Prof. Ju Li

Battelle Energy Alliance Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

Primary DLC

Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering

MIT Room: 24-202

Areas of Interest and Expertise

Materials Science
Solid-State Physics
Energy Storage
Battery Materials

Recent Work

  • Video

    2024 MIT Sustainability Conference: Formate Economy & AI-Assisted Catalyst Search

    October 22, 2024Conference Video Duration: 16:45

    Formate Economy and AI-Assisted Catalyst Search
    Ju Li
    Battelle Energy Alliance Professor, MIT Department of Nuclear Science & Engineering
    Professor, MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering

    Carbon efficiency is one of the most pressing problems of carbon dioxide electroreduction today. While there have been studies on anion exchange membrane electrolyzers with carbon dioxide (gas) and bipolar membrane electrolyzers with bicarbonate (aqueous) feedstocks, both suffer from low carbon efficiency. In anion exchange membrane electrolyzers, this is due to carbonate anion crossover, whereas in bipolar membrane electrolyzers, the exsolution of carbon dioxide (gas) from the bicarbonate solution is the culprit. Here, we first elucidate the root cause of the low carbon efficiency of liquid bicarbonate electrolyzers with thermodynamic calculations and then achieve carbon-efficient carbon dioxide electro- reduction by adopting a near-neutral-pH cation exchange membrane, a glass fiber intermediate layer, and carbon dioxide (gas) partial pressure management. We convert highly concentrated bicarbonate solution to solid formate fuel with a yield (carbon efficiency) of greater than 96%. A device test is demonstrated at 100 mA cmÀ2 with a full-cell voltage of 3.1 V for over 200 h. ["A carbon-efficient bicarbonate electrolyzer," Cell Reports Physical Science 4 (2023) 101662]

    5.18.23-Energy-Li

    May 18, 2023Conference Video Duration: 43:1
    Materials Processing & Recovery for Clean Energy 

    4.13.21-Energy-Ju-Li

    April 13, 2021Conference Video Duration: 15:40
    Ju Li
    Battelle Energy Alliance Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering
    Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

    2020 Ju Li New Opportunities in Li ion Batteries

    June 11, 2020Conference Video Duration: 63:46
    2020 Ju Li New Opportunities in Li ion Batteries

    Boosting Battery Performance

    April 30, 2019MIT Faculty Feature Duration: 18:1

    Ju Li

    Battelle Energy Alliance Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering
    Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT

    Taking Materials to Extremes

    May 8, 2017MIT Faculty Feature Duration: 18:49

    Ju Li
    Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering

    Ju Li - 2016 Japan

    January 29, 2016Conference Video Duration: 35:9

    Materials in Energy and Extreme Environments: Watching Nanoscale in Action

    In this talk I will focus on applying in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and lab-on-a-chip to mechanistic investigations of energy materials. Recent advances in nano-manipulation, environmental TEM and MEMS have allowed us to investigate coupled mechanical and electrochemical phenomena with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions. For example, we can now quantitatively characterize liquid-solid and gas-solid interfaces at nanometer resolution for in situ corrosion, fatigue and hydrogen embrittlement processes. These experiments greatly complement our modeling efforts, and together they help provide insights into how materials degrade in service due to combined electrochemical-mechanical forces.