Dr Lei Chai
Research Fellow II
Elliott Jaques 087
- Email: lei.chai@brunel.ac.uk
- Tel: +44 (0)1895 265834
Summary
Lei Chai has been in the World's Top 2% Scientists for six continuous years from 2020 to 2025. He is ranking 79136 in the Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Scientists List 2025.
Lei Chai obtained his PhD in Thermal energy and power engineering at Beijing University of Technology in 2012 and then worked as a Lecturer at Chinese Academy of Sciences for 2 years and as a Postdoctoral Researcher Assistant at Queen Mary University of London for 3 years. Lei Chai has published over 60 scientific papers on advanced CO2 power and refrigeration systems, energy storage devices and systems, heat transfer enhancement and novel heat exchangers, hydrogen energy and fuel cell, function materials and applications, etc. Since June 2017, Lei Chai has worked as a Research Fellow at Centre for Sustainable Energy use in Food chains (CSEF), at Brunel University London.
Qualifications
- PhD, Thermal energy and power engineering, Beijing University of Technology
- BSc, Oil & gas storage and transportation engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China)
Responsibility
- Undertake research relevant to the projects in the area of thermal systems and energy conversion technologies, for example thermal to electrical power, heat to cooling, energy storage etc., including both experimental and numerical investigations.
Newest selected publications
Chai, L., Tassou, SA. and Tsamos, KM. (2026) 'Simulation and Performance Evaluation of Trans-Critical CO₂ Refrigeration System Integrated with Spray-Cooled Gas Coolers'. Processes, 14 (6). pp. 1 - 19.Open Access Link
Chai, L. and Tassou, SA. (2025) 'A technology review of pumped thermal energy storage based on CO2 cycles'. Applied Thermal Engineering, 281. pp. 1 - 24. ISSN: 1359-4311 Open Access Link
Chai, L. (2025) 'Numerical Investigation on Heat Transfer of Supercritical CO2 in Minichannel with Fins Integrated in Sidewalls'. Processes, 13 (8). pp. 1 - 21.Open Access Link
Chai, L. and Tassou, S. (2024) 'Influence of Operation Parameters on Thermohydraulic Performance of Supercritical CO2 in a Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger'. Heat Transfer Engineering, 0 (ahead of print). pp. 1 - 19. ISSN: 0145-7632 Open Access Link
Chai, L. and Tassou, SA. (2023)
'Recent Progress on High Temperature and High Pressure Heat Exchangers for Supercritical CO