Green Electrochemical Research (GreEneR) Lab

is a research group led by Dr. Taeyoung Kim with a mission of developing innovative electrochemical separation technologies to address environmental challenges for a more sustainable environment.

Clarkson university

Photos: Student Center lawn (left), CAMP Atrium (middle), and CAMP building (right) at Clarkson University (link), Potsdam, NY (google map)

Research

Our research effort centers on electrochemical separation for water, food, and energy, which is a critical nexus for sustainable development (source: unwater.org - link).  We aim to electrify separation systems that can directly exploit renewable energy sources for the recovery of valuable resources from traditionally underexplored sources such as brackish groundwater, wastewater, and brines. In addition to freshwater, these sources contain nutrients and critical minerals for the production of fertilizer and batteries if recovered properly. Minimizing undesired byproducts and contaminants is necessary to improve sustainability and efficiency of separation processes. Example applications include water desalination, nutrient recovery, minimal liquid discharge, direct lithium extraction from brines, water softerning, and carbon dioxide capture. More information can be found in sponsored research projects (link) and published research articles (link).

Laboratory

Top left: GreenER lab (CAMP 294)

Top right: Potentiostat (VSP, BioLogic)

Middle left: Peristaltic pumps

Middle right: Custom-built and commercial bench-scale electrochemical cells

Bottom left: Redox-driven desalination device with a real-time conductivity monitoring system (source: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2022, 56, 7, 4477–4488 - link)

Bottom right: Redox flow desalination device powered by a solar simulator (source: ACS EST Engg. 2021, 1, 12, 1678–1687 - link)

& more: Muffle furnace, laser engraver cutting machine, centrifuge, orbital shaker, vacuum drying oven, conductivity & pH probes/meters, hot plates, fume hood, vacuum filtration systems, power supplies

Facilities

Center for Air and Aquatic Resources Engineering and Sciences (CAARES)

Inductively Coupled Plasma/Mass Spectrometry

Gravimetric Analysis

Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry

Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry

Ion Chromatography (cations & anions)

& more (link)

Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP)

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)

Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)

Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM)

Powder X-ray Diffractometer (XRD)

Particle Size Analysis

& more (link)

Machine shop

CNC milling machines and lathes

High-quality manual machines

& more (link)

makerspace

3D printers

Laser engravers

& more (link)