DrJingyu Feng

Dr Jingyu Feng is the Facility Manager of DIGIBAT, Imperial College London's state-of-the-art automated energy research facility, where he leads the design, build, and scientific operation of the facility's digital twin: an AI-assisted software platform that runs the lab as one auditable system. He specialises in high-throughput automation and digital tools that accelerate the discovery of net-zero technologies, bridging the critical gap between fundamental materials science and industrial-scale R&D.

The DIGIBAT platform is a lab digital twin and equipment-control layer that brings together the facility's automated research equipment, from materials auto-synthesis to electrode preparation, electrolyte formulation, coin-cell and pouch-cell assembly, the AutoCatX flow-cell rig and online HPLC, and carries out agentic actions to assist research. Jingyu's particular concern is lab automation that researchers can trust: pre-registered analyses, guards that are tested to fail, and audit trails a reviewer can follow.

At DIGIBAT, Jingyu oversees the integration of robotic platforms — including the SWingXL and Cellerate for glovebox coin-cell and pouch-cell assembly, automated electrolyte formulation, automated synthesis systems (Flex Catscreen, spray dryer, spray coater) and the AutoCatX with online HPLC for parallel electrocatalysis — into this unified Digital Twin Lab. Having led the facility's setup from the ground up, he manages its daily operations and works closely with users to transform manual experimental bottlenecks into scalable, reproducible workflows that generate high-quality data for AI-driven optimisation (e.g. NIMO and AMlearn).

Background: Jingyu holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London, where his research focused on the design of single atom electrocatalysts, Na-ion anodes and nanomaterials synthesis. Prior to leading DIGIBAT, he worked as a Materials Scientist at The Tyre Collective, leading R&D projects on sustainable materials, and conducted research at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). This blend of academic rigour, industrial product development and platform engineering drives his approach to facility management, ensuring DIGIBAT serves both academic discovery and commercial innovation.