Highly-resolved microscopy shows how a polymer solution (orange) flows through a porous medium. Ultimately, the work will provide guiding principles for applications of polymer flows in groundwater remediation and enhanced oil recovery. Courtesy: Chris Browne, Datta Lab.
Over the next several decades, energy and environmental issues will be at the forefront of consideration for engineers and the society at large. We are researching effective and environmentally-friendly ways to enhance oil recovery, as well as routes toward alternative, sustainable energy sources via photovoltaics and the indirect conversion of sunlight into renewable biofuels. We are also researching solutions to environmental challenges like water remediation and the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.
We collaborate with the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, which is the center of a large effort on fusion energy, on the development of appropriate materials for plasma reactors (i.e. tokamaks). And we are currently investigating methods to remove CO2 from flue gases through the use of special high-temperature fuel cells.
Work in this area is frequently done in collaboration with the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, where CBE faculty have a strong presence at all levels of leadership and research. The Andlinger Center also has active research into the holistic integration and analysis of energy technologies and the impact of policy, economics and human behavior on their implementation.
Faculty
Metabolic Engineering; Synthetic Biology; Structural Biology and Protein Engineering; Systems Biology; Protein Biochemistry and Biophysics
Dynamics of Fluids and Flexible Solids; Interfacial Phenomena; Pattern Forming Instabilities; Dynamics of Living Systems
Plant-Microbe Interactions; Systems Biology; Microbiome; Bacterial Genetics; Synthetic Biology; Enzymology
Polymer Science and Engineering; Nanostructured and Liquid Crystalline Polymers; Engineering and Design of Hierarchical Materials; Additive Manufacturing
Theory and Simulation of Electrochemical Processes; Electrochemical Reaction and Transport Mechanisms; Dynamic Electrochemical Interfaces; Disordered Electrochemical Systems
Organic and Polymer Transistors and Solar Cells; Organic Semiconductors and Conducting Polymers; Self-Assembled Monolayers; Soft Lithography
Materials Synthesis; Solid-state Characterization; Advanced Spectroscopy; Catalysis
Process Systems Engineering; Modeling, Synthesis and Analysis of Renewable Energy Systems; Optimization Methods and Algorithms
Molecular simulation of fluids, materials and biological systems; Thermodynamic analysis of processes; Ionic liquids and their applications
Polymer Science and Engineering, Nanoscale Materials Characterization, Supramolecular Polymers, Healing and Responsive Materials, Polymeric Membranes
Polymer Chemistry, Physics, and Engineering; Nanoscience and Nanotechnology; Rheology
Computational Materials Discovery; High-throughput Quantum-chemical Modeling; Machine Learning for Solid-state and Nanoporous Energy Materials
Active Site Engineering; Kinetic, Synthetic and Theoretical Techniques; Reaction Mechanisms of Heterogeneous Catalysts
Granular and Multiphase Flow; Chemical Reactor Design, Stability, and Dynamics
Theory and simulation of soft/polymeric materials; computational materials design; multiscale simulation; machine-learning in molecular modeling
Associated Faculty
Clay Mineral Surface Geochemistry; Geologic Carbon Sequestration; Kinetic Isotope Effects in Aqueous Systems; Liquid Water at Interfaces
Batteries, Electrochemical Engineering, Separations, and X-ray Characterization
Water Energy Climate Nexus; Microbial Electrochemistry; Water and Wastewater Engineering; Decarbonization & Digitalization of Chemical and Environmental Sectors
Fluid Dynamics and Transport Processes; Complex Fluids; Colloidal Hydrodynamics; Microfluidics; Cellular-scale Hydrodynamics; Biofilms
Durability of Alkali-Activated Cements; Atomic and Nanoscale Morphology of Cementitious Materials; Reaction Kinetics of Cement Formation
