Energy materials are promising to face the energy and climate crisis. However, sustainability must extend through the full material and device lifetime, from early degradation to end-of-use.

Our lab’s vision is to create circularity by uncovering the fundamental mechanisms of material and device instability, develop separation processes to recover valuable materials, and [re]manufacture energy devices.

Research workflow (current research advancements, challenges, and our vision)

Energy materials research has primarily focused on advancing synthesis and crystallization methods, discovering high-performance materials, improving device technologies, and developing new approaches for energy conversion and storage. However, when these materials and devices reach the end of their useful lifetime, they are often discarded. Our lab’s vision is to close the loop of energy materials by understanding what happens when they degrade and developing strategies to prevent, manage, and ultimately recover their functionality.

Our first area of focus is understanding instability and end-of-use mechanisms: why materials degrade and lose functionality under environmental stressors such as humidity, oxygen, temperature, and light. By unraveling these degradation pathways, we aim to develop strategies that prevent degradation, improve stability, and extend the lifetimes of materials and devices.

Our second focus is on managing undesired non-functional materials after use (“end-of-use”). These materials pose two key challenges: they can be toxic if not managed properly, and they can disrupt the supply chain of critical materials, particularly when rare or scarce elements are involved. To address these challenges, we investigate and develop separation processes that enable material re-synthesis and the development of new applications for end-of-use materials.

Our third focus is application-oriented and aims to close the cycle by remanufacturing and retesting energy devices. Through this approach, we bridge fundamental materials chemistry, crystal structure, and processing with the performance of remanufactured devices. In doing so, we connect fundamental materials science with the development and performance of next-generation remanufactured energy materials.

Research approach

  • Perovskites

    Our group currently investigates perovskite-type materials for energy conversion and storage. Perovskites have the chemical formula ABM3, where M is a halide (e.g., I, Br, Cl) or oxygen. They form a 3D corner-sharing, cubic octahedral structure (see figure below).

    Perovskites are emerging materials with excellent and tunable properties. They can function as electronic, ionic, or mixed ionic-electronic conductors, advantageous for many energy-related applications.

    Halide perovskites have shown great potential for use in solar cells, light-emitting diodes, or X-ray detectors, among others. Additionally, perovskite oxides have been used as electrodes in solid oxide fuel and electrolysis cells, as well as electrolytes in solid-state batteries.

  • Energy conversion

    We are an experimental wet lab focused on synthesizing functional materials and fabricating devices. Particularly, solar cells and solid oxide electrochemical cells.

    A central part of our work involves depositing and analyzing thin films to understand their fundamental properties and to optimize them for practical applications. In thin-films, surfaces and interfaces play a critical role in determining the overall material and device performance.

  • End-of-use

    How can we extend the lifetime of energy materials?

    We study the chemical and structural degradation mechanisms that limit material stability, aiming to identify their root causes. This knowledge enables us to rationally design materials with improved long-term stability.

    We use advanced characterization techniques to analyze degradation processes under external stressors. These studies are done in situ and operando, utilizing high-throughput approaches to accelerate understanding and discovery.

  • Separation processes

    How to manage degraded mixed solids?

    When an energy material reaches its end-of-use, we focus on experimentally treating the resulting undesired material to either re-synthesize it or repurpose it for new applications.

    Our research centers on understanding and developing the underlying separation processes, chemistry, and structural phase transformations involved in these pathways. We use both solution-based and solid-state separation techniques, combined with synchrotron-based characterization, to bridge fundamental insights with practical strategies for closing the materials loop.