General

Ren Yihua

School of Engineering Sciences

Email: renyihua@ucas.ac.cn

Mailing Address:

Room 402, school building 1st, West Campus

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

1 Yanqihu East Road, Huairou District, 101418, Beijing

Personal Introduction:

Ren Yihua received his Bachelor's and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Energy and Power Engineering at Tsinghua University in 2013 and 2018, respectively. In 2023, he joined the School of Engineering Sciences at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and in 2024, he was appointed as a Senior Visiting Scholar at the State Key Laboratory of High-Temperature Gas Dynamics, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He served as a Program Committee Member for the 2024–2025 Annual Symposium on Combustion of the Chinese Society of Engineering Thermophysics, and also holds a part-time editorial position with Springer-Nature journals.

He was awarded the National Natural Science Foundation Outstanding Youth Science Fund (Overseas) in 2022, the Bernard-Lewis Fellowship from the Combustion Institute in 2020 (awarded to only 5–6 individuals globally every two years), and the Humboldt Research Fellowship in 2018. In 2023, he received the First Prize of the Natural Science Award from the Ministry of Education. In 2026, he was awarded the Second Prize of the National Natural Science Award for "Theory and Applications of Particle Generation and Control in Multiphase Combustion Processes."

His research primarily focuses on in-situ laser diagnostics, high-temperature flame synthesis of advanced nano-energy materials, multi-mode propulsion using green energetic ionic liquids, spectral intelligence analysis, and active combustion control. The droplet combustion micro-explosion experimental unit he developed is scheduled to be launched aboard the Tianzhou-11 cargo spacecraft to the China Space Station for in-orbit experiments.

He has published 37 SCI-indexed papers with a total of 1,483 citations and an H-index of 20 (Google Scholar). As first or corresponding author, he has published hallmark works in Phys. Rev. Lett. (1), Phys. Rev. Appl. (1), Phys. Rev. E (1), Combust. Flame (3), Proc. Combust. Inst. (8), Rev. Sci. Instr. (1), Carbon (1), and Chem. Mater. (1).

Research Areas

1. Development and implementation of in‑situ laser diagnostics for multiphysics heterogeneous reactive flows

  • Spontaneous Raman Scattering – for simultaneous measurement of gas‑phase temperature, velocity, and species composition.
  • Filtered Rayleigh Scattering – for velocity and temperature measurements in multiphase flows.
  • Phase‑selective Laser‑Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy – for gas‑to‑solid transition monitoring.
  • In‑situ Particle Raman Scattering Spectroscopy – for probing particle lattice structures.
  • Electric‑Field‑Induced Second Harmonic Generation – for electric‑field strength measurement in plasma environments.

2. High‑temperature synthesis methods for nano‑energy materials

  • Precise control of flame synthesis reactors to create diverse temperature and composition environments.
  • Development of multi‑component flame environments for the precisely controllable synthesis of composite nanomaterials.
  • Application of multi‑scale simulation techniques to investigate particle surface defects and atomically dispersed doping mechanisms at high temperatures.

3. Heat and mass transport processes in advanced multi‑mode propulsion

  • Catalytic combustion characteristics of energetic ionic liquids
  • Electromagnetic propulsion schemes using magnetic energetic ionic liquids
  • Multi‑mode propulsion for micro‑spacecraft

4. Modeling and control of complex physical processes based on diagnostic data

  • Comprehensive data interpretation and model construction for complex plasma emission spectra
  • Active control strategies for complex reactive flows based on reinforcement learning
  • Physics‑informed neural network‑based diagnostics for complex reactive flow fields

Education

2009-2013 Tsinghua University, B.C.

2013-2018 Tsinghua University, Ph.D.

Experience

2019-2020: Homboldt postdoc, ITV, RWTH Aachen

2021-2022: Research Scientist, ITV RWTH Aachen

2023-NOW: Assoc. Prof., UCAS

Work Experience

2019-2020: Homboldt postdoc, ITV, RWTH Aachen

2021-2022: Research Scientist, ITV RWTH Aachen

2023-NOW: Assoc. Prof., UCAS

Teaching Experience

Combustion Theory

In-situ laser diagnostic of thermal fluids

Publications

1.      Yihua Ren, Shuiqing Li*, Yiyang Zhang, Stephen D. Tse, Marshall Long.   Absorption-ablation-excitation mechanism of laser-cluster interactions in a   nanoaerosol system. Physical Review Letters, 2015,   114:093401.

2.      Yihua Ren, Yiyang Zhang, Shuiqing Li*. Simultaneous single-shot two-dimensional   imaging of nanoparticles and radicals in turbulent reactive flows. Physical   Review Applied, 2020, 13:044002.

3.      Yihua Ren*, Jinzhi Cai, Heinz Pitsch. Theoretical single droplet model for particle   formation in flame spray pyrolysis. Energy and Fuel, 2021, 35(2):   1750–1759.

4.      Dingyu Hou, Qian Mao, Yihua Ren*, and Kai H.   Luo*. Atomic insights into mechanisms of carbon coating on titania   nanoparticle during flame synthesis. Carbon 201   (2023): 189-199.

5.      Yihua Ren*, Ke Ran, Stephan Kruse, Joachim Mayor, Heinz Pitsch. Flame synthesis of   carbon metal-oxide nanocomposites in a counterflow burner. Proceedings   of the Combustion Institute, 2021, 38(1): 1269-1277.

6.      Yihua Ren, Wei Cui, Heinz Pitsch, Shuiqing Li*. Experimental and numerical studies   on electric field distribution of a premixed stagnation flame under DC power   supply. Combustion and Flame, 2020, 215: 103-112.

7.      Yihua Ren, Wei Cui, Shuiqing Li*. Electro-hydrodynamic instability of premixed   flames under manipulations of DC electric fields. Physical Review E,   2018, 97(1):013103.

8.      Yihua Ren,   Shuiqing Li*, Wei Cui, Yiyang Zhang, Lin Ma. Low-frequency AC electric field induced thermoacoustic oscillation of a   premixed stagnation flame. Combustion and Flame, 2017, 176:   479-488.

9.      Yihua Ren, Yiyang Zhang, Shuiqing Li*, Chung K. Law. Doping mechanism of   Vanadia/Titania nanoparticles in flame synthesis by a novel optical   spectroscopy technique. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute,   2015, 35(2).

10.   Shuiqing Li*, Yihua Ren,   Pratim Biswas, Stephen D. Tse. Flame aerosol synthesis of nanostructured   materials and functional devices: Processing, modeling, and diagnostics. Progress   in Energy and Combustion Science, 2016, 55:1-59.