Huan-Yan Xu obtained his B.S. at Wuhan University of Technology in 1998 and M. S. at Wuhan Institute of Technology in 2001. Then, he earned his Ph.D. at Sun Yat-Sen University in 2004. Subsequently, as a postdoctoral fellow, He worked at the State Key Lab of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology from 2005 to 2007. After that, he joined Harbin University of Science and Technology in March 2007, was directly appointed as associate professor, then, promoted to the position of Professor in 2010. As a visiting scholar, he worked at The University of Queensland, Australia, from July 2012 to July 2013 and The Pennsylvania State University, United States, from September 2017 to September 2018. Now, he is an Editorial Board Member of Materials Research Innovations (MRI). He is a director of Heilongjiang Chemical Society, China, and a life membership of Chinese Society for Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry. He is a member of the academic committee of Harbin University of Science and Technology. His research interests concentrate on heterogeneous catalysis, including Fenton-like catalysis and photocatalysis, and other environmentally functional materials.