Xiaomeng Xu
“What particularly fascinates me about photoelectrochemical energy conversion is its combination of electrochemistry, semiconductor physics, spectroscopic characterization, and materials science. This interdisciplinary nature becomes especially evident at semiconductor–catalyst interfaces, where electronic structure, charge transfer, and catalytic processes are closely intertwined. Understanding these interfacial phenomena and their impact on device performance is both challenging and exciting to me.”
“What particularly fascinates me about photoelectrochemical energy conversion is its combination of electrochemistry, semiconductor physics, spectroscopic characterization, and materials science. This interdisciplinary nature becomes especially evident at semiconductor–catalyst interfaces, where electronic structure, charge transfer, and catalytic processes are closely intertwined. Understanding these interfacial phenomena and their impact on device performance is both challenging and exciting to me.”
Doctoral Researcher
Technical University of Munich
Scientific career and research areas
Xiaomeng Xu obtained her bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Guangdong Technion–Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT), China (2017–2021). She subsequently joined the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where she completed her master’s degree in Chemical Biotechnology (2022–2025). During her studies, she completed an industrial internship at BMW, contributing to the enhancement and extension of a MATLAB/Simulink-based fuel cell system simulation framework. Her master’s thesis in the group of Prof. Dr. Aliaksandr S. Bandarenka focused on electrochemical reaction mechanisms of the hydrogen evolution reaction, combining electrochemical characterization with impedance-based mechanistic analysis. Since September 2026, she has been a PhD student in Verena Streibel‘s junior research group at the Walter Schottky Institute, focusing on semiconductor–catalyst interfaces for photoelectrochemical energy conversion.
In the CO2UPLED project, I focus on the development and characterization of photoelectrode–catalyst systems for photoelectrochemical energy conversion. My research aims to understand charge-transfer processes and energy band alignment at semiconductor–catalyst interfaces by combining photoelectrochemical measurements with photoelectron and absorption spectroscopy. Through this work, I seek to establish structure–interface–performance relationships that can guide the design of more efficient and stable systems for solar fuel generation.
The working group headed by Verena Streibel
