Yayuan Liu, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering with a secondary appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has been named a recipient of the National Science Foundation’s Early CAREER Award, which recognizes early-stage scholars with high levels of promise and excellence. Liu is also an associate researcher with the Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute (ROSEI).

Liu’s award project, titled “Electrochemically Mediated Carbon Dioxide Separation via Non-Aqueous Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer,” explores a new concept for carbon capture modulated by electrochemical stimuli. The project’s goal is to understand and ultimately control the thermodynamics, reaction kinetics, and transport properties of the model electrochemical system, utilizing a multi-modal toolkit of materials synthesis, characterization, and electroanalysis.

Liu’s research group works at the interface of chemical engineering, materials science, and electrochemistry to accelerate the realization of energy and environmental sustainability. They design and synthesize materials at the molecular and the microscopic level, develop novel electrochemical processes using functional materials, and use advanced characterization tools to correlate microscopic phenomena with macroscopic performance.

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