A research team led by Asst. Prof. Watchareeya Kaveevivitchai (Department of Chemical Engineering) and Asst. Prof. Teng-Hao Chen (School of Pharmacy) at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) present great achievement on energy storage and CO2 capture technology through international and interdisciplinary collaborations. The research could improve the development of green energy and sustainable environment, and their patent applications are now undergoing in both Taiwan and USA.
Kaveevivitchai and Chen provide an insight on the charge-discharge mechanism of organic lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), which is promising for the next-generation green energy storage technology. The organic cathode material delivers reversible capacities as high as 426 mAh g1 at 200 mA g1 and 209 mAh g1 at 10,000 mA g1after 1000 cycles which is nearly 85% capacity retention. Compared to their inorganic counterparts, organic compounds are more environment-friendly, lightweight, without expensive and toxic metals, and can be recycled and prepared from renewable resources. The organic LIB in this work is exceptional compared to commercial LIBs in terms of capacity, rate capability, cycling stability, and battery cycle life. It is extremely promising for the development of electric cars, green energy, and large-scale energy storage systems.
Kaveevivitchai is the only Thai professor in the field of science and engineering in Taiwan. She is also a member of Hierarchical Green-Energy Materials Research Center at NCKU and a recipient of 2018 Einstein Young Scholar Fellowship from Ministry of Science and Technology. Via the international collaboration with Dr. Ilja Popovs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (USA), the organic LIB assembled in Kaveevivitchai’s lab present the best battery performance up to date with high energy density, rate capability, and cycling stability. This work is published in a top energy journal Advanced Energy Materials.
Chen also collaborates with Prof. Ognjen Š. Miljanić at University of Houston (USA) on the use of porous molecular crystals (PMCs) for CO2 capture. PMCs are a kind of porous materials assembled by the close-packing of distinct organic molecules. In addition to its suitable and uniform pore size for CO2 capture, the PMC in this work exhibits high CO2 affinity, excellent water tolerance, high structural stability, and ease of regeneration. Via the collaboration with Kaveevivitchai, a customized gas piping system was established successfully for gas separation experiments with a small amount of new samples.
For the first time, a crystalline organic porous material is applied as an efficient pressure swing adsorption (PSA) adsorbent for CO2 separations. The eluted N2 and CH4 by PSA are obtained with over 99.9% and 99.8% purity, respectively, which are superior to the performance of commercial adsorbent molecular sieves. This technology allows efficient CO2 capture and facile adsorbent regeneration at ambient environment, which will greatly reduce the costs of carbon capture. It is very promising for the pre-treatment of industrial flue gas and the upgrading of natural gas.
This result is published in a prestigious chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, and also selected as Hot Paper and front cover page of the journal, which indicates the novelty and importance of research.
NCKU is the first and only university in Taiwan to recruit Thai scholar in the field of science and engineering, and its New Southbound policy is fruitful. NCKU also provides excellent resources and environment for interdisciplinary and international collaborations. "The student quality, higher education environment, research resources, and quality of life in Taiwan are one of the best in Asia. However, people in most countries do not know much about Taiwan. Due to the Southbound policy, I can see more and more Thai students considering studying in Taiwan. The great performance on research is also the best way to internationalize NCKU and appeal more elite foreign scholars." Kaveevivitchai said.
Kaveevivitchai produces environmental-friendly organic LIBs with high performance for the development of green energy. Chen’s efficient CO2 capture technology will be useful for carbon cycle. The patent applications of these two novel technologies have been filed both in Taiwan and USA. Their research not only matches the Sustainable Development Goals, but also shows great potential for improving the society.
Pic 1：Ph.D. student Luu Thi Huynh Nhu (left) and Asst. Prof. Watchareeya Kaveevivitchai (right) invent organic lithium-ion batteries with ultrahigh energy density.
Pic 2：Ph.D. student Yao-Ting Wang (left) and Asst. Prof. Teng-Hao Chen (right) develop highly efficient CO2 capture technology.
Pic 3: The interdisciplinary collaboration between Kaveevivitchai’s and Chen’s laboratories
- News/Photos provided by National Cheng Kung University