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Research

Sponsors

  • U.S. National Science Foundation
  • U.S. Department of Energy
  • U.S. Army Research Laboratory
  • Duke Energy
  • Florida High Tech Corridor
  • Tennessee Valley Authority

Research Interests

  • Reactor design, modeling and testing for high-temperature thermochemical fuel production and energy storage (e.g., “solar fuels” and “solar electricity”)
  • Multiscale modeling of reaction-transport coupling in reactive materials, structures and solar reactors
  • Thermal-mechanical stress and creep-fatigue analysis for high-temperature solar receivers
  • Low-temperature thermal/thermochemical energy storage (TES/TCES) in buildings
  • Thermal management of high-power structures/devices (e.g., batteries, metal foams) and systems (e.g., electric vehicles, heat exchangers)
  • Lattice Boltzmann method for complex flows and heat mass transfer
  • Phase field-lattice Boltzmann method (PFM/LBM) for crystal/dendritic growth

  • PFM/LBM modeling of additive manufacturing processes

Current Projects

  1. Reactive Particle Based Thermochemical Energy Storage System for Concentrating Solar-thermal Power (TCES-CSP) (2024 – 2027)

    • Sponsor: Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO-22 Program)
    • Lead: University of Central Florida (L. Li)
    • Role: Lead PI
    • Team members: RedoxBlox Inc. , Oregon State University, University of Houston, Sandia National Laboratories
    • Amount: $3,879,669
  2. Light Trapping, Enclosed Planar-Cavity Receiver for Heating Particles to Enable Low-Cost Energy Storage and Chemical Processes (2022 – 2025)

    • Sponsor: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO-21 Program)
    • Collaboration with National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL, lead), Purdue University, Colorado School of Mines, University of Houston, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Alumina Energy, and King Saud University
    • Role: Co-PI; UCF PI
    • Amount: $3.75M for total project
  3. Electrically Heated Thermochemical Energy Storage for Long-Duration Storage and Grid Decarbonization (2024 – 2025)

    • Sponsor: Duke Energy and Florida High Tech Corridor
    • Role: PI
    • Amount: $75,000

Completed Projects

  1. Thermochemical Energy Storage Reactor Design and Demonstration to Accommodate Renewable Energy Intermittency (2023-2024)

    • Funding: Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), $150,000
    • Role: PI
  2. RII Track-4: Understanding Reaction-Transport Coupling in High-Temperature Thermochemical Energy Storage Systems (2021-2023)

    • Funding: U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), $168,062
    • Role: PI
  3. Solid-State Solar Thermochemical Fuel for Long Duration Storage (2020-2023)

    • Collaboration with Michigan State (lead), Oregon State, and Purdue University Northwest
    • Funding: Department of Energy (DOE) SETO-19 Program, $2.5 million total , $375,000 to MSU
    • Role: Co-PI; MSU PI
  4. Enhancing Particle-to-sCO2 Heat Exchanger Effectiveness through Novel High-porosity Metallic Foams (2021-2022)

    • Collaboration with Sandia National Labs and National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL)
    • Funding: Department of Energy (DOE) SETO-20 Program, $375,000 (MSU as lead)
    • Role: Co-PI
  5. Carbon Dioxide Shuttling Thermochemical Storage Using Strontium Carbonate (2014-2015)

    • Funding: DOE SunShot Initiative, $494,500
    • Role: Co-PI
  6. Dynamic Natural Convection-Passive Cooling for the LWR Fleet (2019-2021)

    • Collaboration with NuVision Engineering Inc.
    • Funding: Department of Energy (DOE), $3.75 million to NuVision Engineering total , $550,275 to MSU
    • Role: Co-PI
  7. Develop an Initial Welding-based AM Theoretical Constitutive Model Framework for Inconel 718 and 250 Maraging Steel (2020 – 2021)

    • Funding: U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), $250,064
    • Role: Co-PI
  8. Design of Additively Manufactured Metal-Foam Structures for Energy Storage in Buildings (2020 – 2021)

    • Funding: Mississippi State University (MSU) Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED), $2,000
    • Role: PI