Direct liquid fuel cells are considered an ideal electrochemical energy device to supplement Li-batteries in some special applications, due to the higher energy density of liquid fuel, quiet operation, and independent of charging plugs. We are interested in develop direct carbohydrazide fuel cells with high power density and high energy and fuel efficiency. Now we are investigating electrochemical reaction mechanisms of carbohydrazide, hydrazine and ammonia over different types of catalysts in various conditions, and exploring efficient anode catalyst materials, with the ultimate goal of developing novel carbohydrazide fuel cell technologies.
Sponsor: Iowa Reagents Innovation Fund (RIF)
Wenzhen Li Research Group
Electrochemistry / Catalysis / Energy
/ Environment / Agriculture / Sustainability
November 2024:
Dr. Li gave an invited talk "Green Ammonia Mediated CO2 Capture and Electro-Conversion to Valuable Chemicals" at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in Clemson University. Thanks for your invitation, Ming! Go Clemson Tigers!
October 2024:
Dr. Li attended the AIChE annual conference . It is my great pleasure to meet many new and old friends in San Diego, CA. I hope to see you all in the AIChE conference in Boston next year.
October 2024:
Michael Galvin presented his work on electrocatalytic oxidation of ethylene glycol on palladium-based catalysts at the AIChE Annual Student Conference, and won the 1st place award in the Catalysts and Reaction Engineering I Poster Competition, Great job Michael - Congratulations!
October 2024:
Our Work on "Paired Alkaline Electrolyzer with Furfural Oxidation and Hydrogen Evolution over Noble Metal-Free NiFe/Ni and Co/MXene Catalysts" was accepted by Green Chemistry. Congratulations Xiaopeng and Mohammad!
October 2024:
Dr. Li attended the ECS PRiME meeting, and give two talks on "Green ammonia-mediated CO2 capture and electro-reduction", and "Electrocatalytic oxidative dehydrogenation of furfural for bipolar H2 production". It was great to meet so many friends in Hawaii!
October 2024:
Li group received a DOE EPSCoR grant on 'Capture and Electrocatalytic Conversion of CO2 to Multi-carbon Chemicals". We are looking forward to conducting this exciting research project with close collaboration with Dr. Wenyu Huang group and our DOE national lab collaborators!
October 2024:
Dr. Qiqi Mao joined our group to conduct research in electrocatalysis and electrochemical reactor design, welcome Dr. Mao!
Septemper 2024:
Dr. Li was invited to give an invited talk on "Ammonia-Mediated CO2 Capture and Conversion" at GPCS Webinar series. Recorded Video.
September 2024:
Dr. Li received a patent award from COE Dean Esterling. Congratulations!
September 2024:
We welcome new undergraduate students: Adriana, Rachel, Hunter and Jesse to do research at Li lab in the fall semester!
August 2024:
Dr. Li group traveled to Norman, OK to attend the 2024 GPCS (Great Plains Catalysis Society) Symposium at the University of Oklahoma. They presented two posters. Good work Xiaopeng and Rod. Congratulations Xiaopeng on your best poster award! We were very happy to meet our old and new friends during the Symposium.
August 2024:
Our former group member Dr. Kwiyong Kim from UNIST visited us and gave a presentation on "Electrochemical Separations for Environmental Applications". Great work Kwiyong!
August 2024:
Dr. Li attended ACS Fall meeting in Denver, and delivered an invited talk on "Electrochemical conversion of biorenewable furfural for sustainable production of chemicals and fuels".
May 2024:
Dr. Li attended ECS spring meeting in San Francisco, and delivered an invited talk on "Green Ammonia Production from Electrochemically Upcycling Waste Nitrogen in an Membrane-Free Alkaline Electrolyzer".
May 2024:
Gunnar's electrocatalysis research was supported by an NSF-REU fund. Congratulations!
March 2024:
Dr. Li attended ACS spring meeting in New Orlean, and delivered an invited talk on "Electrocatalytic oxidative dehydrogenation of biorenewable aldehydes over Cu-based catalysts for bipolar hydrogen production".
March 2024:
Mohammad successfully passed his qualifier exam. Congratulations!
March 2024:
Dr. Yuhuan Fei joined our group as a postdoctoral researcher doing advanced electrocatalysts for green fertilizer and CO2 conversion research. Welcome Yuhuan!
January 2024:
Gunnar joined our group to do his undergraduate research on electrocatalytic oxidation. Welcome Gunnar!
December 2023:
Li lab received a VPR Biobased Product grant in the technology development of paired electrolysis of bioalcohol and CO2, congratulations!
December 2023:
Dr. Li has been recognized as a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). Congratulations! COE news link is here: Wenzhen Li, Jean-Philippe Tessonnier become Royal Society of Chemistry Fellows - College of Engineering News (iastate.edu)
November 2023:
Michael Galvin presented his work on paired electrolysis of furfural oxidation and hydrogen evolution reactions at the AIChE Annual Student Conference, and won the 2nd place award in the Catalysts and Reaction Engineering I Poster Competition, Congratulations Michael!
November 2023:
Dr. Li attended the AIChE annual conference and gave two presentations. It is great to meet many old friends in Orlando, FL. Congratulations to Dr. Yan on his R.H. Wilhelm award! I hope to see you all in the AIChE conference in San Diego next year.
October 2023:
Yifu left our group. Thanks for your contributions to Li group, and Best wishes to your future research at Berlinguette group in University British Columbia!
October 2023:
Rod joined our group as a graduate student doing research in urea electrosynthesis, welcome Rod!
October 2023:
Huu Huy joined our group as an undergraduate researcher through the ISU Honors program, welcome Huu Huy!
October 2023:
Sujin successfully passed her qualifier exam. Congratulation!
September 2023:
Dr. Li group attended the 2023 GPCS (Great Plains Catalysis Society) Symposium held at the University of Kansas, and presented three posters. Good work Xiaopeng, Mohammad, Sujin, and Tianlei! Congratulations Mohammad and Xiaopeng on your best poster award! We were very pleased to meet our old and new friends in the Symposium.
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September 2023: Dr. Li received a patent award from COE Dean Esterling. Congratulations!
August 2023:
Our collaborative work "Techno-economic Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment of Hydroxylamine Eco-manufacturing via Wastewater Electrochemical Reduction" was accepted for publication in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, We thank the great support from the NSF-FMSG grant (ChE-2036944). Congratulations Manish and Mark!
August 2023:
Our proposal "Collaborative Research: RII Track-2 FEC: Promoting N2O- and CO2-Relieved Nitrogen Fertilizers for Climate Change-Threatened Midwest Farming and Ranching" was funded by NSF. Congratulations EPSCoR team! We are looking forward to fruitful collaborative research with our Profs. Liang Dong, Michael Castellano, Fallys Masambuka-Kanchewa and our Wichita State collaborators led by Prof. Shuang Gu! NSF News released here. ISU News released here. Des Moines Business Record’s newsletter here.
July 2023:
Our recent research on "Cu-based Bimetallic Catalysts for Electrocatalytic Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Furfural with Practical Rates" was accepted by ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. We thank the great support from the NSF grant (CBET-1947435) and USDA-NIFA (2021-67021-34650). Congratulations Hengzhou!
May 2023:
Li group former member Mohsen Torabi successfully passed his PhD dissertation "Gaining higher salt scaling resistance with slag concretes" under supervision from Prof. Taylor group at CCEE department. Congratulations Mohsen and best luck with your career development in Frontline BioEnergy!
May 2023:
Basil attended the University Graduate College Commencement Ceremony. Best luck Prof. Basil for your future career development in Saudi Arab!
April 2023:
Our work on "Electro-synthesis of Pure Aqueous H2O2 on Nitrogen-Doped Carbon in a Solid Electrolyte Flow Cell without Using Anion Exchange Membrane" was accepted by Chemical Engineering Journal, We are grateful to the support from the USDA-NIFA (2021-67021-34650). congratulations Basil!
March 2023:
Basil successfully passed his PhD dissertation, Congratulations Dr. Rawah, and best wishes to your future career development!!
March 2023:
Our recent research on "Sustainable Upcycling of Waste Nitrogen Enabled by Low-Concentration Nitrate Electrodialysis and High-Performance Ammonia Electrosynthesis" was accepted for publication in "EES Catalysis". This outcome is built upon our close collaboration with Dr. Gu group from Wichita State University. We thank the great support from the NSF-FMSG grant (ChE-2036944). Congratulations Yifu!
February 2023:
Our research on "A MOF-derived Co3O4/nitrogen-doped carbon composite for Cl-assisted production of ethylene oxide" was published in Green Chemistry, Congratulations Tianlei!
February 2023:
Li lab has built an online NO-NO2-NOx and N2O analytic system, thanks Yifu for your talented work! This is a sharp tool to study mechanisms of electro-synthesis of valuable N, N-C chemicals from waste nitrogen and CO2 feedstock.
January 2023:
Dr. Li gave a talk on "Green Ammonia-assisted CO2 Capture and Electroreduction to Valuable Chemicals", at Institute of Materials Research & Innovation (IMRI), University Louisiana at Lafayette. Go Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns!
December 2022:
Yifu, Ting-Han, Hengzhou and Mohammad attended the University Graduate College Commencement Ceremony. Congratulations Dr. Chen, Dr. Lee, Dr. Liu and Mr. Albloushi!!
November 2022:
Dr. Li attended the AIChE annual conference, chaired sessions, and gave two presentations. It was great to meet so many friends in Phoenix, AZ, hope to see you in Orlando, FL next fall!
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November 2022:
Our research on "ammonia-assisted CO2 capture and conversion to ammonium fomrate" was accepted for publication in ACS Energy Letters. We thank the funding supports from USDA-NIFA (2021-67021-34650) and NSF (CHE2036944). Congratulations Hengzhou, Yifu and Jungkuk!!
November 2022:
Dr. Li received a faculty award at CBE Honors & Awards Banquet, cheers! Link.
November 2022:
Mohammad successfully defended his MS thesis, congratulations Mohammad, best luck with your research adventure in Li group!!
November 2022:
Our former member Dr. Kwiyong Kim began his new career as an assistant professor at Ulsan National University of Science and Technology (UNIST): REACT Lab at UNIST (google.com). Congratulations Kwiyong!
October 2022:
Yifu successfully defended his PhD dissertation, congratulations Dr. Chen, best luck with your research adventure in Li group!!
October 2022:
Our recent research on "Unraveling Electro-Reductive Mechanisms of Biomass-Derived Aldehydes via Tailoring Interfacial Environments" was accepted by ACS Catalysis. This fruitful collaboration is between Dr. Li and Dr. Roling groups. We thank the great support from the NSF grant (CBET-1947435) and USDA-NIFA (2021-67021-34650). Congratulations Hengzhou and Deep!
October 2022:
Xiaopeng and Tianlei passed their qualifier exams, congratulations!!
October 2022:
Sujin Kang joined our group as a graduate student doing research in CO2 capture and electroreduction, welcome Sujin!
September 2022:
Our recent research on "Bicarbonate Electroreduction to Multicarbon Products Enabled by Cu/Ag Bilayer Electrodes and Tailored Microenviroments" was accepted by ChemSusChem as a cover article. We thank the funding support from USDA-NIFA and IEDA. Congratulations Jungkuk and Hengzhou!
September 2022:
Dr. Li was invited to contribute to preview article (Solid-electrolyte interphases enable efficient Li-mediated ammonia electrosynthesis) on Joule for two ground-breaking research papers published in Joule and Nature.
August 2022:
Jungkuk accepted an offer from DOE Argonne national lab as a postdoc, congratulations and best luck to your future career development Jungkuk!
August 2022:
Li group received a RIF grant to scale up our alkaline electrolyzer for green ammonia synthesis. Congratulations Yifu!
August 2022:
Our proposal "Collaborative Research: ECO-CBET: Convergent Electrolysis-Electrodialysis System (CEES) to Curb Urban Chloride Pollution by Eco-friendly Road Deicing and Waste Salt Upcycling" was funded by NSF. Congratulations CEES team! We are looking forward to fruitful collaborative research with Prof. Peter Taylor at Iowa State, Profs. Shuang Gu, and Janet Twomey from Wichita State!
August 2022:
Hengzhou successfully defended his PhD dissertation! Congratulations Dr. Liu and best wishes to your future research at Dr. Sargent group !!
August 2022:
Our collaborative research work on "Ultra-Low Voltage Bipolar Hydrogen Production from Biomass-Derived Aldehydes and Water in Membrane-Less Electrolyzers" was accepted for publication in Energy & Environmental Science, Link: DOI: 10.1039/D2EE01427K. We appreciate our fruitful collaboration with Prof. Michael Janik group on DFT computation, and Prof. Mark Mba-Wright group on technoeconomic analysis! We thank funding support from NSF: CBET1947435, CBET1939464, USDA-NIFA 2021-67021-34650. Congratulations Hengzhou, Naveen and Arna!!
August 2022:
Hengzhou received a Research Excellence Award (REX) from ISU graduate college. Congratulations!
July 2022:
Ting-Han successfully defended his PhD dissertation! Congratulations Dr. Lee and best wishes to your future career development at IBM !!
June 2022:
Jungkuk received a Postdoctoral Research Excellence Award from ISU Graduate College. Congratulations Jungkuk!
May 2022:
Dr. Li attended the 241st ECS meeting in Vancouver, chairing a few sessions and gave two talks. It was great to meet so many friends in Canada!
April 2022:
Congratulate Dr. Li for being promoted to full Professor at Iowa State University!
March 2022:
Our work on electrochemical synthesis of hydrogen peroxide metal-free nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous carbon was accepted for publication in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. Congratulations Basil and Mohammad!
March 2022:
Our work on "Electrochemical reduction of CO2 over in-situ generated Bi nanosheets" was accepted for publication in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. We are grateful to the funding supports from IEC and USDA. Congratulations Jungkuk!
February 2022:
Congratulations to Dr. Yushan Yan (a distinguished chemical engineering professor at U. Delaware) on him being elected to National Academy of Engineering "for his creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in separation membranes, and electrochemical reaction engineering, catalysts and materials". We are very proud of you, very well deserved, Dr. Yan! I treasured precious memory of working with you at UC Riverside. Photo: Dr. Yan visited us in Feb 2018
February 2022:
Ting-Han's work on "Next-Generation High-performance Bio-Based Naphthalate Polymers Derived from Malic Acid for Sustainable Food Packaging" was accepted for publication in ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering. Congratulations Ting-Han!
November 2021:
Collaborating with Profs. Shao, Minhua and Gu, Shuang, our invited review article "Electrochemical nitrogen reduction: An intriguing but challenging quest" was accepted for publication in Trends in Chemistry. Congratulations Yifu and Usman!
November 2021:
Our research was highlighted in our department journal activesite,
https://www.cbe.iastate.edu/files/2021/10/ActiveSite-2021-1.pdf
November 2021:
Li group members recently gave oral presentations in AIChE and ECS meetings, you can watch them from Youtube and know more about our research. Links can be found here: https://www.wzli-lab.com/invited-presentations
October 2021:
Xiaopeng Liu joined our group as a new PhD student, and she will be working with Profs. Wu and Li on novel 2D MXenes for electrocatlaysis, welcome you Xiaopeng!
September 2021:
The special issue of Chinese Journal of Catalysis in memory and honor of Prof. Qin Xin coedited by Prof. Fengshou Xiao and Prof. Li was published by Elsevier, and the link is here. This special issue is to recognize Prof. Xin's unique and remarkable contributions to the application of in‐situ molecular spectroscopy for catalysis study, the exploration of nitrides, carbides and HDS (hydrodesulfurization), HDN (hydrodenitrogenation) catalysts, and the development of efficient electrocatalysts for direct alcohol fuel cells. We thank all authors for contributing their work to this special issue.
September 2021:
Li group received a RIF grant to develop a membrane-free alkaline electrolyzer for upcycling of meat processing wastewater to production of ammonia fertilizers. Congratulations Yifu!
September 2021:
Huy and Yi joined Li group in the fall semester doing research on CO2 reduction and alkaline electrolyzer design. Welcome Huy and Yi!
August 2021:
Our NSF-EFRI DCheM grant "EFRI DCheM: Chemicals from Renewables Through Green Electrochemistry" led by Prof. Tessonnier was awarded, Congratulations ChaRGE team! We got it!
June 2021:
Li group received a USDA-NIFA grant on paired electrochemical conversion of agricultural waste feedstock to valuable chemicals. Congratulations!
June 2021:
Our collaborative research with Dr. Roling group on "Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction on Oxide-Derived Silver with Tunable Selectivity to Nitrite and Ammonia" was published in ACS Catalysis. In this work, we reported our finding on exceptionally high nitrate-to-nitrite selectivity on silver electrodes. By coupling the electrocatalytic nitrate-to-nitrite on an oxide-derived silver (OD-Ag) with higher surface area and activity, with a catalytic nitrite-to-dinitrogen on a Pd catalyst using H2 derived from water electrolysis, a combined electrocatalytic-catalytic process has been demonstrated as an alternative strategy for innovative nitrate removal from real agricultural wastewater.The acquired kinetic and computation insights can also be beneficial to advancing the nitrogen-centric electrocatalysis science and technologies. We acknowledge NSF funding (ChE2036944) to support our research, and great help from Dr. Shanks and Dr. Gu. Congratulations, Hengzhou and Jaeryul!
June 2021:
Our review "Recent Advances in Paired Electrolysis of Biomass-derived Compounds Towards Co-generation of Value-added Chemicals and Fuels" was accepted by Current Opinion in Electrochemistry. Congratulations Hengzhou!
June 2021:
Our collaborative research with Dr. Cochran group on "Paired and Tandem Electrochemical Conversion of 5-(Hydroxymethyl)furfural Using Membrane-Electrode-Assembly-based Electrocatalytic Systems" was accepted by ChemElectroChem for publication. We acknowledge NSF funding (CBET1947435) to support our research. Congratulations again, Hengzhou and Ting-Han!
June 2021:
New graduate student Tianlei Li joined our group CO2 reduction and paired electrolysis research, welcome Tianlei!
May 2021:
Our collaborative research with Dr. Cochran group on "Paired Electrolysis of 5-(Hydroxymethyl)furfural in Flow Cells with High-Performance Oxide-Derived Silver Cathode" was accepted by Green Chemistry for publication as a front cover article of Issue 14, 2021. We acknowledge NSF funding (CBET1947435) to support our research. Congratulations Hengzhou and Ting-Han!
May 2021:
Dr. Jungkuk Lee joined our group as a postdoc researcher doing CO2 capture and reduction research, welcome Jungkuk!
April 2021:
Our former MS student Joseph Watkins took an offer from Plug Power. Congratulations Joe, and Good luck with your future career development!
April 2021:
Our former undergraduate James Trettin took an offer from Princeton University. Congratulations James, and Good luck with your PhD research!
April 2021:
Our collaborative review article with Dr. Yuyan Shao group at PNNL on "Electrocatalysts Development for Hydrogen Oxidation Reaction in Alkaline Media: From Mechanism Understanding to Materials Design" was accepted by Chinese Journal of Catalysis for a special issue in honor and memory of Prof. Qin Xin. Congratulations Yang!
March 2021:
Our research on "Electrocatalytic Generation of Hydrogen Peroxide on Cobalt Nanoparticles Embedded in Nitrogen-doped Carbon" was accepted by Chinese Journal of Catalysis for publication for a special issue in honor and memory of Prof. Qin Xin. Congratulations Basil!
February 2021:
Mohammad Albloushi joined our group as a master student doing research in hydrogen peroxide electrosynthesis, Welcome Mohammad!
January 2021:
Dr. Li was awarded the Herbert L. Stiles Faculty Fellow. Congratulations!
October 2020:
Our research on "Revealing Nitrogen-Containing Species in Commercial Catalysts Used for Ammonia Electrosynthesis" was published in Nature Catalysis as an analysis article, Congratulations Yifu and Hengzhou! We thank Pror. Gu and Prof. Licht for close collaboration in study of ammonia synthesis, and acknowledge great help from and fruitful discussion with our ISU colleagues (Brett Boote, Robert Brown, Sarah Cady, Dapeng Jing, Jingzhe Li, Hsi-Hsin Lin, Brent Shanks, Emily Smith, James Trettin), and Kwiyong Kim (UIUC).
September 2020:
Li group received an IEC (Iowa Energy Center) grant on electrochemical conversion of biodiesel waste crude glycerol and CO2 to higher valued chemicals. Congratulations!
August 2020:
Li group received a NSF grant (ChE2036944) on electrochemical upcycling of waste nitrates for eco-manufacturing of nitrogen-based chemicals. Congratulations!
August 2020:
Our paper on high voltage quinone flow battery was published in Engineered Science. Congratulations Mohsen!
June 2020:
Li group received a NSF grant (CBET1947435) on paired electrolyzers for efficient conversion of biorenewable furanic compounds for production of valuable chemicals. Congratulations!
June 2020:
Li group received a DOD SBIR subcontract on development of CO2 reduction catalysts. Congratulations!
April 2020:
Our collaborative work with Stahl group at Wisconsin on quinone flow battery was published in Advanced Energy Materials, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aenm.202000340. Congratulations Yang!
December 2019:
Joe successfully passed his MS presentation exam, good work Joe! Good luck to your future career!
November 2019:
Dr. Li visited Department of Chemical Engineering at Oklahoma State University, and gave his talk on "Electrochemical Conversion of Biorenewable Furanics for Production of Chemicals and Fuels". Thank you for your host Oklahoma State. Go Oklahoma Cowboys and Cowgirls!
October 2019:
Our research in paired electrocatalytic hydrogenation and oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) for production of two monomers was accepted for publication in Green Chemistry.
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2019/gc/c9gc02264c. Congratulations Xiaotong and David!
October 2019:
Dr. Li gave a talk on "Electrocatalytic Hydrogenation and Oxidation of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural for Efficient Production of Biobased Monomers: A Paired Electrolyzer Approach" at the ECS meeting in Atlanta, GA.
September 2019:
Hengzhou successfully passed his qualifier exam, congratulations Hengzhou!
June 2019:
Our work in electrochemical synthesis of ammonia was accepted for publication in Green Chemistry. We reported that a membrane-free electrochemical cell can provide a green and economic way of lithium deposition for mediated ammonia synthesis from nitrogen gas and water. We conducted stringent Ar and isotopic 15N2 control experiments and proved the NH3 synthesis is truly via a so-called Li-mediated pathway. DOI: 10.1039/C9GC01338E. Congratulations Kwiyong and Yifu!
May 2019:
Our collaborative research with Dr. Panthani group in "photoelectrolysis of HMF to bioplastic ionomer" has been accepted for publication in ChemElectroChem: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/celc.201900482. congratulations David!
May 2019:
Mohsen took an offer from Civil & Environmental Engineering, ISU as a PhD student. Sean took an offer from EcoEngineering in Des Moines as a Regulatory Consultant. Glad to see you two are still in town, Good luck!
April 2019:
Mohsen successfully defended his MS thesis, good work Mohsen!
April 2019:
Dr. Li attended the GPCS spring symposium and showed his poster presentation in Bartsville, OK.
Brent: Congratulations on winning the inaugural GPCS award!
April 2019:
Dr. Li attended the ACS spring conference and gave two talks in Orlando, FL.
March 2019:
Dr. Kwiyong Kim took an offer from UIUC as a postdoc researcher in the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department. We will miss you Kwiyong, and Good Luck to your future career!
February 2019:
Dr. Yang Qiu took an offer from the heterogeneous catalysis group at DOE PNNL as a postdoc researcher. We will miss you Yang, and Good Luck to your future career!
December 2018:
Gassen successfully passed his MS presentation exam, good work Sean! Good luck to your future career!
November 2018:
Yang and Le's paper "BCC-Phase PdCu Alloy as a Highly Active Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Oxidation in Alkaline Electrolytes" has been published in Journal of the American Chemical Society, DOI:10.1021/jacs.8b08356, Congratulation! We thank supports from Penn State University (Prof. Michael Janik, Dr. Yawei Li, Dr. Ian McCrum), Wichita State University (Prof. Shuang Gu) and DOE Argonne National Lab (Dr. Fangmin Guo, Dr. Yang Ren, Dr. Qi Liu) and Ames Lab (Dr. Lin Zhou, Dr. Tao Ma).
![wenzhen li ps 2[40782].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/aef12a_643a4f1842e44b728d24490b15e73537~mv2_d_5184_3456_s_4_2.jpg/v1/fill/w_333,h_222,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/wenzhen%20li%20ps%202%5B40782%5D.jpg)
October 2018:
Dr. Li attended the AIChE annual conference and gave three talks in Pittsburgh, PA.
October 2018:
Hengzhou Liu joined our group to do electrochemical reduction of nitrate research, Welcome Hengzhou!
October 2018:
Basil Rawah successfully passed his qualifier exam, congratulations Basil!
September 2018:
Ting-Han Lee and Yifu Chen successfully passed their qualifier exams, congratulations Ting-Han and Yifu!
August 2018:
Dr. Kwiyong Kim joined our group as a postdoc researcher, and he will conduct research in Electrosynthesis of ammonia, sponsored by ARPAE.
August 2018:
Dr. Li visited Department of Chemical Engineering at University of Iowa, and gave his invited talk "Electrochemical Conversion of Biorenewable Furanics for Production of Chemicals and Fuels". Thank you for your host U. Iowa and Go Iowa Hawkeyes!
June 2018:
Dr. Yang Qiu, an alumni of Li group, has joined us as a post-doctoral researcher. Welcome back, Yang!
June 2018:
Dr. Li visited DOE PNNL and gave his invited talk "Electrochemical Conversion of Biorenewable Furanics for Production of Chemicals and Fuels". Thank you for your host PNNL!
May 2018:
Xiaotong took an offer from Energizer as a research engineer, congratulations and Wish you find great success and happiness with your new career in Cleveland, OH!
May 2018:
Xiaotong and David attended ISU graduate ceremony and congratulations Xiaotong and David, good luck to your future career - Go Cyclone!
April 2018:
Le Xin accepted a full-time scientist position at Sigma-Millipore. Neeva Benipal accepted an offer from California EPA for an engineer position. Congratulations! Wish you find great success and happiness with your new career in Milwaukee WI and Sacramento CA, Le and Neeva: good luck!
March 2018:
Xiaotong Chadderdon successfully defended her PhD dissertation on “Electrochemical Conversion of Biomass-derived Furanics for Production of Renewable Chemicals and Fuels” – Congratulations Dr. Chadderdon!
David Chadderdon successfully defended his PhD dissertation on “Electrocatalysis for Selective Oxidation of Biomass-derived Compounds” – Congratulations Dr. Chadderdon!
Yang Qiu successfully defended his PhD dissertation on “Rational Design of Advanced Electrocatalysts for Oxygen and Hydrogen Reactions in Fuel Cells and Water Electrolyzers” – Congratulations Dr. Qiu!
February 2018:
Xiaotong and David won the Research Excellence Award from ISU graduate college. Congratulations!
January 2018:
Two new graduate students joined Li group: Sean Gassen and Joeseph Watkins. Welcome!
October 2017:
Dr. Li gave two talks: "Mechanisms of electrochemical reduction of furfural" and "Photoelectrocatalysts for TEMPO-mediated alcohol oxidations" in the ECS meeting at National Harbor, MD and one invited talk “Electrocatalytic processing of biorenewables for generation of electricity, chemicals and fuels” in Materials Science and Engineering department of Clemson University, Clemson, SC. Go Clemson Tigers!
October 2017:
Three new graduate students joined Li group: Ting-Han Lee, Basil Rawah, Yifu Chen. Welcome!
September 13, 2017:
Our collaborative research with Tessonnier group on “Mechanisms of Furfural Reduction on Metal Electrodes: Distinguishing Pathways for Selective Hydrogenation of Bioderived Oxygenates” has been accepted for publication by the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Congratulations Xiaotong and David, Good work! Article available at: DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b06331
June 2017:
Li group received two ARPA-E subcontracts to develop electrodes and electrocatalysts for ammonia synthesis at low and intermediate temperatures.
May 2017:
David and Xiaotong gave two talks: "Mechanisms of electrochemical reduction of furfural" and "Photoelectrocatalysts for TEMPO-mediated alcohol oxidations" at New Orlean ECS meeting.
May 2017:
Dr. Li gave invited talks at Dalian University of Technology, Dalian University of Technology - Panjin campus, and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, China.
May 2017:
Dr. Le Xin, an alumni of Li group, has joined us as a post-doctoral researcher. Welcome back, Le!
March 2017:
Neeva successfully defended her PhD dissertation on "Electrochemical conversion of biorenewable feedstocks in alkaline membrane fuel cells" - Congratulations Neeva!
February 2017:
Dr. Li gave his talk "Electrocatalytic processing of biorenewables for generation of electricity, chemicals and fuels" in Materials Science and Engineering department, Iowa State. Go Cyclones!
January 2017:
Mohsen Torabi joined Li group as a graduate student. Welcome Mohsen!
December 2016:
Li group’s recent work on "membraneless fuel cell" was accepted for publication in Renewable Energy, congratulations Neeva and Ji!
November 2016:
Dr. Li gave his talk at Frontier in Biorefining conference at Simons Island, GA.
November 2016:
David, Xiaotong and Neeva gave research presentations at San Francisco AIChE Annual Conference.
October 2016:
Dr. Li gave his invited talk "Electrocatalytic processing of biorenewables for generation of electricity, chemicals and fuels" at Penn State Go Nittany Lions!
September 2016:
Dr. Li gave his invited talk "Electrocatalytic processing of biorenewables for generation of electricity, chemicals and fuels" at U. Kansas, Go Kansas Jayhawks!
Dr. Li gave his invited talk "Electrocatalytic processing of biorenewables for generation of electricity, chemicals and fuels" at Mississippi State, Go Mississippi Bulldogs!
August 2016:
Li group’s recent work on "PdAg bimetallic catalysts for glycerol oxidation" was accepted for publication in Applied Catalysis B Environmental, congratulations Neeva and Ji!
July 2016:
Li group’s recent work on direct fast pyrolysis fuel cell was accepted for publication in Fuel, congratulations Neeva!
July 2016:
Dr. Li received ISU Bailey Research Career Development Award to support his new research direction in photoelectrolysis of biorenewables for valuable chemicals production. We are grateful to the generous estate gift from Carl and Grace Bailey!
June 2016:
Li group’s recent work on PdAg/CNT anode catalysts for anion exchange membrane direct alcohol fuel cell was published in Applied Catalysis B Environmental. Congratulations Ji!
June 2016:
Li group received a grant from Iowa Energy Center on technoeconomic analysis of electrochemical systems.
May 2016:
Dr. Li gave an invited talk "Electrocatalytic processing of biorenewables for generation of electricity, chemicals and fuels" in Chemistry Department at University of Wisconsin, Madison. Go Wisconsin Badgers!
December 2015:
Ji Qi successfully defended his PhD dissertation titled "Electrocatalysts Design for Selective Oxidation of Organic Molecules in High-Performance Fuel Cells". Congratulations to Ji! Good luck with your new career in China!
November 2015:
Li group’s collaborative research with Dr. Shanks on N,S-doped mesoporous carbon-based cathode catalysts for direct birenewable alcohol fuel cells was accepted for publication in Journal of Materials Chemistry A. Congratulations Yang!
October 2015:
Prof. Li was honored as inaugural CBE Seagrave Professor, we thank the generous donors (Mary and Randy Hagenson ) of the Seagrave Professorship so much!
October 2015:
Li group's recent work in collaboration with Prof. Michael Janik at Penn State - "Selective Oxidation of 1,2-Propanediol in Alkaline Anion-Exchange Membrane Electrocatalytic Flow Reactors: Experimental and DFT Investigations" was accepted for publication in ACS Catalysis. Congratulations David!
June 2015:
Li and Tessonnier groups won a NSF grant on "Electrocatalytic hydrogenation of birenewable feedstocks". Congratulations!
November 2014:
Li group has demonstrated a prototype of completely metal catalyst free anion exchange membrane fuel cell with 3D graphene or multi-wall carbon nanotube anode and N-doped carbon nanotube cathode. The work was accepted for publication in ChemSusChem and Carbon. Ji and Neeva: Congratulations!
October 2014:
Dr. Li gave an invited talk "Electrocatalytic processing of biorenewables for generation of electricity, chemicals and fuels" in IUPUI Electrochemical Energy Center. Go Indiana Jaguars!
September 2014:
Dr. Li gave an invited talk "Electrocatalytic processing of biorenewables for generation of electricity, chemicals and fuels" in Kansas State Chemical Engineering Department. Go Kansas Wildcats!
August 2014:
Li group's first modeling paper "Numerical analysis of anion exchange membrane direct glycerol fuel cells under steady state and dynamic operations" was accepted for publication in International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. Xiaotong and David: Congratulations!
August 2014:
Li Group moved to Iowa State University as Richard Seagrave associate professor, pursuing research excellence in electrocatalysis, electrochemical energy and biorenewables. My colleagues and friends at Michigan Tech, I will miss you all and Huskies, keep in touch!
