Me
Xiaobo ZHANG
Postdoc at City University of Hong Kong
xzhan52@cityu.edu.hk
zxb2016zxb@gmail.com

About

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the City University of Hong Kong, under the supervision of Prof. LEE Duu-Jong. My expertise lies in cutting-edge dehumidification technologies, including novel desiccant materials, innovative dehumidification systems, and intelligent control methods. I am dedicated to advancing energy-efficient moisture control solutions to reduce the electricity consumption of air conditioning systems and provide affordable, comfortable indoor environments. Recently, I am also interested in atmospheric water harvesting, and developing a portable water harvester to serve people around the world. I'm always looking for related colaboration. If you are interested to chat with me, feel free to drop me an email.

Interests

  • Liquid dehumidification
    • [Liquid desiccants][Dehumidifcation devices]
    [Dehumidification systems and applications]
  • Solid dehumidification
    • [Solid desiccants][Dehumidifcation devices]
    [Dehumidification systems and applications]
  • Membrane dehumidification
    • [Membrane materials][Vacuum dehumidification]
    [Dehumidification devices and applications]
  • Cooling, Air conditioing
    • [Evaporation cooling][Compression cooling]
    [Independent temperature and humidity control]
  • Atmospheric Water Harvesting
    • [Novel sorbents][Water harvester]

Education

The City University of Hong Kong
Zhejiang University
  • Ph.D in Refrigeration and Cryogenic Engineering, Sep. 2016 - Jun. 2022
  • Mentor: Prof. Xu Xiangguo
Nanjing University of Science and Technology
  • B.Eng in Thermal Energy and Power Engineering, Sep. 2012 - Jun. 2016

Experiences

2022.08 - Present
Postdoctoral Researcher @ City University of Hong Kong
Desiccant development & atmospheric water harvesting.
2016.09 - 2022.07
Ph.D. @ Zhejiang University
Liquid desiccant dehumidifier control & neural network modeling.
2012.09 - 2016.06
B.Eng. @ Nanjing Univ. of Science & Technology
Thermal and Power Engineering degree.
Dec, 2025
Oral Presentation @ ICAE 2025
17th Intl. Conf. on Applied Energy.
2023.02 - 2026.01
Research Talent Hub Project @ CityU
Thermo-responsive ionic liquids for dehumidification & water harvesting.
2018.08 - 2018.09
Exchange @ KTH & TU/e
KTH (Sweden) & TU/e (Netherlands).
2017.09 - 2021.09
National Key R&D Program @ ZJU
Absorption heat pump and refrigeration systems.
Oct, 2017
Oral Presentation @ Chinese Society of Engineering Thermophysics
Engineering Thermodynamics & Energy Utilization.
2017.08 - 2017.09
Summer School @ Sino-EU Engineering Education Platform
Doctoral summer school exchange.
2017.07 - 2017.08
Internship @ Dun'an Artificial Environment Co.
Auto AC system simulation with Dymola.
2016.07 - 2017.09
Research @ NJUST
Wearable semiconductor cooling device design.
Aug, 2016
9th National Refrigeration & AC New Technology Seminar
National Refrigeration & AC New Technology Seminar.

Publications ( / )

Regenerating Liquid Desiccants with a Thermo-Responsive Solution for Energy-Efficient Indoor Humidity Control
Xiaobo ZHANG, Ziyang Guo, Duu-Jong Lee
Applied Energy, 2026 [Paper]
A Solar-Driven Hybrid Dehumidification System with Spectrum Splitting Technology for Efficient Operation across a Broad Range of Humidity
Xiaobo ZHANG, Ziyang Guo, Xiangguo Xu, Duu-Jong Lee
Energy Conversion and Management, 2025 [Paper]
A Thermal-Rectified Gradient Porous Nanocomposite Film Enabling Multi-Scenario Adaptive Radiative Cooling
Xiaobo ZHANG, et al.
ACS Nano, 2025 [Paper]
Thermal-Rectified Gradient Porous Polymeric Film for Solar-Thermal Regulatory Cooling
Yufeng Wang, Xiaobo ZHANG, Song Liu, Ying Liu, Qisen Zhou, Tianyi Zhu, Yue-E Miao, Norbert Willenbacher, Chao Zhang, Tianxi Liu
Advanced Materials, 2024 [Paper]
Low-Grade Heat-Driven System Utilizing Thermo-Responsive Ionic Liquid for Greenhouses Dehumidification and Water Recovery
Xiaobo ZHANG, Ziyang Guo, Weihong Li, Duu-Jong Lee
Applied Thermal Engineering, 2024 [Paper]
Optimizing the Amount of Solution in Packed Liquid Desiccant Systems for Sustained Dehumidification
Xiaobo ZHANG, Ziyang Guo, Duu-Jong Lee, Weihong Li
Case Studies in Thermal Engineering, 2024 [Paper]
A Refined Dynamic Liquid Dehumidification Model for the Packed Dehumidifier Considering Time-Varying Thermal Mass of the Desiccant
Xiaobo ZHANG, Ziyang Guo, Xiangguo Xu, Duu-Jong Lee
Journal of Building Engineering, 2024 [Paper]
A Dynamic Model of the Packed Dehumidifier
Xiaobo ZHANG, Xiangguo Xu, Duu-Jong Lee
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2023 [Paper]
Development of a New Control Method for the Dynamic Liquid Desiccant Dehumidification Process
Xiaobo ZHANG, Xiangguo Xu, Xinyue Ma
Energy and Buildings, 2022 [Paper]
An Improved Time Delay Neural Network Model for Predicting Dynamic Heat and Mass Transfer Characteristics of a Packed Liquid Desiccant Dehumidifier
Xiaobo ZHANG, Xiangguo Xu, Yuxian Zhu
International Journal of Thermal Sciences, 2022 [Paper]
Dynamic Operational Characteristics and Preliminary Control of a Packed Liquid Desiccant Dehumidifier
Xiaobo ZHANG, Yuxian Zhu, Xiangguo Xu, Xiaosheng Ji
Energy and Buildings, 2021 [Paper]
An Online Model for Predicting Dynamic Response of a Packed Liquid Desiccant Dehumidifier
Xiaobo ZHANG, Xiangguo Xu, Yuxian Zhu
Energy and Buildings, 2020 [Paper]

Partnership

What We Expect

Thermoresponsive ionic liquids with osmotic pressure>180 bar
Ionic Liquids 1 Ionic Liquids 2
Hygroscopic sorbents with high water uptake capacity and rate, while low regeneration energy
Sorbents 1 Sorbents 2 Sorbents 3
Membrane for dehumidification, with high permeability/selectivity/mechanics/hydrolysis
Membrane 1

What We Have

Home-made devices (vacuum dehumidifier, forward osmosis setup, membrane dehumidification setup, environment chamber)
Device 1 Device 2 Device 3 Device 4
Well-equipped experimental facilities (constant temperature and humidity chamber, TGA, electrochemical workstation)
TGA Workstation 1 Workstation 2
Strong computational modeling capabilities (GPU NVIDIA RTX A6000; CPU Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8357B CPU @ 2.70GHz)
Computing
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