Dr Cai obtained her BSc and MSc in Materials Science and Engineering from Tsinghua University (China) in 2001 and 2003 respectively. After that she was granted an "Overseas Research Scholarship" by the Universities UK for her PhD study at University of Edinburgh. She worked on an EPSRC funded project, and developed molecular models to understand the relation between the microstructure of porous materials and the associated gas adsorption and transport processes. She was awarded a PhD degree in Chemical Engineering in early 2007, and subsequently joined Imperial College London, where she spent five years as a postdoctoral research associate, looking at 3D microstructure modelling and design of the porous composite electrodes, system performance prediction and operation optimisation.

Dr Cai was appointed as a lecturer in Chemical Engineering at University of Surrey in September 2012 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in April 2016. She has expertise in porous materials, molecular simulations, multiscale modelling, fuel cells, hydrogen production and electrochemical energy devices. Her research group are working on the design of materials and processes in energy and environmental research.

My aim is to develop materials-centered research to design materials and associated processes for applications in energy and environment areas. Research aims to address the key questions: (1) How does a material and its microstructure affect the chemical and physical processes? (2) How is the performance related to the microstructure and the processes? (3) How can we better design a material or a microstructure to give better performance?

Current research is focused on electrochemical energy devices, particularly solid oxide fuel cells for power generation, electrolysers for hydrogen/fuel production, and batteries for energy storage. These devices have much in common – they are all based on electrochemical reaction mechanisms and have porous materials functioning as electrodes, but their applications motivate different design choices.

We use numerical models as useful tools to design and optimize the materials and operation of the electrochemical devices which are still under development. We welcome collaborations with colleagues who are specialized in experiment work, and colleagues from various disciplines, to develop fundamental understanding, and push scientific boundaries.

L. Xing, Q. Cai and K. Scott, Numerical study of the effect of relative humidity, stoichiometric flow ratio and channel length on PEM fuel cell performance: An anode partial flooding modelling, Energy, 2016 L. Xing, Q. Cai, M. Mamlouk, K. Scott, Anode partial flooding modelling of proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Optimisation of electrode properties and channel geometries, Chemical Engineering Science, 2016