Dr. Zhiping Lai joined KAUST as a founding member in 2009, bringing expertise in the area of advanced membranes and porous materials, with pioneering contributions in the field of metal-organic framework membranes for gas separations development. He currently serves as a professor of chemistry and co-chair of the KAUST Center for Renewable Energy and Storage Technologies, which aims to develop renewable energy and storage solutions that will help Saudi Arabia achieve its 2030 environmental and economic goals. Before KAUST, Professor Lai conducted postdoctoral research in the department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, U.S., and worked as an assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Lai’s highly cited research is published in top-tier journals such as Science, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Materials, JACS, Angewandtl Chemie, and Journal of Membrane Science. ​

​Professor Lai's research interests mainly focus on synthesis, characterization and applications ofinorganic membranes with ordered porous structures, such as zeolites, mesoporous silica orcarbon, metal-organic frameworks, etc. The aim of his research is to understand the membraneformation and separation mechanisms in order to develop novel synthesis strategies to fabricatehigh performance membrane systems. Current projects focus on the development of high-performance membranes for gas separation, hydrocarbon mixture separations, membrane reactors,water desalination, lithium extraction, wastewater treatment and recovery of industrial organicsolvents, and biological and pharmaceutic separations. Another area of study is the synthesis ofporous materials into nanostructures such as core-shell nanostructure and their potentialapplications for CO2 utilization, green hydrogen production, among other areas of impact.​