Zhi Li, PhD, P.Eng.,

Area of Study / Keywords

energy storage electrocatalysts advanced carbon materials nitrogen reduction fuel cell

Research

Energy and the environment are two closely linked topics of increasing concern in today’s society. The deployment of renewable energy and transport electrification pose an urgent need for high-efficiency electrochemical energy storage (EES) technologies. My research interest is to engineer sustainable electrode materials and electrocatalysts to meet energy storage and conversion challenges with minimal ecological footprint.

• 1D and 2D carbon nanomaterials derived from biomass and petroleum byproducts
• Low-cost carbon fibers using asphaltene as feedstock
• Understanding the stress in rechargeable batteries utilizing advanced in-situ tools
• Li/Na/K-ion batteries, Li-Sulfur batteries and Zn-ion aqueous batteries
• Single/duo/tri-atom catalysts for water splitting, fuel cell and nitrogen reduction

For more details about my research, please check out our recent publications: Publication (ualberta.ca) and ‪Zhi Li‬ - ‪Google Scholar‬

Teaching

MAT E 202 Materials Science II (2022 Winter and upcoming Fall semester)

Sustainable Energy Storage group at the department of Chemical and Materials Engineering is looking for 2 postdoctoral researchers (Postdoc). This Postdoc position will be engaged in developing nanocarbon derived from processed biomass and industrial wastes, exploring the application in various types of energy storage devices and probing the reaction mechanism using multiple in-situ techniques. Candidates with demonstrated expertise in following area are preferred:

1. Electrochemical nitrogen reduction;

2. DFT modeling for electrocatalysts and batteries;

3. Obtaining and interpreting synchrotron XAS and XRD data. Familiar with Athena, Artemis and Hephaestus software; 

4. Operating TEM or AFM for in situ experiments.

This position is available immediately. It has a term length of one year and possible extension of another year with comprehensive benefits package found at: www.hrs.ualberta.ca. With the restrictions in the pandemic, priority will be given to candidates with valid work permit/PR documents to work in Canada. Please send a cover letter and a CV with publications to Dr. Zhi Li. Short-listed candidates will be contacted.  

MAT E 204 - Materials Engineering Thermodynamics

Fundamentals of thermodynamics in Materials Engineering. Review of thermodynamic functions. First, second and third laws. Reaction equilibria, stability diagrams. Solution thermodynamics applied to materials processes. Phase relations, free energy-composition diagrams, binary phase diagrams, and introduction to ternary phase diagrams. Electrochemistry. Experimental methods and estimation of thermodynamic data. Prerequisite: CH E 243. Credit may not be obtained in this course if previous credit has been obtained in MAT E 340 or 301.

MAT E 341 - Applied Electrochemistry

Electrochemical reactions, equilibrium electrode potentials, cell potentials and Pourbaix diagrams. Electrochemical reaction kinetics, Butler-Volmer Model, polarization and Tafel equations. Electrochemical measurements including linear polarization resistance and monitoring. Metal recovery from solutions, electroplating, electrowinning, electroless plating. Batteries, fuel cells. Prerequisite: MAT E 301 or 204, or CH E 343.

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