(4dc) Advanced Characterization for Understanding Interfaces in Sustainable Climate and Water Applications

In 2016, the United Nations set out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) encompassing the key challenges that our generation must overcome to leave a sustainable environment for the next generation. Among these SDGs, my research focuses on designing interfaces that advance Climate Action and Clean Water and Sanitation. Interfaces can efficiently provide a unique and controlled environment to achieve these targets, e.g., CO₂ capture, carbon mineralization, ion sieving, and pollutant removal. However, the challenge of local measurements of the interface to directly visualize and correlate components interacting with interfaces limits our exploration. To address the challenge, I want to apply my expertise in advanced characterization to understanding the nanoscale and microscale information, bridging molecular-scale interface control to engineering-scale SDG applications.

Combining my extensive experience in advanced characterization and fundamental interfacial chemistry allows direct visualization of nanoparticle formation, 3D structural evolution, and highly local chemistry during sustainable engineering applications. I have utilized synchrotron-based grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering and wide-angle X-ray scattering to in situ characterize the kinetics and pathways for carbonate mineralization at solid-water interfaces and liquid-water interfaces, contributing to negative carbon emission targets. Moreover, in the emerging field of membranes made by novel 2D material MXene, I developed novel 3D structural visualization based on focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy and absorption-based transmission x-ray microscopy to extract the critical structural information determining the ion sieving and ion separation performance. Furthermore, I have demonstrated the powerful capabilities of highly surface techniques: ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and SERS in providing the local pH, local heavy metal concentrations, and local water amount for porous systems, which are designed for separation.

Research Interests:

Moving towards an independent research career, my Interfaces for Sustainability Lab will develop new experimental platforms and methods for visualizing and controlling interfaces for CO₂ capture and utilization and water purification. We will primarily focus on systems where interfaces significantly contribute to efficiency, namely the highly porous system or surface-dependent phenomena. Three research thrusts will be explored:

1. Construct membranes based on 2D materials with precisely engineered surfaces for separation applications. Specifically, we will achieve on-demand functionalization on MXene surfaces and characterize their interactions with lithium, rare earth elements, and valuable transition metals to achieve sustainable resource recovery.
2. Design interfaces for controlling carbon capture and mineralization. Specifically, we will study the accelerated conversion of CO2 to carbonate and carbonate to mineral on designed rigid solid-liquid interfaces and soft liquid-liquid interfaces.
3. Harness interfacial interactions between plasmonic nanostructures and light to sense and clean Water. Specifically, we will develop new 2D materials with ultrafast heat-assisted synthesis to corroborate with plasmonic nanoparticles for achieving highly efficient sensing of contaminants with SERS and treatment of pollutants with photothermal effects.

Teaching interests:

One of my career goals is to educate the next generation of scientists, engineers, and workforce leaders in the field of interfacial chemistry and sustainable engineering with my Ph.D. degree in Chemical and Environmental Engineering and my research area of interfacial chemistry, characterization, and sustainability. I feel best qualified and most excited to teach core undergraduate courses, including separation processes and chemical reaction engineering, and core graduate courses, such as surface reaction and kinetics.

For classes, I plan to combine real-world cases with the fundamental sciences to teach students how to solve real-life issues. In addition, I expect to open a new course introducing the application of advanced X-ray characterization techniques in the environmental field to broaden the students’ design horizons in engineering novel materials for sustainable application.