Prof. Won-Jin Kwak 

Assistant professor in School of Energy and Chemical Engineering
at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)

Address: Battery R&D Center (Bldg. 111 Rm. 401-1),
50 UNIST-gil, Eonyang-eup, Ulju-gun, Ulsan, 44919, Republic of Korea

Tel: +82-52-217-3038

Email: wjkwak@unist.ac.kr

ORCID: 0000-0002-9807-1434

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.kr/citations?user=I0lRS4MAAAAJ&hl=ko

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/won-jin-kwak-240618183/

CRIC's People: https://www.nric.or.kr/board/boardView/5613.do


Experience

• Assistant Professor, School of Energy and Chemical Engineering,
UNIST, Republic of Korea (2023 - Present)​
• Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry & Department of Energy Systems Research,
Ajou University, Republic of Korea (2020 - 2023)​

• Postdoctoral Research Associate (Advisor: Dr. Jason Zhang & Dr. Wu Xu),
PNNL, United States (2019-2020)

• Postdoctoral Fellow (Advisor: Prof. Yang-Kook Sun), ESCML,
Hanyang University, Republic of Korea (2018-2019)


Education​

• Ph.D. Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea (Feb 2018)

Department of Energy Engineering

Thesis title: Lithium halides as redox mediators for lithium oxygen batteries
(Advisor: Prof. Yang-Kook Sun)

• B.S. Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea (Feb 2012)

Department of Chemical Engineering

Research Interest

• Next Generation Batteries   • Electrolyte Design   • Battery Recycling   


Selected Publication
• "Reactive Oxygen Species Resistive Redox Mediator in Lithium-Oxygen Batteries"

Hyun-Wook Lee†, Jiwon Hwang†, Ja-Yeong Kim†, Myungsoo Choi, Haeun Choi, Hong-Bin Youn, Seoung-Tae Kim, Jee Ho Ha, Seok Ju Kang, Shuming Chen,* Sung-Eun Suh,* Won-Jin Kwak*.

Adv. Mater., 37, 2415805 (2025)
• "Control of electrolyte desolvation energy suppressing co-intercalation mechanism and organic electrode dissolution"

Ji-Hee Lee†, Youngoh Kim†, Hyun-Wook Lee†, Joo-Hyun Lee, Sechan Lee, Joonmyung Choi*, Won-Jin Kwak*.

ACS Nano, 19, 1371–1382 (2025)
• "Diluents Effect on Inhibiting Dissolution of Organic Electrode for Highly Reversible Li-ion Batteries"
 Hyun-Wook Lee†, Youngoh Kim†, Joo-Eun Kim, Ja-Yeong Kim, Jae-Yeon Jang, Joonmyung Choi*, Won-Jin Kwak*.
Adv. Energy Mater., 14, 2303033 (2024)
• "Acceleration of Singlet Oxygen Evolution by Superoxide Dismutase Mimetics in Lithium–Oxygen Batteries."
Joo-Eun Kim, Hyun-Wook Lee, Won-Jin Kwak*.
Adv. Funct. Mater., 32, 2209012 (2022).

• "Ambilaterality of RM towards 1O2 in Li-O2 batteries: trap and quencher."
Hyun-Wook Lee†, Hun Kim†, Hun-Gi Jung, Yang-Kook Sun*, Won-Jin Kwak*.
Adv. Funct. Mater., 31, 2102442 (2021).

• "Lithium-Oxygen Batteries and Related Systems: Potential, Status and Future."
Won-Jin Kwak†, Rosy† , Daniel Sharon, Chun Xia, Hun Kim, Lee R. Johnson, Peter G. Bruce*, Linda F. Nazar*, Yang-Kook Sun*, Aryeh A. Frimer, Malachi Noked, Stefan A. Freunberger, Doron Aurbach*.
Chem. Rev., 120, 6626 (2020).


Honors & Awards 

• 2023 : Emerging Researcher in Secondary Batteries, KECS (한국전기화학회 이차전지 신진연구자 선정)

• 2021-2023 : Outstanding Research Faculty, Ajou University (아주대학교 연구 우수 교수 선정)
• 2021 : Outstanding Teaching Faculty, Ajou University (아주대학교 교육 우수 교수 선정)

• 2020 : POSCO TJ Park Foundation Science Fellowship / Energy Materials (포스코 청암재단 사이언스 펠로십 선정 / 에너지소재)
• 2020 : The Best New Faculty Member (S Rank), Ajou University (아주대학교 최우수 신임교원 선정)
• 2018-2019 : Consecutively Selected as Outstanding Researcher, Hanyang University (제 1, 2회 한양대학교 우수연구자 연속 선정)


Professional Activities

• 2022~Present : Working Committee Member, Secondary Battery Division @ KECS (한국전기화학회 이차전지분과 실무위원)

• 2022~Present : Academic Director @ KOBS (한국전지학회 학술이사)

• 2024~Present : Academic Planning Secretary, Electrochemistry Division @ KSIEC (한국공업화학회 전기화학분과회 학술기획간사)

Peer Reviewer (alphabetical order)

• ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, ACS Energy Letters, ACS Nano, ACS Omega, Advanced Energy and Sustainability Research, Advanced Energy Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Materials, Advanced Science, Applied Surface Science, ChemElectroChem, Desalination, Electrochemistry Communications, Electrochimica Acta, International Journal of Energy Research, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Journal of Power Sources, Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Journal of the Korean Battery Society, Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering R, Materials Today Energy, Nano Energy, National Science Review, Nature Chemistry, Nature Communications, Small, Sustainable Energy & Fuels, The Journal of Physical Chemistry, Trend in Chemistry