Innovating Solutions to Energy, Sustainability, and Climate Challenges
Nature inspires us with how it utilizes energy: lightning strikes (plasmas) cause nitrogen and water to combine to form nitrogen fertilizers. Earth’s magnetic field protects its surface from harmful solar winds via the Lorentz effect. In biology, cells use high-energy bonds between phosphate groups (e.g., in ATP) as their energy currency. Our group explores plasma (air gap)-electrochemistry, magneto-electrochemistry, and zero-carbon polymers as three innovations for a lower carbon future.
Project Areas
1. The Chemical Origin of Life
What are the early steps in the chemical origin of life on Earth, prior to the existence of complex organic molecules and biology? Could Earth have relied on fallen meteorites carrying alien species, or could lightning storms have turned an inorganic Earth and its inert atmosphere into chemically reactive building blocks for early life to emerge, survive, and evolve? Our group tests the “Frankenstein” scenario, experimentally simulating lightning strikes under a prebiotic Earth-like environment on the bench top. We explore reaction pathways uniquely enabled by plasma- and radical- chemistry, as well as the role of reactive interfaces (e.g., mineral surfaces or volcanic aerosols) in electrochemical synthesis, under geologically plausible conditions.
2. Plasma (air gap) Electrochemical Synthesis for a Clean Future
Inert molecules, such as COâ‚‚ and Nâ‚‚, have high bond energies (5.5eV for C=O and 9.8eV for N≡N). Therefore, industrial processes such as Sabatier reaction for COâ‚‚ reduction (400°C, 30atm, Ni catalyst) and Haber-Bosch process for Nâ‚‚ fixation (450°C, 200atm, Fe catalyst) both require energy-intensive reaction conditions and expensive infrastructure. Using renewably generated plasmas to drive radical reactions at reactive interfaces, our group designs green and scalable methods to electrify chemical synthesis and simplify synthetic routes that are otherwise energy intensive or pollutive. Inorganic chemistry projects include making nitrogen fertilizers, fuels, and sanitation products from air and water. Organic chemistry projects include plasma driven C-C and C-N cross-coupling reactions, aromatic functionalization, and olefin oxidation reactions.
3. Developing Ionic Transmission Technologies via Magneto-Electrochemistry
Lorentz force plays a crucial role in various applications ranging from electronic devices and motors, sensors, imaging to biomedical applications. Studies of magnetohydrodynamics (e.g., in plasma systems) led to the 1970 Nobel prize. However, the electric force has long believed to be non-exist in magneto-hydrodynamic systems, as well as in “bulk” electrolytes, distance away from electrode surfaces. Our recent findings show that both magnetic and electric forces control ionic motion. The quantification of Lorentz forces in solution-based electrochemical systems enables precise control of ionic transport (e.g., in batteries) and ion signaling (e.g., in biology). We aim to utilize Lorentz effects to drive chemical separations, develop ionic motors, improve the performance (and yields) of electrochemical systems, fabricate chiral materials, and enable technologies based on ionic transmission, complementary to today’s electronic technologies.
4. Zero-carbon polymers: Can functional materials be green and affordable?​
Most everyday polymers, either natural or synthetic, are carbon-based materials. Combustion of carbon-based polymers emits CO2 into the atmosphere, accelerating climate change. Our group explores sustainable inorganic polymers that can be easily produced and fully recycled without waste. Depending on cation-anion combinations of monomers used for reaction, these zero-carbon polymer products have tunable properties. Functional zero-carbon polymers can be used for a wide range of applications, including thermal insulating materials, anti-fire coatings, high temperature adhesives, slow-release fertilizers for agricultural use, formulating nanostructured liquids to support molecular self-assembly, and forming poly-ionic coacervates that act as nanoreactors for chemical synthesis and heavy metal extraction.