Chemistries, materials, and processes for electrochemically mediated carbon capture

Carbon capture is considered a critical means for climate-change mitigation. Unfortunately, conventional thermochemical methods suffer from high energy consumption, motivating the search for more efficient carbon dioxide separation strategies driven by non-thermal stimuli.

In this webinar, Yayuan Liu will share the research efforts on developing materials and processes for electrochemically mediated carbon capture. First, she presents a library of electrochemically tunable Lewis bases with redox-active nitrogen centres that can reversibly capture and release carbon dioxide through a reduction-oxidation cycle. The mechanisms of the carbon capture process are elucidated via a combined experimental and computational approach. Yayuan will show that the properties of these Lewis base sorbents can be fine-tuned via rational molecular design and electrolyte engineering. She will then discuss challenges and opportunities for sorbent and electrochemical reactor designs toward practical carbon-capture processes driven by electrochemical stimuli.

An interactive Q&A session follows the presentation.

Yayuan Liu joined Johns Hopkins University as an assistant professor in January 2022. Her research group works at the interface of chemical engineering, materials science, and electrochemistry to accelerate the realization of energy and environmental sustainability. She earned her BS in materials science and engineering in 2014 from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and her PhD in materials science and engineering in 2019 from Stanford University under the guidance of Prof. Yi Cui. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working with Prof. T Alan Hatton in the Department of Chemical Engineering. She has received multiple awards for her research, including the ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship, American Chemical Society Division of Inorganic Chemistry Young Investigator Award, and Materials Research Society Graduate Student Gold Award. Prof. Liu was a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree in science.