Innovations in separation technologies are critical for securing our supply-chain, enabling sustainable manufacturing, and ensuring clean air and water at a global scale. By tuning redox-electron transfer reactions, my lab is developing new electrochemically-driven separations with high molecular selectivity to tackle key challenges in energy and sustainability. I will discuss the design of redox-active polymer electrosorbents for critical element recovery and materials recycling. In-situ interfacial measurements and multiscale modeling were used to elucidate the mechanisms for ion selectivity on these electrosorbents. These redox-active platforms are flexible and can be translated to organic phase contexts, including the electrochemical recycling of homogeneous catalysts and enantioselective discrimination. We have also leveraged copolymer design to couple reactions and separations at redox-active interfaces, with applications in combining nitrate capture and ammonium conversion, and the electrochemical remediation of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Finally, I will show how future membrane and electrolyte design modifications can open avenues for continuous multicomponent separations using redox-electrodialysis.
Bio
Xiao Su is an Assistant Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He obtained his BS in Applied Sciences in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo in 2011, and his PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT in 2017, working under the supervision of Professor T. Alan Hatton from Chemical Engineering and Professor Timothy F. Jamison from Chemistry. Since joining Illinois in 2019, his research has focused on separation processes that combine molecular design and process engineering. Xiao has been the recipient of several prestigious awards including an NSF CAREER Award (2019), the ACS Victor K. Lamer Award (2020), the ISE-Elsevier Prize for Green Electrochemistry (2021), the ACS Unilever Award (2023), and the AIChE FRI/Kunesh Awards in Separations (2023). Xiao has also been recognized by the List of Excellent Teachers (2019, 2022), and the School of Chemical Sciences Teaching Award (SCS) in 2023.
This seminar is supported by the David S. Kappe Lecture Series in Environmental Engineering and Chemistry. This endowment supports lectures by outstanding individuals whose research helps to bridge environmental engineering and chemistry.