(3fo) Materials Design and Electrochemical Engineering at the Energy-Environment Nexus

Research Interests

Environmental issues and economic forces are reshaping the way we generate and consume energy on a global scale. The rapidly growing availability of cheap electricity from renewable sources has given us unprecedented opportunities to transform conventional engineering processes using electrochemistry, thereby offering solutions to some of the grand challenges faced by our society.

My future research program aims to tackle pressing challenges at the energy-environment nexus by developing and understanding electrochemically mediated processes that leverage fundamental principles of chemical engineering, materials science and chemistry, device fabrication, and advanced characterization techniques. In particular, my lab will be interested in exploring the following themes:

(1) Redox-active materials for carbon capture and its subsequent utilization as synthon in electro-organic synthesis.

(2) Precisely-designed electrochemical interfaces for energy-efficient chemical separation in pharmaceutical manufacturing and environmental remediation.

(3) Super-resolution imaging platform for operando characterization of electrochemical processes with high temporal/spatial resolution and chemical specificity.

Graduate Research at Stanford University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Advisor: Professor Yi Cui

Lithium metal is the ultimate battery anode of choice for its highest theoretical capacity among all candidates and its indispensable role in next-generation Li-sulfur and Li-air battery chemistries. Despite five decades of research, there remained no workable solution to the challenges of lithium metal anode, the primary two of which are its high reactivity and infinite relative volume change during cycling. Correspondingly, my PhD thesis focused on addressing these two critical problems.

I pioneered a series of materials design methodologies to effectively minimize volume change and enhance interfacial stability, which significantly improved the performance of lithium metal anodes. Moreover, with the aid of advanced characterization techniques (surface-sensitive spectroscopies, electrochemical techniques, and cryogenic electron microscopy), I explored novel electrolyte additives, fundamentally correlated the physicochemical properties of the electrode-electrolyte interface with lithium deposition morphology, and discovered a long-neglected corrosion pathway in lithium metal battery.

Postdoctoral Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Chemical Engineering.

Advisor: Professor T. Alan Hatton

Carbon capture is emerging as a critical technology of both economic and environmental importance. My postdoctoral research focuses on developing materials and processes for electrochemically mediated CO₂ separation in lieu of the traditional thermal amine scrubbing, based on redox-active compounds that undergo changes in CO₂ binding affinity as they progress through an electrochemical cycle. By being electrically driven, these systems can be controlled precisely to reduce energy losses, are modular and thus easy to implement in a variety of locations, and possess great adaptability to the multi-scale nature of carbon capture.

By leveraging the electrolyte formulation, I enabled electrochemically mediated carbon capture with high reversibility in aqueous solutions. Through integration with a novel gas-gating membrane that dynamically controls gas passage, an effectively continuous operation of carbon capture and release can be achieved for process intensification, bringing new opportunities to acid gas separation.

Teaching Interests

I am passionate about teaching/mentoring and have actively sought these opportunities throughout my academic training. During my PhD, I served as a teaching assistant for a graduate-level materials chemistry course twice and gave multiple guest lectures in other courses related to nanomaterials and battery technology. To build upon my teaching experiences, I completed the Kaufman Teaching Certificate Program at MIT, which included a semester-long formal instruction on course development and best teaching practices.

My goal in teaching is to train the next generation of scientists and engineers who have the ability to learn in the rapidly advancing world and create innovative solutions to real-life problems. I strive to achieve this goal by creating a supportive, respectful, and transparent learning environment, by employing student-centered and evidence-based teaching strategies, and by cultivating critical-thinking and team-working skills.

My multi-disciplinary training in both chemical engineering and materials science enables me to teach a variety of courses in relevant fields. I am particularly interested in teaching chemical engineering courses on thermodynamics, separation processes, chemical kinetics and reaction engineering, electrochemical engineering, and polymers. I am also excited about teaching or developing lecture and laboratory-based courses on electrochemical energy storage and conversion, nanotechnology, and materials and methods for environmental remediation.

Selected Publications

(1) Y. Liu, T. A. Hatton, et. al. Electrochemically-mediated gating membrane with dynamically-controllable gas transport. Science Advances 2020, in press.

(2) Y. Liu, H.-Z. Ye, K. M. Diederichsen, T. Van Voorhis, T. A. Hatton. Electrochemically-mediated carbon dioxide separation with quinone chemistry in salt-concentrated aqueous media. Nature Communications 2020, 11, 2278.

(3) Y. Liu, Y. Zhu, Y. Cui. Challenges and opportunities towards fast-charging battery materials. Nature Energy 2019, 4, 540-550.

(4) D. Lin#, Y. Liu#, Y. Li, Y. Li, A. Pei, J. Xie, W. Huang, Y. Cui. Fast galvanic lithium corrosion involving a Kirkendall-type mechanism. Nature Chemistry 2019, 11, 382-389. (# equal contribution)

(5) Y. Liu, D. Lin, Y. Li, G. Chen, A. Pei, O. Nix, Y. Li, Y. Cui. Solubility-mediated sustained release enabling nitrate additive in carbonate electrolytes for stable lithium metal anode. Nature Communications 2018, 3656.

(6) Y. Liu, D. Lin, Y. Jin, K. Liu, X. Tao, Q. Zhang, X. Zhang, Y. Cui. Transforming from planar to three-dimensional lithium with flowable interphase for solid lithium metal batteries. Science Advances 2017, 3, eaao0713.

(7) D. Lin#, Y. Liu#, Y. Cui. Reviving the lithium metal anode for high-energy batteries. Nature Nanotechnology 2017, 12, 194-206.

(8) D. Lin#, Y. Liu#, Z. Liang, H. W. Lee, J. Sun, H. Wang, K. Yan, J. Xie, Y. Cui. Layered reduced graphene oxide with nanoscale interlayer gaps as a stable host for lithium metal anodes. Nature Nanotechnology 2016, 11, 626-632.

(9) Y. Liu#, D. Lin#, Z. Liang, J. Zhao, K. Yan, Y. Cui. Lithium-coated polymeric matrix as a minimum volume-change and dendrite-free lithium metal anode. Nature Communications 2016, 7, 10992.

Selected Awards

(1) Distinguished Young Scholars Seminar speaker, University of Washington (2020)

(2) Rising Stars in Chemical Engineering, MIT (2019)

(3) Division of Inorganic Chemistry Young Investigator Award, American Chemical Society (2019)

(4) Graduate Student Gold Award, Materials Research Society (2018 Fall)

(5) Stanford Graduate Fellowship (2017-2019)

For up-to-date information on my research, visit my website: yayuanliu.com