Electrode design & development for both commercial and solid-state batteries• Designing and developing new chemistries for organic electrode materials. Analyzing organic electrode-based coin cell and pouch cell performance. Investigating prelithiation of organic electrodes for solid-state batteries• Developing high-loading Si and prelithiated Si anodes for liquid and solid-state batteries. Exploring cycling stability of solid-state batteries at different lithiation states• Synthesized artificial coating layer on current collector for anode-free lithium metal batteries. Increased avg. CE to 99.0% with long-term stability• Demonstrated the cell performance of Si/Gr electrodes at various Si/C contents and N/P ratios. Investigated the impact of stack pressure and cell fixtures on cycling performance.

Advanced Solid Polymer Electrolytes for Solid-state Lithium Batteries• Guiding novel solid polymer electrolytes and battery optimization for potential customers with improved safety and stability• Investigating, synthesizing, and evaluating the electrochemical performance of 6 new materials as solid electrolytes• Developing, optimizing, and conducing various electrolyte formulations to investigate the key factor affecting electrochemical stability of solid polymer electrolytes

• Developing a novel apparatus to fabricate nanostructured electrodes for hydrogen fuel cells. Investigating the impact of nanofiber on fuel cell performance• Synthesizing poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) multiblock polymers as solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) for lithium metal batteries• Demonstrating chain architecture effect of PIL multiblock polymers on morphological, electrochemical, mechanical properties, and cycling stability of SPEs• Studying the relationship of crosslinking degree and battery performance of crosslinked PIL multiblock polymers. Achieved outstanding cycling stability (~ 2000 h) due to simultaneous improvement of ionic conductivity and mechanical strength

• Fabricated highly permeable gas membranes using CO2-philic graft copolymers (~ 350 GPU) and synthesized metal organic frameworks (MOFs) (e.g., ZIF-8, HKUST-1, and MIL-125)• Designed polymer-based composite membranes for gas separation and investigated the effect of additives including amine carriers and MOFs. Achieved simultaneous enhancement of permeance and selectivity (~ 400 GPU with selectivity of αCO2/N2 = 52)

• Synthesized graft copolymers via free radical polymerization and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP)• Developed well-organized mesoporous inorganic materials with high porosity, good interconnectivity, and uniform mesopores (30 – 50 nm) using graft copolymer templates and sol-gel method• Investigated the interplay between morphology of photoanode and photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Achieved 10% performance enhancement compared to conventional electrodes