Developing efficient and low-cost technologies for energy conversion and storage is one of the most important scientific challenges today. The Lian group’s research program is focused on advancing the fundamental understanding of interfacial structure and dynamics that governs charge transport and energy conversion in these devices. These fundamental advances are essential to the rational improvement of existing approaches and the development of novel energy conversion concepts.
The Lian group develops and applies state-of-the-art ultrafast and nonlinear spectroscopy techniques for the study of these interfacial dynamics in situ under photocatalytic, photoelectrochemical and electrocatalytic conditions (see the Technique page for details). These techniques are applied in ongoing research projects ranging from fundamental exciton dynamics in model systems to photoelectrochemical water oxidation (see Research page for details)