Fanxing Li

Professor Fanxing Li is the recipient of the 2026 ENFL Mid-Career Award. Prof Li is located at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, where he is the Thomas M. Clausi Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and, also, a University Faculty Scholar. His group's research activities focus on the design, synthesis, and characterization of nano catalyst and reagent particles for biomass and fossil energy conversions, green liquid fuel synthesis, CO2 capture, and pollutant control. His group's research activities encompass chemical reaction engineering, process synthesis and optimization. Notably, he has been a pioneer in the development of 'chemical looping catalysis,' a transformative paradigm in which redox-active mixed-metal oxide particles simultaneously catalyze chemical transformations and mediate oxygen and/or CO2 separation. Density Functional Theory (DFT) based methods are also applied to help elucidate particle reaction mechanisms and to identify potential ways to improve particle performance. Prof Li has been an active organizer of technical symposia for the ENFL Division at ACS National Meetings over several years. He is also an editorial board member of several academic journals across the field of energy technologies. The Award will be presented in Atlanta at the Spring ACS National Meeting 2026.