Dongyan Xu is a Professor at the School of Chemical Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology. From 1991 to 2001, he served as a counselor, lecturer, and associate professor at Daqing Petroleum Institute. Between 2001 and 2005, he pursued his Doctor of Science degree at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Since 2006, he has been affiliated with the School of Chemical Engineering at Qingdao University of Science and Technology. In 2015, he conducted research as a visiting scholar at both the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Kentucky. His research focuses on thermal catalysis and photothermal catalysis for hydrogen production from liquid hydrogen storage materials (such as sodium borohydride and formic acid), photo/electrolysis of water for hydrogen generation, advanced catalytic oxidation and photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater, and deep dechlorination and product regulation during waste plastic pyrolysis.