Qilei Song

Dr Qilei Song is an Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering and a principal investigator at the Barrer Centre, Imperial College London. He leads the Functional Membranes and Energy Materials Group, focusing on porous materials and membrane technologies for molecular separations, catalysis, and energy systems.

• Affiliated with Grantham Institute and Institute for Molecular Science and Engineering
• Co-investigator in £9M EPSRC Programme Grant SynHiSel
• ERC Starting Grant recipient for membrane development in grid-scale energy storage

His research spans CO2 capture, hydrogen production, ion exchange membranes, and advanced battery materials. Key projects include redox flow batteries, fuel cells, and water purification systems. The group maintains strong collaborations with industrial partners like BP-ICAM, Shell, Toyota Motor Europe, and Schlumberger.

Notable scientific achievements include the IChemE Nicklin Medal and ERC Starting Grant. The group's publications emphasize ion transport mechanisms, microporous polymers, and electrochemical device optimization.

• Advising PhD students Charlotte Breakwell, Yijie Yang, Naiqi Meng, and others
• Alumni include Dr Anqi Wang (now KAUST), Dr Rui Tan (Swansea University), and Dr Zhiyu Fan (clean tech startup)

The lab houses argon-filled glovebox systems for battery assembly and testing, supporting projects in lithium-ion batteries and redox flow batteries under inert conditions.