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Investing in Cutting-Edge Research
Systems methods for sustainable electronics
Minjie Chen is leading a team of researchers to enable a systematic understanding of the opportunities and challenges for sustainability in the electronic industry. Chen is assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment (ACEE). The team aims to identify bottlenecks in producing sustainable electronics and develop materials and designs that minimize the environmental footprint of e-waste. The overall goal of the project is to establish a systematic design method for sustainable electronics, ranging from materials and circuits to whole systems, such as computers.
Technologies for above-ground carbon storage
Claire White is head of an interdisciplinary research team creating a new biocement that avoids emissions and acts as a CO2 sink. White is associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and the ACEE. The team will use bacterial methods for creating cement precursors from non-carbonate materials and then convert them into carbonates via a reaction that takes CO2 out of the air and into the final cement. The researchers will investigate the fundamental nature of the key reactions, engineer bacteria that are capable of enhanced reaction rates, and explore novel additive manufacturing processes for deploying biocements in construction.
Inexpensive, low-waste, low-carbon cathode manufacturing
Yiguang Ju is leading a team of researchers in a new project to develop technologies for manufacturing low-cost, low-carbon emission, and high-performance cathode materials. Ju is the Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. The research team will focus on developing ways for the battery manufacturing industry to keep pace with rapidly growing demand. This research, which applies novel methods to direct complex reactions towards specific structures, could be a potential game changer in manufacturing energy storage materials by enabling new methods that are energy-efficient, low-waste, and low-carbon.
Funding for the Andlinger Center grant for Innovative Research in Energy and the Environment was provided by: Addy/ISN North American Low Carbon Emission Energy Self-Sufficiency Fund; Gerhard R. Andlinger Innovation Fund; John E. Cross ’72 and Mary Tiffany Cross; de Carvalho-Heineken Family Fund for Environmental Studies; High Meadows Foundation’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment Director’s Fund; Lewis W. van Amerongen ’62 Fund for Energy Research; and anonymous gifts.
One Year Later
Energy Models Under Uncertainty
In the past year, the project, awarded to Christos Maravelias and his team in 2021, has: • Developed a programming model for long-term capacity planning to understand how uncertainty in cost reductions of emerging low carbon technologies affect carbon emissions. • Demonstrated how early investments in low carbon technologies lead to cost decreases. • Collected preliminary results illustrating that optimization models incorporating uncertainty lead to planning solutions with improved cost and emissions outcomes.
BioLEC renewal expands sustainable manufacturing research
Princeton University’s Energy Frontier Research Center, Bio-Inspired Light-Escalated Chemistry (BioLEC), received another four years of funding, totaling $12.6 million, from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Gregory Scholes, the William S. Tod Professor of Chemistry, established the center in 2018 in the Department of Chemistry with $10.75 million of DOE funding. BioLEC’s mission is to accelerate photoredox catalysis research for scalable applications in sustainable chemical manufacturing. Recent progress has already led to the discovery of new reactions, such as highly efficient routes to key manufacturing starting materials, and new spectroscopic techniques to observe photocatalytic reactions in unprecedented detail. With the new round of funding comes an exciting expansion, including adding both computational and X-ray spectroscopy capabilities. Princeton faculty include Paul Chirik, the Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Chemistry, Robert Knowles, professor of chemistry, and David MacMillan, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor.
Regional partnership helps plan for coastal adaptation
A Princeton team will model impacts from extreme heat and hurricane hazards for an ambitious regional partnership, the Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub (MACH). MACH aims to develop a robust, equitable, and replicable planning process that can guide climate resilience and adaptation decisionmaking in coastal communities around New Jersey, New York City, and Philadelphia. The research team at Princeton is led by Ning Lin, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and includes Michael Oppenheimer, the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs and the High Meadows Environmental Institute; and Guy Nordenson, professor of architecture and structural engineering. MACH, a five-year multiinstitutional project funded through NSF Coastlines and People Program and led by Rutgers University, brings together different disciplines and professions such as natural scientists, social scientists, civil engineers, coastal stakeholders, and key decisionmakers. Central to this effort is research examining the interplay between coastal climate hazards, landforms, and decision-making processes that shape policy choices. Richard Moss, Andlinger Center non-resident fellow, serves on MACH’s executive advisory board.
Co-founder Xiaofang Yang holds mechanically shredded batteries at the Princeton NuEnergy facility in Bordentown, N.J. (Photo by Bumper DeJesus)
Growing Startups at the Andlinger Center
Princeton NuEnergy has a novel, direct recycling process for lithium-ion batteries to produce battery materials. The startup was cofounded by four Princeton researchers: CEO Chao Yan, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; CTO Xiaofang Yang, a former associate research scholar in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; and technology advisors, Yiguang Ju, and Bruce Koel, professor of chemical and biological engineering. • Developed a less expensive and more sustainable way to make new battery materials from used cellphone, laptop, and electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries • Built a pilot plant to scale up production to help mitigate security and supply chain issues around importing from foreign sources key ingredients such as cobalt in lithium-ion battery cathodes Flux Marine builds zero-emissions, high-performance electric outboard boat motors. CEO Ben Sorkin, Class of 2017, and chief technology officer Jonathan Lord, Class of 2018, both graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton. • Raised $15.5MM to further marine electrification • Plans to expand the team and production capacity
HiT Nano Inc. develops low-cost, high-performance lithium-ion batteries and energy storage materials using novel high-temperature nanotechnologies and was founded by Yiguang Ju. • Awarded $75,000 in funding through N.J.’s Clean Tech Seed
Grant Program
