{"id":69,"date":"2026-03-23T11:17:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T15:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mae.ucf.edu\/TESD\/?page_id=69"},"modified":"2026-03-25T10:30:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T14:30:58","slug":"research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mae.ucf.edu\/TESD\/research\/","title":{"rendered":"Research"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Sponsors<\/h2>\n
    \n
  • U.S. National Science Foundation<\/li>\n
  • U.S. Department of Energy<\/li>\n
  • U.S. Army Research Laboratory<\/li>\n
  • Duke Energy<\/li>\n
  • Florida High Tech Corridor<\/li>\n
  • Tennessee Valley Authority<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    \n
    \n \n <\/div>\n
    \n \n <\/div>\n
    \n \n <\/div>\n
    \n \n <\/div>\n
    \n \n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n
    \n
    \n

    Research Interests<\/h2>\n
      \n
    • Reactor design, modeling and testing for high-temperature thermochemical fuel production and energy storage (e.g., \u201csolar fuels\u201d and \u201csolar electricity\u201d)<\/li>\n
    • Multiscale modeling of reaction-transport coupling in reactive materials, structures and solar reactors<\/li>\n
    • Thermal-mechanical stress and creep-fatigue analysis for high-temperature solar receivers<\/li>\n
    • Low-temperature thermal\/thermochemical energy storage (TES\/TCES) in buildings<\/li>\n
    • Thermal management of high-power structures\/devices (e.g., batteries, metal foams) and systems (e.g., electric vehicles, heat exchangers)<\/li>\n
    • Lattice Boltzmann method for complex flows and heat mass transfer<\/li>\n
    • Phase field-lattice Boltzmann method (PFM\/LBM) for crystal\/dendritic growth<\/li>\n
    • <\/li>\n

      PFM\/LBM modeling of additive manufacturing processes<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/section>\n

      \n
      \n

      Current Projects<\/h2>\n
        \n
      1. \n Reactive Particle Based Thermochemical Energy Storage System for Concentrating Solar-thermal Power (TCES-CSP) (2024 – 2027)<\/b><\/p>\n
          \n
        • Sponsor: Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO-22 Program)<\/b><\/li>\n
        • Lead: University of Central Florida (L. Li)<\/li>\n
        • Role: Lead PI<\/li>\n
        • Team members: RedoxBlox Inc. , Oregon State University, University of Houston, Sandia National Laboratories<\/li>\n
        • Amount: $3,879,669<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
        • \n Light Trapping, Enclosed Planar-Cavity Receiver for Heating Particles to Enable Low-Cost Energy Storage and Chemical Processes (2022 – 2025)<\/b><\/p>\n
            \n
          • Sponsor: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO-21 Program)<\/b><\/li>\n
          • 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<\/li>\n
          • Role: Co-PI; UCF PI<\/li>\n
          • Amount: $3.75M for total project<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
          • \n Electrically Heated Thermochemical Energy Storage for Long-Duration Storage and Grid Decarbonization (2024 – 2025)<\/b><\/p>\n
              \n
            • Sponsor: Duke Energy<\/b> and Florida High Tech Corridor<\/b><\/li>\n
            • Role: PI<\/li>\n
            • Amount: $75,000<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              Completed Projects<\/h2>\n
                \n
              1. \n Thermochemical Energy Storage Reactor Design and Demonstration to Accommodate Renewable Energy Intermittency (2023-2024)<\/b><\/p>\n
                  \n
                • Funding: Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)<\/b>, $150,000<\/li>\n
                • Role: PI<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                • \n RII Track-4: Understanding Reaction-Transport Coupling in High-Temperature Thermochemical Energy Storage Systems (2021-2023)<\/b><\/p>\n
                    \n
                  • Funding: U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)<\/b>, $168,062<\/li>\n
                  • Role: PI<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                  • \n Solid-State Solar Thermochemical Fuel for Long Duration Storage (2020-2023)<\/b><\/p>\n
                      \n
                    • Collaboration with Michigan State (lead), Oregon State, and Purdue University Northwest<\/li>\n
                    • Funding: Department of Energy (DOE) SETO-19 Program<\/b>, $2.5 million total , $375,000 to MSU<\/li>\n
                    • Role: Co-PI; MSU PI<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                    • \n Enhancing Particle-to-sCO2 Heat Exchanger Effectiveness through Novel High-porosity Metallic Foams (2021-2022)<\/b><\/p>\n
                        \n
                      • Collaboration with Sandia National Labs and National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL)<\/li>\n
                      • Funding: Department of Energy (DOE) SETO-20 Program<\/b>, $375,000 (MSU as lead)<\/li>\n
                      • Role: Co-PI<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                      • \n Carbon Dioxide Shuttling Thermochemical Storage Using Strontium Carbonate (2014-2015)<\/b><\/p>\n
                          \n
                        • Funding: DOE SunShot Initiative, $494,500<\/li>\n
                        • Role: Co-PI<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                        • \n Dynamic Natural Convection-Passive Cooling for the LWR Fleet (2019-2021)<\/b><\/p>\n
                            \n
                          • Collaboration with NuVision Engineering Inc.<\/li>\n
                          • Funding: Department of Energy (DOE), $3.75 million to NuVision Engineering total , $550,275 to MSU<\/li>\n
                          • Role: Co-PI<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                          • \n Develop an Initial Welding-based AM Theoretical Constitutive Model Framework for Inconel 718 and 250 Maraging Steel (2020 \u2013 2021)<\/b><\/p>\n
                              \n
                            • Funding: U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), $250,064<\/li>\n
                            • Role: Co-PI<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                            • \n Design of Additively Manufactured Metal-Foam Structures for Energy Storage in Buildings (2020 – 2021)<\/b><\/p>\n
                                \n
                              • Funding: Mississippi State University (MSU) Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED), $2,000<\/li>\n
                              • Role: PI<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol><\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"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., \u201csolar fuels\u201d and \u201csolar electricity\u201d) Multiscale modeling of reaction-transport coupling in reactive materials, structures and solar reactors…","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-fullscreen.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-69","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mae.ucf.edu\/TESD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/69","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mae.ucf.edu\/TESD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mae.ucf.edu\/TESD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mae.ucf.edu\/TESD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mae.ucf.edu\/TESD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mae.ucf.edu\/TESD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/69\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123,"href":"https:\/\/mae.ucf.edu\/TESD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/69\/revisions\/123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mae.ucf.edu\/TESD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}