Irvine, California, United States
A self-motivated and dedicated materials scientist with ~12 years of experience in solving material challenges in renewable energy storage, fuel synthesis, and gas storage technologies. • In-depth knowledge of materials science, solid-state ionics, electrochemistry, thermochemistry, and sustainable energy science/technology; • Significant hands-on expertise in industrial manufacturing of ceramic components, i,e., powder production, powder processing, particle size modification, green forming, slip casting, tape casting, screen printing, spray coating, compounding, and extrusion fabrication; • Strong research expertise in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), Liquid Alkaline Electrolysis (LAE), solid oxide fuel/electrolysis cells (SOFC/SOEC), protonic-ceramic fuel/electrolysis cells (PCFC/PCEC), solar thermochemical hydrogen production (STCH), and hydrogen storage technologies; • Advanced skills in process technologies such as wet chemistry processing, ceramic processing and production, green forming, high-temperature processing, electrodeposition of metallic coatings (Ni, Cu, Au, Ag, Pt, Ni-Fe), thin-film deposition (PVD/Sputtering); • State-of-the-art expertise in materials characterization techniques such as structural analysis (ICP/SEM/TEM/EDS/AFM/XRD/XRR/XPS/XANES), electrochemical analysis (CV/LSV/EIS), thermal analysis (TG/DSC), and partial conductivity measurements in MIECs; • Fruitful experience in serving as the principal investigator for research proposal preparation, government grants application (i.e., DOE-EERE, DOE-FECM, ARPA-E), and technology innovations with academic partners; • A total of 24 peer-reviewed journal publications with a cumulative citation of >1400 times and >40 journal reviews.
A startup funded by Nobel laureates: Prof. Sir Fraser Stoddart and Prof. Omar Yaghi Process development for low-pressure and near-ambient temperature solid-state hydrogen storage
• Served as the Principal Investigator of an STCH project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy ($1.34M, Award no. DE-EE0010739) to scale up thermochemical hydrogen production • Managed the project tasks, milestones, budget, administrative communication with DOE, and collaboration with Northwestern and MIT subaward teams • Led a Saint-Gobain corporate R&D research program to develop high-performance oxygen electrodes for SOFC/SOEC and PCFC/PCEC through partnership with academic labs for 3 years
Saint-Gobain North America R&D Center Competency Research Laboratories, Ceramic Materials and Processing Group • Reversible solid oxide fuel/electrolysis cells (SOFC/SOEC) • Reversible protonic ceramic fuel/electrolysis cells (PCFC/PCEC) • Solar thermochemical hydrogen (STCH) production • Direct lithium extraction (DLE) sorbent materials development • Grant proposals application (i.e., U.S. Department of Energy, EERE, FECM)
School of Materials Science and Engineering Prof. Meilin Liu's Group | Fuel Cells and Batteries A Highly Efficient and Affordable Hybrid Fuel Cell System for Hydrogen and Electricity Production Funded by DOE-FE with Phillips 66 Company • Design novel perovskite cathode materials for reversible protonic-ceramic fuel cells • Coordinated with the team members to ensure good technical progress and the successful delivery of project milestones • Managed the project by timely delivery of high-quality technical reports and project reviews with collaborators and program managers
Department of Materials Science and Engineering Prof. Sossina Haile's Group | Materials and Devices for Sustainable Energy Project no.1 Transformative Materials for High-Efficiency Thermochemical Production of Solar Fuels Funded by DOE-EERE • Collaborate with DFT researchers (Prof. Chris Wolverton) to accelerate the discovery of perovskites and scientists in National Labs (e.g., NREL, SNL) to measure in situ XRD • Validated DFT model for enthalpy calculation via high-quality thermal analysis (TGA/DSC) of redox thermodynamics of 12 predicted perovskites • Rebuilt the thermochemical cycling station, enabling fast heating/cooling (~500 °C/min) of the flow reactor, in situ detection of pO2, and simultaneous analysis of gas production by mass spectrometry • Identified 2 out of ~24 materials with an ideal combination of high thermal stability and favorable redox thermodynamics, measured exceptional hydrogen yields • Prepared thin film by PLD and elucidated redox chemistry by high-temperature in situ XANES at Argonne National Laboratory • Achieved important progress via brainstorming at biweekly meetings and met challenging milestones. Results were rated high-quality by 11 quarterly/2 annual reports and review presentations • Supported group members’ research project of ‘hydrogen production via ammonia dissociation’ in the setup of experimental apparatus and quantitative analysis of hydrogen yield Project no.2 Development of an Intermediate Temperature Metal-Supported Proton-Conducting Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Stack Funded by DOE ARPA-E • Elucidated fundamental properties of oxygen transport kinetics in PrBa0.5Sr0.5Co1.5Fe0.5O5+δ (PBSCF) cathode via relaxation experiments • Improved mass relaxation with Pt/GaPO4/Pt/PBSCF piezoelectric microbalance and rapidly attained quality results • Validated film measurement results by electrical conductivity relaxation with bulk sample and MATLAB fitting, revealed sluggish surface reaction as rate-limiting for oxygen reduction
Department of Materials Science and Engineering NU-MRSEC Summer Projects (2018 & 2019) Undergraduate Research Program (2019.09 - 2020.08) • Mentored 2 REU and 1 RET summer students to synthesize thermochemical materials, perform XRD and thermal analysis • Advised 1 undergraduate to write Python code for automated analysis of model predicted hydrogen production • Supervised students to prepare technical slides, project reports and final symposium presentations
Department of Materials Science and Engineering Chemical and Statistical Thermodynamics of Materials (MSE401, Graduate Core, 2017 Fall) Fundamentals of Thin Film Materials (MSE415, Graduate Level, 2018 Winter) • Arranged weekly office hours to help students understand the main points on and beyond the lecture materials • Held weekly recitation independently to review homework solutions and representative examples to students • Graded students’ homework assignments, project reports, quizzes, exams, and provide grades report to professors
Advanced Photon Source (APS) • Trained by beamline scientist on sample preparation, instrument operation, data collection, and data processing • Operated equipment independently and measured high-temperature in situ XANES on thin films for 2 continuous days • Acquired knowledge of X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy and software analysis, revealed redox behavior of the material