Liang Su

• Kingston University

Batteries which use dissolved redox-active species, such as redox flow batteries (RFBs), are often considered to be constrained in their operation and energy density by the solubility limit of the redox species. Here, we show that soluble redox active electrolytes can be reversibly cycled deeply into the precipitation regime, permitting higher effe...

To enable lithium (Li) metal anodes with high areal capacity that can match advanced cathodes, we investigate the growth mechanisms and the tendency of the deposited metal to penetrate nanoporous ceramic separators across a range of practical current densities. Our results from realistic sandwich cells and special transparent junction cells suggest...

The low cost, high solubility, and high specific capacity of aqueous polysulfide electrodes are attractive in battery applications. Our group recently developed a redox flow battery system that used an air (oxygen) cathode and an aqueous polysulfide anode, aiming at low-cost large scale grid storage [1] . Surprisingly, for low cost electrochemicall...

The electrochemical kinetics of battery electrodes at the single-particle scale are measured as a function of state-of-charge, and interpreted with the aid of concurrent transmission X-ray microscopy (TXM) of the evolving particle microstructure. An electrochemical cell operating with near-picoampere current resolution is used to characterize singl...

In this Backstory, Yet-Ming Chiang and colleagues explain how their cost-focused approach led to the discovery of an affordable battery technology based on readily available materials. Their findings appear in the October 2017 issue of Joule.

The intermittency of renewable electricity generation has created a pressing global need for low-cost, highly scalable energy storage. Although pumped hydroelectric storage (PHS) and underground compressed air energy storage (CAES) have the lowest costs today (∼US$100/kWh installed cost), each faces geographical and environmental constraints that m...

Sulfur is an attractive reactant for such concepts due to its exceptionally low cost, high natural abundance, and high specific and volumetric capacity owing to its two-electron reaction. Taking the cost-per-capacity (e.g., in US$/Ah) as a metric, sulfur has the lowest cost of any known electrode-active compound with the exception of water and air....

Redox flow batteries (RFBs) hold promise for large-scale energy storage to facilitate the penetration of intermittent renewable resources and enhance the efficiency of non-renewable energy processes in the evolving electric power system. While all vanadium RFBs (VRFBs) represent the current state-of-the-art, their system price is near four-fold hig...

The identification and development of conductive electrolytes with high concentrations of redox active species is key to realizing energy-dense nonaqueous flow batteries. Herein, we explore the use of ether solvents (1,3-dioxolane (DOL), 1,2-dimethoxyethane (DME), diethylene glycol dimethyl ether (DEGDME), and tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether (T...

In advanced electrical grids of the future, electrochemically rechargeable fluids of high energy density will capture the power generated from intermittent sources like solar and wind. To meet this outstanding technological demand there is a need to understand the fundamental limits and interplay of electrochemical potential, stability, and solubil...

Cost-effective electrochemical energy storage will play a critical role as society transitions to a sustainable energy economy. Nonaqueous flow batteries employing redox active organic molecules are an emerging energy storage concept. A key advantage of this device over the more established aqueous flow battery is the promise for higher cell potent...

Technical advances in grid-level energy storage are of critical importance in enabling the widespread penetration of renewable resources that meet consumer requirements for on-demand, safe, and uninterrupted power provided at a reasonable cost. Redox flow batteries (RFBs) are electrochemical systems well-suited for multi-hour storage at the low sys...

Flow batteries are a promising technology for storing and discharging megawatt hours of electrical energy on the time scale of hours. The separator between the positive and negative electrodes strongly affects technical and economic performance. However, requirements for separators have not been reported in a general manner that enables quantitativ...

Nonaqueous redox flow batteries are a fast-growing area of research and development motivated by the need to develop lowcost energy storage systems. The identification of a highly conductive, yet selective membrane, is of paramount importance to enabling such a technology. Herein, we report the swelling behavior, ionic conductivity, and species cro...

We use molecular dynamics to predict the ionic conductivities of lithiated Nafion perfluorinated ionomeric membranes swelled in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and acetonitrile (ACN). The experimental conductivity of lithiated Nafion swollen with DMSO is two orders of magnitude higher than with ACN. Conversely, the mobility of Li? ions in a solution of L...

Organic redox active compounds offer a new pathway towards affordable aqueous redox flow batteries (RFBs) due to their electrochemical performance, low cost, and design flexibility. Proposed organic active material candidates for aqueous RFBs have been limited to quinones 1–3 , a class of cyclic organic molecules distinguished by an even number of...

The development of new high capacity redox active materials is key to realizing the potential of non-aqueous redox flow batteries (RFBs). In this paper, a series of substituted 1,4-dimethoxybenzene based redox active molecules have been developed via a subtractive design approach. Five molecules have been proposed and developed by removing or reduc...

The development of energy efficient carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) electroreduction processes would simultaneously curb anthropogenic CO 2 emissions and provide suistainable pathways for fuel generation. If such electroreactors employed CO 2 feedstocks from major emission sources (e.g., thermal power plants) and excess electricity from intermittent locally...

Stationary energy storage systems are needed to facilitate the widespread integration of intermittent renewable electricity generators, such as solar photovoltaic and wind turbines, and to improve the energy efficiency of the electrical grid. While no single technology can meet all needs, redox flow batteries (RFBs) have shown a favorable balance o...

Non-aqueous redox flow batteries (NRFBs) have attracted increasing attention due to their significant potential to integrate the renewable energy sources (e.g., solar and wind) into electrical grid. Unlike the traditional rechargeable batteries which store energy within solid electrodes, the active materials of NRFBs are stored in a flowable phase...

Though 2,5-di-tert-butyl-1,4-bis(2-methoxyethoxy) benzene (DBBB) is a promising active species for non-aqueous redox flow batteries, the development and optimization of suitable electrolytes is still required to realize this potential. Given the breadth and diversity of non-aqueous electrolytes, combinatorial screening using automated platforms off...

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) are promising power sources in portable and transportation applications because of their high energy densities, low operating temperatures and ease of transportation and storage. However, high cost, low activity and short durability of electrocatalysts are restricting the commercialization of PEFCs. Metal oxid...

As a new generation of power sources, fuel cells have shown great promise for application in transportation. However, the expensive catalyst materials, especially the cathode catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), severely limit the widespread commercialization of fuel cells. Therefore, this review article focuses on platinum (Pt)-based ele...

Copper oxide nanowires (CuO NWs) were prepared by a facile two-step procedure consisting of wet-chemistry synthesis and subsequent direct calcination. The morphology, surface property, and crystal structure of the as-prepared CuO NWs were characterized by SEM, TEM, and XRD. The CuO NWs were further employed to construct a non-enzymatic glucose sens...

In-situ synthesis of 3-D nanostructures within a microfluidic device and their applications as SERS Substrates Joseph Parisi, Liang Su, Yixin Liu, Yu Lei Department of Chemical, Materials, & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, 191 Auditorium Road, Unit 3222, Storrs, Connecticut 06269 Microfluidic devices have been used in man...

Preparation, Characterization and Application of Microfluidic-SERS Sensors Joseph Parisi, Liang Su, Yixin Liu, Yu Lei Department of Chemical, Materials, & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, 191 Auditorium Road, Unit 3222, Storrs, Connecticut 06269 Research for the detection of chemical and biological species is consistently...

The activity and the durability of Pt based electrocatalysts constitute the major challenges in the current fuel cell technology. Motivated by the improved activity and ameliorated durability for Pt based cathode catalysts achieved from the compositional and morphological control, respectively, in this paper, a rationally designed, PtCu based, 1-di...

A microfluidic device with integrated novel silver nanoparticle (Ag NPs) decorated nanowall structures was fabricated via in situ electrodeposition of Cu-core/C-sheath nanowalls, followed by a facile in-channel silver galvanic replacement reaction method at room temperature. The integrated microfluidic devices with Ag NPs decorated nanowalls, servi...

Microfluidic devices with integrated in-channel 3-D nanostructures have been attracting extensive attention because of the potentially superior properties resulting from the synergetic effect of nanomaterials and microfluidics. In this study a novel and facile in situ electrodeposition method was developed to grow nanostructures within a microfluid...

Three-Dimensional (3-D) CuO nanoflowers (CuO NFs) were synthesized and applied to construct a non-enzymatic sensor for the detection of glucose and other carbohydrates in neutral solution. The electrochemical property of 3-D CuO NFs in neutral pH environment was first investigated by cyclic voltammetry in the absence and presence of glucose. It is...

A novel hybrid composite based electrocatalyst consisting of copper nanowires (Cu NWs) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) was introduced for glucose electrooxidation and monitoring in alkaline medium. The morphology, chemical composition, and crystalline structure of the as-prepared Cu NWs-SWCNTs hybrid composite were examined by SEM, EDX,...

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has attracted great attention due to its high sensitivity and specificity in the detection of a variety of molecules. Recently, much effort has been focused on the development of novel nanostructured SERS substrate with reliable and excellent sensing performance. In this work, a transparent Ag thin film comp...

Hybrid materials with special structures are of great interest because of their superior properties compared with their pure counterparts. Hybrid polyaniline (PANi) nanofibers with integrated Pt nanoflowers are studied in this research. PANi is prepared by in situ polymerization of aniline on an electrospun nanofiber template in an acidic solution...

In the pursuit of more economical electrocatalysts for non-enzymatic glucose sensors, one-dimensional Cu nanowires (Cu NWs) with uniform size distribution and a large aspect ratio (>200) were synthesized by a facile, scalable, wet-chemistry approach. The morphology, crystallinity, and surface property of the as-prepared Cu NWs were examined by SEM,...

Tin nanodendrites have been fabricated using galvanic replacement reaction between stannous chloride (SnCl2) and thermal evaporated zinc film composed of Zn nanodiscs. The replacement reaction is completed in a few seconds, and the produced Sn nanodendrites possess a single crystalline structure. The growth process of Sn nanodendrites is studied by...

Surface-enhanced Ramen scattering (SERS) has intrigued considerable interest due to its extremely high sensitivity which enables the detection of single molecule. Silver or gold-based substrates have been widely applied in this area. However, the synthesis of such “hot spots” usually involves complicated procedures, harsh experimental conditions, o...

The detection of glucose, which is important in the diagnosis of diabetes and quality control of fermentation and food, accounts for about 85% of the entire biosensor market. In this work, both enzymatic and non-enzymatic glucose biosensors were constructed on the basis of copper nanowires synthesized by wet chemistry. The as-prepared copper nanowi...

The highly porous Mn2O3-Ag nanofibers were fabricated by a facile two-step procedure (electrospinning and calcination). The structure and composition of the Mn2O3-Ag nanofibers were characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, EDX and SAED. The as-prepared Mn2O3-Ag nanofibers were then employed as the immobilization matrix for glucose oxidase (GOD) to construct...

Following a facile two-step synthesis route, NiO–Ag hybrid nanofibers, NiO nanofibers, and porous Ag were prepared. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy were employed to characterize the morphology of the as-prepared samples. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to confirm the complete degradation of the pol...

Co3O4 nanofibers were fabricated by a two-step procedure consisting of electrospinning and subsequent calcination. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy were employed to characterize the as-prepared Co3O4 nanofibers. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy were used to confirm the degradation of th...

Platinum nanomaterials have shown to be highly attractive due to their superior catalytic ability with high utilization efficiency. Electrodeposition is a flexible technique to produce nanostructures with controllable morphology and high purity. In this study, platinum nanoparticles with tunable structure were synthesized on a single-walled carbon...

A microbial biosensor is an analytical device which integrates microorganism(s) with a physical transducer to generate a measurable signal proportional to the concentration of analytes. In recent years, a large number of microbial biosensors have been developed for environmental, food, and biomedical applications. Starting with the discussion of va...

Palladium (Pd) nanofibers with high surface area had been successfully prepared. The as-prepared membranes were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Its application for ethanol oxidation was studied extensively. The results show that the Pd nano...

The Pd/TiO2 nanofibrous membrane was successfully fabricated. The as-prepared membranes were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The Pd/TiO2 nanofibrous membranes show good mechanical and conductive prope...

Highly conductive palladium/titanium dioxide (Pd/TiO2) nanofibers have been successfully fabricated by electroless-plating Pd on the electrospun TiO2 nanofibers. The application of Pd/TiO2 nanofibers for electrooxidation of glycerol was demonstrated. The results showed that Pd/TiO2 nanofibers can greatly promote glycerol electrooxidation in alkalin...

Pd nanofibers were successfully fabricated using the electrospun TiO2 nanofibers as templates through a simple electroless plating method. The effect of electroless plating parameters on Pd deposition was investigated, and the optimum conditions were determined in terms of the best morphology and integrity of the deposited palladium. The as-prepare...

Palladium/polyamide 6 (Pd/PA6) nanofibers with high surface area have been successfully prepared using an electrospun PA6 nanofibrous template and a simple electroless plating method. The Pd/PA6 nanofibers possess an average diameter of 322 nm with a Pd layer thickness of 85 nm and show excellent mechanical property, good conductivity, and high por...