The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has recently announced the recipients of the 2025 Outstanding Research Award, with a total of 80 scholars and researchers nationwide receiving this prestigious honor. Professor Wei-Ren Liu from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Chung Yuan Christian University (CYCU) was recognized for his outstanding research achievements in the field of energy materials. Notably, he is the only award recipient from a private university this year outside institutions with medical school affiliations, highlighting the significance of this accomplishment.
The NSTC Outstanding Research Award is intended to recognize science and technology professionals who have demonstrated long-term dedication to fundamental or applied research with distinguished achievements. The award highlights the diverse value of research outcomes and contributes to enhancing the nation’s overall scientific and technological capabilities. It is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious and representative annual honors in Taiwan’s academic research community.
Professor Wei-Ren Liu was selected as one of the awardees in the Chemical Engineering category this year. His research spans a broad range of advanced energy technologies, including cathode and anode materials for lithium (and sodium) batteries, lithium/sodium all-solid-state batteries, zinc-ion batteries, solid electrolytes, as well as emerging materials such as graphene, MXenes, and perovskite quantum dots. He has long been dedicated to energy storage and the development of novel functional materials, achieving significant research outcomes.
In terms of academic performance, Professor Liu has published 111 SCI-indexed papers over the past five years, with more than 250 SCI publications throughout his career. Notably, approximately 90% of his papers have appeared in Q1 journals. According to Google Scholar statistics, he has an h-index of 56 and more than 10,389 total citations, demonstrating both the quality and quantity of his research productivity as well as his substantial academic impact.
In terms of international collaboration, Professor Liu has served as a visiting scholar at Hokkaido University and Kyushu University in Japan, as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. He has also led or participated in numerous NSTC-supported international collaborative projects, including bilateral programs between Taiwan and Poland, Taiwan and the United Kingdom, and Taiwan and the Philippines, as well as the Taiwan–Germany battery collaboration initiative and carbon capture and utilization (CCU) net-zero carbon projects. In 2025, he was invited to serve as a visiting professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, further demonstrating his international visibility and academic influence.
In addition to his academic achievements, Professor Liu has actively promoted industry–academia collaboration and technology commercialization. He has obtained 34 Taiwan patents and completed 13 technology transfer agreements, generating cumulative licensing revenue exceeding NT$18.6 million. His research outcomes have been successfully translated into industrial applications, reflecting a balance between academic innovation and industrial value creation. He has also made significant contributions to academic service, having served as Secretary-General of the Taiwan Section of The Electrochemical Society (ECS), Director of the Research Promotion Division, and Associate Vice President for Research and Development at Chung Yuan Christian University. He currently serves as President of the Taiwan Carbon Materials Society and as a Board Director of the Taiwan Electrochemical Society, continuing to advance collaboration between academia and industry in Taiwan.
Professor Liu’s academic excellence has been widely recognized. He has been named among the World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University (2023, 2024) and ranked in the top 0.5% of scholars worldwide across all disciplines over the past five years by ScholarGPS (2024). He has also received numerous honors, including the Shi Yan-Ping Paper Award from the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Xueshan Award and Distinguished Research Award from Chung Yuan Christian University, the CYCU Young Scholar Award, the Green Chemistry Application and Innovation Award from Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration, the National Innovation Award, the Y. Z. Hsu Scientific and Technological Innovation Award, and the Platinum Medal at the Taiwan Innotech Expo Invention Competition. He has long been dedicated to research in battery technologies, graphene-based two-dimensional materials, and luminescent materials, achieving outstanding results.
As both an alumnus and faculty member of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Chung Yuan Christian University, Professor Wei-Ren Liu expressed his deep honor in receiving the NSTC Outstanding Research Award. He noted that this recognition represents not only a personal academic milestone, but also the collective achievements of his research team. He particularly expressed gratitude to the award committee for their recognition, as well as to the students of the Energy and Optoelectronic Materials Laboratory (EOML) for their dedication and contributions over his 13 years of teaching.
Reflecting on the early days of his research group in 2012, Professor Liu recalled that the team began with just one master’s student and two undergraduate researchers, focusing on lithium batteries, graphene, and luminescent materials. Over the years, the group has grown to nearly 30 members, with research now extending into advanced fields including sodium batteries, all-solid-state batteries, MXenes, and perovskite quantum dots.
He also expressed sincere appreciation to his mentor, Professor Nai-Li Wu of National Taiwan University, for his guidance and inspiration. In addition, he acknowledged Chung Yuan Christian University for its long-term support and abundant research resources, which have enabled him to pursue his research endeavors wholeheartedly. Looking ahead, Professor Liu stated that he will continue to uphold his original aspirations by advancing innovation in energy materials, contributing to sustainable energy development and societal progress. He also cited Louis Pasteur’s well-known quote, “In the fields of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind,” as a source of encouragement, expressing his hope that his research team will continue striving for excellence and achieving further breakthroughs in scientific research.
