Prof. Li graduated with honor from Tsinghua University in 2000, where he got his double bachelor of engineering degree in materials science and engineering (major) and computer technology and application (minor). From 2000 to 2007, he studied in the department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he got his MS and Ph.D. degrees. From 2007 to 2009, he worked as a posdoctoral research associate in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2009, he joined the faculty of Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences as a professor, and led the Environment Functional Materials Division as the deputy director till 2019. Now he is working as a professor in College of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University.

Prof. Li’s research is focused on the development of functional materials for environment remediation, including photocatalytic materials and photocatalysis, adsorbents for the removal of heavy metal ions from water, catalytic materials for environment and energy applications, and direct-write assembly of three dimensional structures. In his research, he had developed highly-efficient, visible-light-activated photocatalysts with post-illumination photocatalytic “memory” effect, proposed a general material criterion for the selection of highly efficient arsenic adsorbents based on metal oxides/hydroxides and developed a series of highly efficient arsenic adsorbents based on this criterion, and developed catalytic materials to remove various carcinogenic anions from water. He had authored/co-authored over 120 research papers in referred journals, including Advanced Materials, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Environmental Science & Technology, Water Research, ChemSusChem, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Chemical Engineering Journal, and Advanced Optical Materials, and a book chapter. He had applied for 6 US patents (5 granted) and 53 Chinese Patents (25 granted).

In 2009, Prof. Li was selected as “Introduced Outstanding Scholar” of Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2011, Prof. Li became a member of the Youth Innovation Promotion Association Member, Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2014, he was selected as a “Qian” level talent of the Liaoning BaiQianWan Talents Program sponsored by the Liaoning provincial government. In 2014 and 2016, he was awarded twice the First Prize of the Innovation Award for Young Scholars in Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science. In 2017, he was selected as a “Top-notch Talent” of the Shenyang High Level Talents Program sponsored by the Shenyang municipal government and a “Bai” level talent of the Liaoning BaiQianWan Talents Program sponsored by the Liaoning provincial government. In 2018, he was selected as a “Leading Talent” of the Shenyang High Level Talents Program sponsored by the Shenyang municipal government. In 2019, he was named as “Person of the Year 2018” by Scientific Chinese Magazine. In 2020, he was selected as a “Sichuan Provincial Government Distinguished Expert” by the Sichuan Provincial Government and received the 2019 Best Paper Award from Journal of the American Ceramic Society.

Prof. Li is now also serving as an Editor of Journal of Materials Research and Technology (Elsevier) and Editorial Board Member for both Scientific Reports and Journal of Advanced Ceramics (Springer Nature).