Contact
Faculty of Engineering - Chemical and Materials Engineering Dept
- luoj@ualberta.ca
Overview
Area of Study / Keywords
Corrosion and Wear Nanomaterials and Nanofabrication Oil Sands and Energy Surface Science and Engineering
About
Dr. Luo received her B. Eng. Degree from University of Science and Technology Beijing, China, in 1982 and her Ph.D from McMaster University, Canada in 1992. She joined the Materials Department at the University of Alberta in 1995 with the Women’s Faculty Award by Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Dr. Luo has conducted extensive research on corrosion, mechanism of erosion corrosion , corrosion control and prevention. Her team developed a theoretical model that is able to quantitatively evaluate the synergism of electrochemical and mechanical factors in erosion-corrosion based on non-equilibrium thermodynamics, electrochemistry and dislocation kinetics of erosion-corrosion of carbon steels in flowing slurry. The other models her team developed include the one based on kinetic analysis for predicting electrochemical response of passive systems to solid particle impingement and a phenomenological model that can quantitatively evaluate the non-Faradaic material loss of metallic materials, both in flowing slurry.
Dr. Luo's group has developed methods for manufacturing the nano-materials with enhanced electrocatalytic activity towards fuel oxidations, ORR, OER, CO2RR and HER. Her research led to the invention of several new fuel cell SOFC that can generate electricity and produce value-added products using non-conventional fuels such as H2S, industrial syngas and greenhouse gases.
She has served as an International Corrosion Council Member since 2005, and has published over 300 papers in refereed journals and holds six US patents. She co-edited three proceedings of the national and international symposiums and contributed one book chapter. Dr. Luo is a Follow of Canadian Academy of Engineering and the recipient of a number of awards including Canadian Research Chair in Alternative Fuel Cells (2004-2015); Canadian Metal Chemistry Award in 2014; McCalla Professorship University of Alberta in 2003; and Morris Cohen Award in 2002.
Research
My interrelated research interests are interdisciplinary studies of electrochemistry, material chemistry and surface science. We investigate materials at nano scale and develop methods for manufacturing nano-materials that possess enhanced electrocatalytic activity towards fuel oxidations, oxygen reduction/evolution reactions (ORR, OER), electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2RR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) for energy conversion/storage and power generation. We invented several new fuel cell processes for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) that can generate electricity and produce value-added products using non-conventional fuels such as H2S, industrial syngas and greenhouse gases. These “green” processes enable economic use of what is otherwise considered waste or pollution. We also study corrosion of metallic materials, coatings, and investigate material behaviors under chemical and/or mechanical actions to minimize material degradation, reduce costs and improve safety; we established the theoretical models that can predict corrosion behaviors, and uncovered corrosion mechanisms of metals in various media.
Keywords: Corrosion control and prevention, solid oxide fuel cells, energy conversion and storage