Chong Liu

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles

chongliu@chem.ucla.edu

"Material-biology hybrids for the fixation of CO₂ and N₂ from solar energy"

Hybrid systems of inorganic materials and microorganisms take advantage of the benefits of biotic and abiotic moieties hence offer a viable solution of producing commodity chemicals with air, water, and sunlight. Yet the delivery of energy and reducing equivalents at the interface between material-biology interface is little understood with limited means of interfacial control. Here we discuss our group’s research efforts in the understanding and design of the material-biology interface for the fixation of CO₂ and N₂ from solar energy, combining a variety of characterization techniques including proteomics, metabolomics, and photophysical transient spectroscopy. Such multi-disciplinary research efforts yields a comprehensive perspective of the synergies between materials and biology.

Bio:

Chong Liu received his B.S. degree in Chemistry at Fudan University, China, under the supervision of Prof. Dongyuan Zhao for the synthesis of mesoporous materials. Under the supervision of Prof. Peidong Yang, he obtained his Ph. D. degree in Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. His Ph.D. thesis focuses on the development of artificial photosynthetic systems of nanowires with a variety of building blocks, including microorganisms, for solar-powered reactions of water-splitting and CO₂ fixation. He then worked at Harvard University under the supervision of Daniel Nocera as a Lee Kuan Yew postdoctoral fellow. At Harvard, Chong developed hybrid biological-inorganic systems, dubbed as the bionic leaf, for efficient fixation of CO₂ and N₂ powered by sustainable electricity. In 2017, Chong started his independent career as an assistant professor at UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry. His research group aims to employ electrochemical nanomaterials to create microscopic non-equilibrium systems for applications in chemistry and biology.