The team won a DOE-sponsored national competition!
- Awards, Featured
Dr. Rahimi won prestigious 2024 NSF CAREER award!
- Featured, Team
We are pleased to announce that PI Rahimi has received the prestigious 2024 NSF CAREER Award. This award recognizes the teams’s significant contributions to research and education on electrochemical carbon capture. Read more here.
The team is featured in the Parameters spring 2024 issue!
- Research, Team
Our research was featured in the Spring 2024 issue of Parameters magazine. Our recent publications, awards, and federal grants were highlighted.
“As researchers around the world race against time to develop new strategies and technologies to fight climate change, a team of scientists at the University of Houston is exploring one possible way to directly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the environment: Negative emissions technologies (NETs).”
the full issue can be downloaded here.
Pooria’s paper on the supercapacitor electrodes is now published!
- Research
In collaboration with Prof. Lee at the Chemistry department, Pooria’s new paper is now published in the Materials Today Sustainability (click here). This paper, titled “Exploring the potential of transition-metal-based hollow micro- and nanoparticles in supercapacitor electrodes” discusses comprehensively analyzes the electrochemical performance of transition metal-based hollow micro- and nanoparticles, including transition metal oxides (TMOs), transition metal sulfides (TMSs), transition metal phosphides/phosphates (TMPs), and transition metal selenides (TMSes).
Ahmad’s paper is now published! A new amine blend for EMAR!
- Research
Ahmad’s new paper is now published in the Chemical Engineering Journal (click here). This paper, titled “Reviving the Absorbent Chemistry of Electrochemically Mediated Amine Regeneration for Improved Point Source Carbon Capture” discusses opportunities for blend amines to be used for electrochemical carbon capture processes. Abdelrahman, Prince, Mohsen, Elmira, and Yuanyuan served as the co-author.
oCVD thin film fabrication to Enhance the Perovskite Solar Cell Device Stability!
- Research
In a collaboration between Team Rahimi at UH and Dr. Heydari’s team at San Diego State University, an oCVD PEDOT-Cl thin film was fabricated with SbCl5 oxidant as the hole transport layer to effectively enhance the perovskite solar cell device stability. The article is published in the ACS Applied Energy Materials journal (click here).
Our Recent Achievements Highlighted in UH News!
- Research, Team
Our recent achievements, including winning the $25K Energy Innovation Competition, securing a DOE grant, and publishing a high-impact paper, have been featured in a UH News article. We are excited to continue our research on developing electrochemical processes for carbon capture. The article is available here.
Our Paper on eDOC Now Published in Energy & Environmental Science!
- Featured, Research
Our paper, focusing on the development of electrochemical processes for direct ocean capture (eDOC) of inorganic dissolved carbon from seawater, has been published in the Energy & Environmental Science journal. In this paper, we analyze various eDOC strategies, with a special emphasis on pH swing as the primary mechanism for removing dissolved inorganic carbon from the ocean. Additionally, we examine techno-economic challenges, including achieving industrially preferred current densities and reducing overall costs. The paper, titled “Direct Ocean Capture: The Emergence of Electrochemical Processes for Oceanic Carbon Removal,” is available here.
Ph.D. Students Prince and Ahmad at the joint TEX-E and MIT workshop!
- Activities, Team
The ECHO Team won the UH-Chevron $25K Energy Transition Innovation Challenge
- Awards, Featured
The ECHO team, comprising four doctoral students from the University of Houston’s environmental engineering program – Prince Aleta, Ahmad Hassan, Mohsen Afshari, and Abdelrahman Refaie – under the guidance of assistant professor Mim Rahimi, has achieved a significant milestone by winning the inaugural UH Energy Innovation Commercialization Competition. Their project, ECHO (Electrochemical CO2 Harvester from the Ocean), introduces an innovative electrochemical technique powered by renewable energy. This technology capitalizes on the ocean’s natural CO2 absorption capabilities to capture carbon dioxide in an efficient and sustainable manner.
The recognition of the ECHO team’s innovative work was featured at UH News, Energy Capital HTX, and Baytown Sun.
The team was awarded a DOE grant to develop eDOC!
- Awards, Research
The team has been awarded a grant by the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop electrochemical processes for direct ocean capture. We are set to develop modular and scalable electrochemical systems that will remove dissolved inorganic carbon from seawater, ultimately advancing negative emission technologies.
For more information, please visit the DOE’s website: Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management
New Team Member: Welcome Krish
- Team
We welcome a new team member, Krish, to our research group. Krish is currently a student at Cy-Fair High School. Krish has a long-standing interest in environmental issues, which has influenced his desire to focus on climate change mitigation. Specifically, he aims to contribute to advancements in CO2 capture technology. This aligns well with our ongoing projects and objectives.
Krish is also deeply committed to community service. He serves as the Co-Director of the Houston Food Bank Student Heroes program, leading various volunteer initiatives aimed at combating food insecurity and waste.
Welcome, Krish!
Electrochemical carbon capture processes is now published in Chemical Society Reviews!
- Featured, Research
The paper titled “Electrochemical carbon capture processes for mitigation of CO2 emissions” is now published in the Chemical Society Reviews Journal. In this paper, we described the emerging science and research progress underlying electrochemical carbon capture and storage (CCS) processes and assess their current maturity and trajectory. We also highlighted emerging ideas that are ripe for continued research and development, which will allow the impact of electrochemical CCS to be properly assessed in coming years! The paper can be accessed here.
The team welcomes a new postdoc; Elmira!
- Team
Elmira obtained her Ph.D. degree in Organic chemistry (2015-2020) and worked as a visiting scholar at the Department of Forest Biomaterial at North Carolina State University (2021). Elmira also got her Bachelor of Science in applied chemistry (2009) and Master of Science in Organic Chemistry (2013) from Azad University in Iran. She also worked as a Lab Supervisor and Lab Analyst at Forensic Medicine Laboratory in Iran (2013-2018).
The team welcomes two new Ph.D. students; Prince and Abdelrahman!
- Team
Prince Aleta joined the team as a new Ph.D. student. Before joining the team, Prince worked as an assistant professor for the Dept. of Chemical Engineering (ChE) at De La Salle University, Manila, and an instructor for the ChE Dept. at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila (2020–2021) in the Philippines. He holds a Master of Environmental Engineering from Korea University in South Korea and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Santo Tomas, Manila in the Philippines in 2015. Welcome, Prince!
The team also welcomes Abdelrahman Rafaie who joins the team as a new Ph.D. student. Abdelrahman has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Kuwait University. He received the Kuwait Excellence Scholarship to pursue his master’s degree. Welcome, Abdelrahman!
The team welcomes two new members; Mohsen and Cyndi!
- Team
Mohsen Afshari joined the team as a new Ph.D. student. Mohsen holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Arkansas (2022) and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Tehran in Iran. Welcome, Mohsen!
The team also welcomes Cyndi Liang, a volunteer student from Dulles High School. Welcome, Cyndi!
Dr. Rahimi was an invited guest of UH Engineering podcast series!
- Featured, Research
In this episode, one of the Marine Energy Collegiate Competition (MECC) team leads, Akash Doshi, discusses with Dr. Mim Rahimi about carbon capture. Dr. Rahimi explains how carbon capture works, what his lab is doing to work on the problem, and how every single one of us can help. Click here to listen to the podcast!
Redox-active amine for carbon capture is now published in JACS!
- Research
The paper titled “Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Capture and Release with a Redox-Active Amine” is now published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS). In this research paper, we developed a redox-active amine that can be effectively used for a wide range of carbon capture, including direct air capture! The paper can be accessed here.
Ahmad joined the team as a new Ph.D. student!
- Team
Ahmad Hassan joined the team as a new Ph.D. student. Ahmad earned a master’s and bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore (UET). Ahmad is a recipient of The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan scholarship to pursue his graduate program. Welcome, Ahmad!
A new course on electrochemistry, Spring 2022!
- Featured
SPRING 2022: The new course Electrochemical Engineering: Fundamentals and Applications introduces students to the growing field of electrochemistry and applications of electrochemical techniques and principles to various engineering and science fields. The overall goal of the course is to enable students to adapt electrochemistry as a powerful tool to investigate a wide range of systems. Below, please find the course flyer. A detailed syllabus will be uploaded to the UH educational website. Please reach out to Mim Rahimi ([email protected]) with further questions.
Click on the flyer to see a high-resolution picture.