Research
The overarching goal of our research is to develop innovative chemical processes and materials that address pressing challenges in energy, the environment, and sustainability. In particular, we are driven by the urgency of global waste accumulation, resource scarcity, and the growing need for transformative and intelligent manufacturing solutions. By harnessing novel dynamic and non-equilibrium processes, we are advancing a broad spectrum of electrothermal and electrochemical techniques for chemical synthesis and material upcycling.
Plastic Upcycling and Biomass Valorization
Plastics have played a pivotal role in societal development, but they also contribute to a growing global waste crisis that demands urgent solutions. Leveraging the high programmability of electrified techniques, we investigate a range of dynamic reaction protocols such as pulsed temperatures and voltages, transient timescales, and ultrafast heating and cooling rates for the valorization of plastic waste. The insights gained can be broadly applied to other feedstocks, such as agricultural biomass. In parallel, we design efficient heterogeneous catalysts to modulate the reactivity of various macromolecular species, particularly under dynamic conditions.
Dynamic and Non-equilibrium Thermochemical Synthesis
We are interested in non-equilibrium and dynamic chemical processes, combined with novel reactor designs, to synthesize value-added chemicals from abundant feedstocks such as methane and nitrogen. In parallel, we investigate dynamic catalytic phenomena that arise during the temporal and spatial evolution of temperature under non-equilibrium conditions, which affect surface strain, catalyst-support interactions, active sites, and more. This understanding can be broadly applied to various thermochemical reactions, including the conversion of hydrocarbons, oxygenates, and nitrogen oxides.
Critical Minerals, Metals, and Materials
The exponential growth in demand for lithium batteries has made critical elements such as lithium, manganese, cobalt, and nickel a sustainability priority. However, a large portion of lithium-ion batteries are not properly recycled due to the lack of efficient recovery methods. In our lab, we focus on electrified pyrometallurgy and electrometallurgy for effective lithium recovery and selective separation of transition metals. We also explore electrothermal and electrochemical techniques to extract critical minerals, metals, and materials from both natural and waste resources.
Funding
