Dr Jiayi Cen is a Technology Analyst at IDTechEx, focusing on energy storage technologies and specifically on battery materials. Prior to IDTechEx, she was a PhD researcher at University College London. Her PhD research was part of the FutureCat project funded by the Faraday Institution.
Jiayi was a computational chemist at University College London. Her work was on the computational modelling and discovery of future cathode materials for Li-ion batteries. Her PhD research projects included exploring compounds in the Li-Ni-O phase diagram using ab initio crystal structure prediction methods, and the intrinsic and extrinsic defect studies on high-voltage spinel LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO) cathodes.
She obtained a first-class MCHEM degree at the University of Manchester with industrial experience. Her master's research project was on the modelling of the structural dynamics and thermal transport in bismuth chalcogenides. During her year in industry at Johnson Matthey, she worked on an experimental project - the chemical recycling of plastic solid wastes by catalytic pyrolysis. Jiayi has presented her work at several national and international conferences, with her work featured in several peer-reviewed journals.
At IDTechEx, Jiayi works on topics related to battery and energy storage technologies.