Ongoing demands to reduce anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have driven the chemical manufacturing industry toward more sustainable energy and materials utilization through electrification. To this end, electrochemical technologies offer several advantages, including direct compatibility with renewable electricity, mild reaction conditions, improved process safety, and distributed manufacturing. Indeed, electrochemical processes are responsible for several commodity (e.g., chlorine, adiponitrile) and specialty chemicals (e.g., pharmaceuticals), and the promise of sustainable electrosynthesis has fostered a renaissance in organic electrochemistry and catalysis, offering a myriad of pathways to valuable products. However, many leading-edge developments in organic electrosynthesis are performed only at batch scales in small quantities; while valuable for establishing new reaction pathways, such reactor formats do not scale effectively, providing an incomplete picture of their industrial viability. In pursuit of these challenges, we are building upon existing electrochemical engineering knowledge to expand the versatility and scalability of electrosynthetic platforms and advance new modalities for intensifying electrochemical manufacturing.

Our work aims to enable industrial electrification by (1) expanding electrochemical pathways for sustainable feedstocks (e.g., biomass, waste), (2) advancing grid-scale energy storage systems, and (3) scaling electrochemical analogues for existing thermochemical products. Research in our group leverages reactor prototyping, electroanalysis, mathematical modeling, and materials engineering to deliver practical electrochemical technologies.