). He received awards as Product/innovation of the Year 2025 award at CIBSE Building Performance Awards(2025), Stanford/Elsevier World Top 2% Scientists (2024&2025), Nano-Micro Letters ESI TOP ARTICLE AWARDS (2024&2023), Excellence in Research- mid-career award from AICHE (2023), 2023 Technology for Social Impact Award in The IET Excellence and Innovation Award Event,the Outstanding Paper Award at the 2018 IEEE International Flexible Electronics Technology Conference,2016 Young Investigator Awardfrom the International, etc.
Ben is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Mining and Minerals (FIMMM), Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA), Fellow of India Chemical Society (FICS). He has been holding leadingship roles in different councils, such as:
1. An elected member in the Advisory Council in IoM3 from 2019;
2. An elected member in the RSC Materials Chemistry Division Council (2020-2023);
3. RSC North East Coast Committee member from 2020;
4. The executive committee member for The Chinese Society of Chemical Science and Technology (CSCST-UK) from 2016;
5. The area Chair(2024)/vice Chair(2023) of 'composites' (08F) in AICHE (US).
Progresses from Ben’s research havebeen featured by media presses in
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2019:
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Before 2019:
:https://neconnected.co.uk/northumbria-scientists-win-national-photography-prize/
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Dr Xuis currently leading a research group in Northumbria to develop multidisciplinary research programmes, from fundamental understanding on engineering science to innovating the enabling technologies.His researches in extreme mechanics and functional materials includes the design and understanding of morphing structures, the development of novel flexible/wearable sensing/actuating structure/devices, the realization of functional surface/interface with unique chemical-physical features, the innovation of new circular economy technology using recycled plastic wastes and the exploration of future renewable energy solutions.
He has developed a novel approach to realise the sensing/actuation function by introducing elastic instabilities into the micro-engineered structure in a controllable manner, which shed extra lights in developing future micro-devices, especially in the sectors of flexible/wearable electronics, soft robots, etc. His work on soft active matter and developing novel micro-device is supported by the Royal Society, EPSRC and industries.
Progresses from Ben’s research havebeen featured by media presses in,,,2020,2020,2019,,,2019,,2019,2016.
- Advanced Cellulose-Based Gels for Wearable Physiological Monitoring: From Fiber Modification to Application Optimization, Wang, Z., Jiang, J., Wei, K., Zhou, X., Shahzad, M., Li, Y., Zhang, X., Xu, B., Ge, S. 5 Jan 2026, In: Advanced Functional Materials
- A green Fenton-like route to simultaneous bleaching and surface functionalization of bamboo at room temperature, Su, Z., Zhang, Y., Hu, J., Xu, B., Huang, Y., Yu, Y. 1 Jun 2026, In: Industrial Crops and Products
- A multiscale strategy to fabricate tough and highly flame-retardant bamboo-based cellulose bioplastics, Shen, R., Wang, H., Lai, C., Gao, S., Liu, Y., Zhang, D., Xu, B., Xu, Y., Chu, F. 11 Apr 2026, In: Carbohydrate Polymers
- Artificial Compound Eye for Clear Vision in Harsh Environment, Kassim, K., Lu, Q., Xuan, H., Maeda, N., Li, X., Xu, B., Zhang, X. 12 Jan 2026, In: Advanced Functional Materials
- Asymmetric donor engineering in diazine-based polymers for high-efficiency solar-driven H2O2 photosynthesis, Weng, H., Qin, F., Zhang, C., Ni, W., Yan, M., Wang, H., Tang, L., Ge, S., Xu, B., Chen, Z. 16 Apr 2026, In: Chem Catalysis
- Blood Biomarkers and Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy for Gout: A Comprehensive Review, Perera, I., Kanike, C., Tiwari, A., Wu, H., Unsworth, L., Xu, B., Zhang, X. 13 Jun 2026, In: Advanced Functional Materials
- Frontiers of advanced multifunctional liquid metal − wood composite materials, Wang, M., Wei, K., Shi, Y., Xiong, S., Ge, S., Jiang, K., Connor, C., Wang, D., Dyer, K., Zhang, X., Jiang, J., Xu, B. 1 Jun 2026, In: Progress in Materials Science
- Levelized cost analysis of indirect evaporative cooling in a data centre, Jing, Q., Ahmad, M., Jia, C., Ng, C., Wang, W., Zhu, L., Shahzad, M., Xu, B. 1 Jan 2026, In: RSC Sustainability
- Microbubble Elevator Induced Buoyancy Oscillations of Reacting Droplets, Fattahi, K., Sanogo, B., Lu, Q., Li, Y., Xu, B., Lohse, D., Deng, D., Zhang, X. 21 May 2026, In: Nature Communications
- Multifunctional Bamboo based Materials Empowered by Multiscale Hierarchical Structures – A Critical Review, Huang, Y., Hu, J., Zhang, Y., Yu, Y., Zhang, D., Jing, Q., Shahzad, M., Donkor, S., Chen, C., Zhang, C., He, X., Xu, B., Ge, S., Yu, W. 8 Jan 2026, In: Advanced Materials
- Team Mid-I-15 - OptimumAirCon - Second Phase, Shahzad, M. (Principal Investigator), Xu, B. (Co Investigator), University of Warwick, 06/02/23 - 21/04/23, £18,987.00
- Smart materials and surfaces enabled resilience engineering technology, Xu, B. (Principal Investigator), Xu, B. (Co Investigator), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, 01/02/18 - 21/11/18, £1,025.00
- EE 3D printed smart materials structure and device for advanced engineering, Xu, B. (Principal Investigator), Xu, B. (Co Investigator), Jinbaian Steel Product Co Ltd, 01/10/16 - 30/09/19, £75,000.00
- Dynamically monitoring in plane strain transformation/localization during creasing of the gel surface, Xu, B. (Principal Investigator), Xu, B. (Co Investigator), The Royal Society, 31/03/16 - 30/03/17, £14,586.00
- Stimuli-responsive gel based microfluidic switch, Xu, B. (Principal Investigator), Xu, B. (Co Investigator), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, 01/10/15 - 30/07/17, £122,266.00
- Mechanics and application of the micro-engineered smart structure, Xu, B. (Principal Investigator), Xu, B. (Co Investigator), Reece Group Limited, 01/02/15 - 31/01/18, £41,400.00
- SMSL-REECE Joint Summer Undergraduate Research Internship Program, Xu, B. (Principal Investigator), Xu, B. (Co Investigator), Reece Group Limited, 09/06/14 - 30/09/14, £10,900.00
- COST Training School - Particles at Liquid Interfaces: Fundamentals and Applications, Xu, B. (Principal Investigator), Xu, B. (Co Investigator), COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), 02/04/14 - 05/04/14, £508.00
- Examination: PhD examination in Manchester University 2022
- Examination: PhD examination in Newcastle University 2022
- Editorial work: Advanced Devices & Instrumentation (Journal) 2022
- Membership of board: The IOM3 Materials Characterisation & Properties Group (External organisation) 2022
- Editorial work: Editor board member for Green Energy and Environmental Technology (Event) 2022
- Editorial work: Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials (Journal) 2022
- Examination: PhD examination in the University of Edinburgh 2022
- Participating in a conference, workshop, ...: The 28th CSCST-SCI Annual Conference 2021
- Editorial work: Guest Editor for Special Issue of ‘Beyond Lithium: A New Era of Sustainable Energy Engineering’ for Small (Event) 2021
- Examination: PhD examination in ֲýƵ 2021
- Connor Smith Next-Generation Smart Satellites: Metasurface-Based Radio Frequency Identification with Acoustic Emission for Real-Time Structural Health Monitoring Start Date: 21/02/2025 End Date: 17/10/2025
- Qiumei Jing Techno-Economic Analysis of Novel Sustainable Engineering and Energy System Start Date: 01/03/2022 End Date: 17/10/2025
- Kaixin Jiang Advanced Leading Edge Protection System based on Machine Learning and AI Start Date: 01/07/2024 End Date: 17/10/2025
- Zhuofan Qin Advanced Materials and Technologies in Flexible Hybrid Electronics Start Date: 18/01/2021 End Date: 23/05/2025
- Qiumei Jing Techno-Economic Analysis of Novel Sustainable Engineering and Energy System Start Date: 01/03/2022
- Kaixin Jiang Advanced Leading Edge Protection System based on Machine Learning and AI Start Date: 01/07/2024
- Saddick Donkor Design and development of sustainable coating for anticorrosion of metal pipes Start Date: 18/02/2026
- Yuan Wang The evaluation of catalytic performance at electrode for sustainable electrolysis Start Date: 01/10/2022
- Connor Smith Chipless Intelligent RFID Surface for Wireless Transmission of AE Data Start Date: 21/02/2025
- Yuan Wang The evaluation of catalytic performance at electrode for sustainable electrolysis Start Date: 01/10/2022 End Date: 17/10/2025
- Education PGCert October 01 2015
- Mechanical Engineering PhD November 01 2011
- Materials Science MSc July 01 2006
- Polymers and Textiles BSc (Hons) June 30 2003
- Fellow of The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce FRSA 2020
- Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry FRSC 2019
- Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining FIMMM 2016
- Other (please specify) Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) 2015
- Fellow (FHEA) Higher Education Academy (HEA) 2015
- Member American Chemical Society 2011
- Member Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) 2010
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