Chong Liu's Research at UCLA: A Multifaceted Approach to Energy Conversion and Beyond
Chong Liu is a researcher at UCLA whose work spans diverse areas, focusing primarily on energy conversion, electrochemistry, and bio-inorganic hybrid systems. Her research group leverages nanomaterials, electrochemistry, and synthetic biology to address challenges in sustainable energy and chemical synthesis. This article will provide a comprehensive overview of her research, highlighting key contributions and their impact.
Solar Energy Conversion and Artificial Photosynthesis
One major research direction involves artificial photosynthesis, aiming to mimic the natural process of converting sunlight into chemical energy. Liu and her colleagues have explored various approaches to achieve efficient solar energy conversion.
Water Splitting Systems
One notable achievement is the development of a water-splitting biosynthetic system with CO2 reduction efficiencies exceeding those of natural photosynthesis. This work, published in Science, demonstrates an integrated system that uses solar energy to split water and then utilizes the generated hydrogen to reduce CO2 into valuable chemicals.
The group has also worked extensively on semiconductor nanowires for direct solar water splitting. In a publication in Nano Letters, they presented a fully integrated nanosystem of semiconductor nanowires for this purpose. They have also explored the use of WO3/BiVO4 core/shell nanowire photoanodes for photoelectrochemical water oxidation, achieving simultaneously efficient light absorption and charge separation.
Electrocatalysis for Hydrogen Generation
Another area of focus is electrocatalysis for hydrogen generation. Liu's group has developed electrodeposited cobalt-sulfide catalysts for electrochemical and photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation from water, as reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
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CO2 and N2 Fixation
Beyond water splitting, Liu's research group has made significant contributions to CO2 and N2 fixation.
CO2 Fixation
One approach involves nanowire-bacteria hybrids for unassisted solar carbon dioxide fixation to value-added chemicals. Published in Nano Letters, this work combines the light-harvesting capabilities of nanowires with the CO2 fixation abilities of bacteria to produce useful chemicals.
In a Nature Catalysis article, Liu and her team discovered a nano-bio interface that maximizes the quantum yield of photocatalytic CO2/N2 fixation in a hybrid system of microbes and semiconductor quantum dots (QDs).
The merging of electrochemical reduction and biosynthesis to upgrade carbon monoxide to bioplastics via an integrated system was documented in Nature Synthesis.
N2 Fixation
Electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction at low temperature is another research area, as described in Joule. The group has also explored selective electrochemical nitrogen fixation using a reticular chemistry approach, as reported in Science Advances.
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A Nature Communications article details the creation of an electricity-powered artificial root nodule for nitrogen fixation.
Material-Microbe Interfaces
A significant portion of Liu's research focuses on the interface between materials and microbes. This interdisciplinary approach combines the strengths of both fields to create novel systems for energy conversion and chemical synthesis.
Redox and Energy Homeostasis
Liu's group has investigated redox and energy homeostasis enabled by photocatalytic material-microbial interfaces, as detailed in ACS Nano. This research explores how photocatalytic materials can interact with microbial systems to enhance their performance.
Synergistic Defluorination
Synergistic material-microbe interfaces are also being explored for deeper anaerobic defluorination as reported in PNAS.
Metabolic Regulation
Integrated proteomics and metabolomics reveal altered metabolic regulation of Xanthabacter autotrophicus under electrochemical water-splitting conditions, as described in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
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Unexpected Metabolic Reallocation
An PNAS article discusses the unexpected metabolic reallocation of CO2 fixation in H2-mediated materials-biology hybrids.
Electrocatalysis and Mechanistic Studies
Liu's group has made significant advances in electrocatalysis, employing both experimental and computational techniques to understand reaction mechanisms and design better catalysts.
Methane Functionalization
The group has explored electrocatalytic methane functionalization with d0 early transition metals under ambient conditions, as reported in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. They have also investigated AgII-mediated electrocatalytic ambient CH4 functionalization inspired by HSAB theory, also in Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
An Nature Communications article details ambient methane functionalization initiated by electrochemical oxidation of a vanadium (V)-oxo dimer.
Autonomous Mechanistic Investigation
Autonomous closed-loop mechanistic investigation of molecular electrochemistry via automation is detailed in Nature Communications.
Deep Learning for Mechanism Discernment
ACS Measurement Science Au reports a deep-learning algorithm that automatically analyzes cyclic voltammograms and designates a probable electrochemical mechanism.
Pulse Waveforms
Digital Discovery discusses machine-learning-guided design of electroanalytical pulse waveforms.
Data Preprocessing
Journal of Physical Chemistry C discusses the inquiry into the appropriate data preprocessing of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy for machine learning.
Redox Events
ACS Electrochemistry reports a deep-learning (DL) model that automatically analyzes cyclic voltammograms with arbitrary number of presumably independent redox events.
Concerted Proton-Electron Transfer
An article in the Journal of the American Chemical Society discusses how automated electroanalysis accelerates the mechanistic discovery of homogenous proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET).
Nanomaterials and Composites
The synthesis and application of nanomaterials are central to many of Liu's research projects.
Semiconductor Nanowires
Her work on semiconductor nanowires includes synthesis, characterization, and applications. This was highlighted in a 25th anniversary article in Advanced Materials.
Mesoporous Materials
Liu's group has also developed multifunctional mesoporous composite microspheres with well-designed nanostructures for use as highly integrated catalyst systems, as reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. They also created ordered mesoporous silicas and carbons with large accessible pores templated from amphiphilic diblock copolymer poly (ethylene oxide)-b-polystyrene, as documented in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Transition-Metal-Doped TiO2 Nanowires
The large-scale synthesis of transition-metal-doped TiO2 nanowires with controllable overpotential is described in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Plasmon-Enhanced Photocatalysis
The plasmon-enhanced photocatalytic activity of iron oxide on gold nanopillars is discussed in ACS Nano.
Magnetic Zeolite Microspheres
The synthesis of core/shell colloidal magnetic zeolite microspheres for the immobilization of trypsin is described in Advanced Materials.
Bioanalytical Applications
Liu's research extends to bioanalytical applications, leveraging electrochemical techniques and nanomaterials for sensing and monitoring biological processes.
Microneedle Monitoring
Science Translational Medicine discusses bioanalytic resilient nanostructured microneedles that longitudinally monitor renal and hepatic drug clearance and dysfunction.
Tandem Metabolic Reaction-based Sensors
PNAS documents how tandem metabolic reaction-based sensors unlock in-vivo metabolomics.
Extracellular pH Microenvironment
ACS Electrochemistry discusses electrochemical control with high spatiotemporal resolutions for the extracellular pH microenvironment.
Additional Research Areas
Polyketone Microstructure
The use of classifiers to predict catalyst design for polyketone microstructure is discussed in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Integrated Catalysis
Nature Reviews Methods Primers discusses spatiotemporal control for integrated catalysis.
Polyketones
ACS Catalysis details polyketones from carbon dioxide and ethylene by integrating electrochemical and organometallic catalysis.
Compartmentalization for Organometallic Catalysis
The art of compartment design for organometallic catalysis is discussed in Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers. A generalized kinetic model for compartmentalization of organometallic catalysis is detailed in Chemical Science.
Block Copolymers
Journal of the American Chemical Society discusses ABC and ABAB block copolymers by electrochemically controlled ring-opening polymerization.
Microbial Fuel Cells
Science reports how silver nanoparticles boost charge-extraction efficiency in Shewanella microbial fuel cells.
Artificial Root Nodule
Nature Communications reports on an electricity-powered artificial root nodule.
Thin Film Transistors
ACS Applied Electronic Materials discusses cluster size control toward high performance solution processed InGaZnO thin film transistors.
Wire-Array Electrodes
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters details machine-learning enabled exploration of morphology influence on wire-array electrodes for electrochemical nitrogen fixation.
Perfluorocarbon Nanoemulsions
Chem Catalysis discusses how perfluorocarbon nanoemulsions create a beneficial O2 microenvironment in N2-fixing Biological | Inorganic Hybrid.
Laccase Degradation
Environmental Science & Technology discusses Laccase immobilized on arginine-functionalized boron nitride nanosheets for enhanced atrazine degradation.
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