RESEARCH AREAS

The development of affordable, sustainable and clean sources of energy is a principal challenge of our time. Materials and their sustainable synthesis are at the heart of this challenge. Thus, the WPI Energy Research Group focuses on jointly developing new technologies in this area and on understanding the basic science of energy-related chemical, electrochemical, and photochemical reactions.

CATALYSIS

Designing desirable reactivity for sustainable energy generation and usage is tightly coupled to establishing catalytic systems with improved reactivity. Research in this area spans molecular modeling, kinetic investigations, homogeneous and heterogeneous catalyst design, as well as the development of methods to investigate catalytic reactions in gas phase, solution, solid state, and on surfaces.

Faculty: Ravi Datta, Aaron Deskins, Andrew Teixeira, Ron Grimm, Michael Timko, Lyubov Titova

ELECTROCHEMISTRY

Fuel cells, batteries, and other energy storage materials are expected to grow in importance with the further development of the sustainable energy infrastructure. Thus, materials that enable high efficiencies and promote the transformation of solar into electric into chemical energy will be enablers for this impending change of our energy infrastructure. Strategic research efforts focus on making a significant impact in the basic understanding, processing, and manufacturing of such groundbreaking materials.

Faculty: Ravi Datta, Aaron Deskins, Ron Grimm, Jianyu Liang, Pratap Rao, Yan Wang, Reeta Rao

POWER SYSTEMS & MANUFACTURING

Designing desirable reactivity for sustainable energy generation and usage is tightly coupled to establishing catalytic systems with improved reactivity. Research in this area spans molecular modeling, kinetic investigations, homogeneous and heterogeneous catalyst design, as well as the development of methods to investigate catalytic reactions in gas phase, solution, solid state, and on surfaces.

Faculty: John Orr, Pratap Rao, Yan Wang, Jianyu Liang

RENEWABLES

The efficient use of available renewable resources is the key to securing our access to various synthetic materials, fuels, and pharmaceuticals. Biomass use, for example, is still in its infancy, which is caused by the lack of low-cost processes when compared to crude oil processing. In order to address this issue, our research focuses on understanding established synthetic catalysts in order to arrive at design principles for establishing efficient and selective process steps.

Faculty: Michael Timko, Andrew Teixeira, Reeta Rao

SOLAR

Photovoltaic devices and the underlying basic understanding of the photochemical surface and bulk processes are crucial for improving solar to electric energy and solar to chemical energy conversions. Using earth-abundant elements in these devices and enhancing their stability are futher crucial issues to be addressed for establishing a sustainable energy future.

Faculty: Aaron Deskins, Ron Grimm, Pratap Rao, Lyubov Titova, Jianyu Liang,