The Manthiram Lab has moved to Caltech!
NEWS
Today we have our visiting student Gangsan Lee taking the group through x-ray scattering!
SAXS, WAXS, GISAXS, other-AXS... we got it all ☢️
#FundamentalsFriday
We fully expect you to be an inorganic chemist now, @racheljbaker17!
Only metals from here on out! 🪙🤘




Here’s to another amazing @GordonConf! Safe to say I learned a lot about inorganic reaction mechanisms, and can’t wait to try some of the ideas I heard. Thanks again to @JenLoveChem, @TNTchemprof and @lucie_nurdin for an excellent GRC and GRS! @js_zeng
A belated congratulations to Joseph Maalouf (@jmaalouf23) for a successful PhD defense!
🙌🥳
Happy #InternationalWomensDay, folks!
In the Manthiram Lab, we celebrate the amazing work done by our women in science/engineering, pushing the forefront of decarbonization for a sustainable world! 🥳🙌
Group Boba / Dinner outing to celebrate our graduate student @chung_minju visiting us from the MIT cohort!
Minju is in town for the GRC/GRS on Nanomaterials for Applications in Energy Technology 🙌
This has been a great opportunity to have quick, informative mini 1-on-1 and group discussions w/ our PI!
Certainly has increased the amount of whiteboarding sessions
On my 1st day as a new faculty in 2017, I was excited to have my own office.
Little did I realize that having my own office would drive my intellectual isolation.
I now spend more time sitting at a desk in the student office, happier surrounded by my students.
In today's #FundamentalsFriday, Florian takes us through how to get started with 3D printing for rapid prototyping and E-chem cell design!
In today's #FundamentalsFriday, Joseph Maalouf (@jmaalouf23) is walking the group thru how to run DFT calcs using Caltech's clusters!
🤖📈💻
A few of our lab mates caught a recent taping of @Jeopardy!
Our heads aren't just full of chemistry/chemical engineering knowledge! We also know other things 😎
Its another #FundamentalsFriday today!
Today Chenyu and Channing are walking us thru the basics of Adobe Illustrator. Cool graphs are incoming 😎
Congratulations to our postdoc @dubose_jeff for being awarded the Resnick Pioneer Postdoc Fellowship!
This support will aid in his work on Interrogating Electrode-Microbe Interfaces for Sustainable Bio-electrocatalysis.
Honored to announce that I've been selected as the 2023 Resnick Pioneer Postdoc Fellow at @Caltech!
Thanks to @caltechRSI and @KManthiram for the support!
https://resnick.sites.caltech.edu/programs/fellowships/pioneer-postdoctoral-fellowship
Group birthday celebration (and cupcakes) for all!
🧁
Happy combined über-birthday to the group, and to one unnamed Manthiram Lab member in particular 😉
Electrochemical reductive aminations (ERAs) typically occur thru catalyst non-specific outer-sphere reactions. Our latest @ChemCatalysis paper demonstrates ERA with NH3 occurring via an inner-sphere mechanism, opening the door for catalyst engineering.
https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1gSTE9URZ7jo87
Solvent choice influences many parameters in electrocatalytic reactions, but which solvent characteristic controls selectivity? Our latest @J_A_C_S paper shows a solvent's propensity to deprotonate can dictate its electrocarboxylation selectivity. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.2c10561
Check out our publication in @J_A_C_S to find out how solvent affects selectivity in electrochemical carboxylation reactions! So grateful to work with such an amazing team on this @ManthiramLab @KManthiram @JunorGlen @thu_ton_2 @CaltechCCE and Nathan!
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.2c10561
.@kjsteinb @XintongYuan @YuzhangLi @KManthiram and colleagues @manthiramlab use cryo-TEM to investigate Li-mediated ammonia synthesis, finding that the proton donor is the key determinant of Li reactivity. https://go.nature.com/3GQvQuT
While finishing my PhD and preparing to move for my postdoc, Nate brought up to me his ideas about this reaction. We had many late-night talks about how explore it. I learned a lot working with Nate, @thu_ton_2, @racheljbaker17, and @KManthiram on this!
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.2c10561#.Y73NPKevsJM.twitter
Congratulations to our postdoc @dubose_jeff for receiving the Gerhard Closs Student award from the Inter-American Photochemical Society!
Hope you enjoyed sunny Florida 🌴😎


Award talk complete at I-APS!
Thanks to the organizers for the opportunity to speak on nanocrystal-molecular energy/electron transfers 🙌
#IAPS #GlowyThings
Our cool 🥶 new results using cryo-electron microscopy to probe the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) in lithium-mediated nitrogen reduction now out in @NatureEnergyJnl!
Congrats to authors @kjsteinb & @XintongYuan and our collaborator @YuzhangLi
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-022-01177-5
Li metal and its SEI are ubiquitous in batteries, but what are their roles in ammonia production? In collaboration with the @ManthiramLab, our group's latest work in @NatureEnergyJnl uses cryo-EM to show how the SEI must be disrupted to enable reactivity. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-022-01177-5
That's a 'wrap' on the Manthiram Holiday Party!
Sushi, Secret Santa, and our awesome group members made for a splendid time 🥳🥳
Come see @chung_minju 's talk at AIChE on Thursday at 9am!
Learn about amazing work on designing catalysts for olefin epoxidation!
Congratulations to @chung_minju and the awardees!
Small correction: Minju is at MIT

The Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division is proud to announce the 2022 cohort of graduate students honored with the AIChE CRE travel award for their excellence in research.
Congratulations to our 2022 graduate student researcher awardees!🎉
Did I mention I'm transforming oxygen? See it live today in room N-127B at 3:48 PM!
A must-see poster at AIChE: our awesome postdoc Jason Adams.
Come hear about the amazing work the future Adams Lab will undertake!

Check out my poster today at AICHE (North Hall E, Poster #241 from 1:00-3:00 PM). I'm ready to electrify and decarbonize the crap out of chemical manufacturing!
Stop by and check out my two talks and poster at #AIChE! One talk will be on electrochemical fuel ionic liquids, and the other will be on previous research with @ManthiramLab at the Echem Faculty Session. The poster will be on future ideas in the Faculty Poster Session.
So excited to join the faculty next year! https://twitter.com/QueensEngineer/status/1591163147003592714


Rachel Baker (@racheljbaker17), Sc’17, will begin her term next year as Robins Family Professor of Engineering Chemistry, a professorship endowed by DavosPharma founder and Kingston native Barry Robins, Sc’64, and his family.
https://engineering.queensu.ca/news/2022/10/Rachel-Baker-to-commence-inaugural-Robins-Family-Professorship-of-Engineering-Chemistry-in-2023.html
Hi everyone! I will be presenting two talks at #AIChE. One talk will be on modeling BPM structure-property relationships, and the second is on their application in carbon capture! My mentee, Kaitlin Corpus, will also give a poster on our Tafel analysis work with @ManthiramLab!
Be on the lookout for our very own Dr. Jason Adams at the AIChE postdoc candidates poster session!
@ChEnected
We know you'll be very impressed!

Come check out my poster at AIChE 2022. I'm excited to chat about Mediators, Mechanisms, and Machines of science!
Amazing news for our postdoc Rachel 🙌🥳
Congratulations on your return to Queens University as the Robins Family Professor!

I am so incredibly thrilled to be returning to the Department of Chemical Engineering at Queen's University in 2023, now as an Assistant Professor! I look forward to being involved with the Engineering Chemistry program once again @queensu @QueensEngineer https://engineering.queensu.ca/news/2022/10/Rachel-Baker-to-commence-inaugural-Robins-Family-Professorship-of-Engineering-Chemistry-in-2023.html
October in Pasadena is perfect weather for group hikes!
We had a great time diving into Eaton Canyon Falls over the weekend (and diving into great Thai food after😊).
Virtual info session for @MemDrexel MS and PhD programs on Nov 19. Grad app fees waived for registered attendees. See ad for info https://www.linkedin.com/posts/drexel-university-mechanical-engineering-mechanics_drexeluniversity-mechanicalengineering-graduateprograms-activity-6988929658402566144-qbPc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios
Fantastic talk @KManthiram at the 100th Solvay conference: love how he’s going after hard problems in catalysis.
Incredibly excited to announce the publication of my latest co-first author MS, an exciting collaboration with Kosta Petrov from @EFSlab in @SusEnergyRSC on using internal microchannels in anion exchange membranes to manage water transport in CO2R! https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/se/d2se00858k (1/n)
Thanks everyone! This is a recognition of contributions of researchers and collaborators. Thanks to @UNDResearch @NDscience @NDCBE @NotreDameEnergy @NDnano and @doescience for their continued support https://twitter.com/ejmaginn/status/1580197129728839681
Wow! It is great to have a @NotreDame colleague like @KamatlabND who is having such a major impact on chemistry! Prashant Kamat Ranked in Top 50 World Chemists https://research.nd.edu/news-and-events/news/prashant-kamat-ranked-in-top-50-world-chemists/
Li-mediated nitrogen reduction has seen enormous leaps in efficiency and current densities. @radicalchem's paper in @Joule_CP summarizes insights from Chorkendorff, Nørskov and co-workers @DTUtweet on how to control interfaces for N2 reduction.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2542435122004196
Manthiram Lab postdoc power 💪
Thanks to @JasonSAdams for leading our #FundamentalsFriday today.
@racheljbaker17 @wesleykchang @Chenically @dubose_jeff
Progressing towards sustainable olefin epoxidation! Making electrophilic oxygen species while avoiding clusters or hydroxides that are active toward competing OER was the key to success. https://twitter.com/ManthiramLab/status/1576935108111609856
Galvanic replacement for mild oxidation of MnOx! Our latest paper by @chung_minju and @ksjinerg et al. in @J_A_C_S demonstrates how electrochemical alkene epoxidation can be improved by tuning single atoms on MnOx nanoparticles.
#electrocatalysis
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.2c04711
Galvanic replacement for mild oxidation of MnOx! Our latest paper by @chung_minju and @ksjinerg et al. in @J_A_C_S demonstrates how electrochemical alkene epoxidation can be improved by tuning single atoms on MnOx nanoparticles.
#electrocatalysis
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.2c04711
Meet Haochen (@Chenically)! He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University, developing efficient electrocatalysts for CO2/CO reduction and alkane activation employing kinetics, DFT calculations, and spectroscopy under the supervision of Professor Qi Lu
Very honored to have written a preview for the Chorkendorff lab's excellent work on sustainable ammonia synthesis in the most recent issue of @Joule_CP, now online! Thanks to @KManthiram and @Joule_CP for the opportunity.
Read here: https://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(22)00419-6
Check out our newest paper in @ACSEnergyLett! @ZJSchiffer et al. report on the use of ammonium formate as a safe, solid energy carrier, achieving excellent faradaic efficiencies at both the anode and cathode.
#ionicliquid
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsenergylett.2c01826
That’s a wrap for the Echem GRC! Such an amazing experience representing the @ManthiramLab with @js_zeng and of course the wonderful @KManthiram! Looking forward to 2024 already! @GordonConf
Introducing… Jeff DuBose! Our newest postdoc did his PhD with @KamatlabND, where he utilized spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques to probe photocatalytic and photovoltaic materials.
@dubose_jeff
Members of @KManthiram lab demonstrate an electrochemical cell that decomposes ammonium formate at 105 °C, where it is an ionic liquid. Here, hydrogen evolves at the cathode and formate oxidizes at the anode, both with ca. 100% Faradaic efficiency. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsenergylett.2c01826#.YxefaDzXOtA.twitter
New and super-exciting series of the Electrochemical Colloquium is upcoming!
No registration. Free attendance. Pure science. Focus on education. Outstanding experts. Enjoy!
Schedule is 👇
Add all events to a calendar:
https://electrochemicalcolloquium.com/add-events
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxmfY6yoJvcLVDh959agSqQ?sub_confirmation=1
Normally we put the *fun* in #fundamentalsfriday by discussing basic science, but last week we went for fun in the sun instead☀️
We're very proud of our CamSURF summer undergrad Erin McMurchie for doing so well at Caltech Summer Seminar Day! She knocked it out of the park and enthralled her audience. Her hard work this summer has been inspiring and we're all excited to see what her future has in store!
Hi everyone! I’ll be giving two oral talks at #ACSChicago tomorrow!! Really excited to share this work in collaboration with @ManthiramLab and some other work I’ve been pursuing as part of @LiSA_Hub_DOE. Would love to see you there!
Finishing up introducing our current research group, we want to highlight our summer undergrad, Erin McMurchie! Erin is a 4th year undergraduate at the University of Cambridge with interests in renewable energy generation and sustainable fuels.
This is a very late welcome, but we’re thrilled to have James Wang @jamesbwang1 join our group! James is a rising second-year in chemical engineering @CaltechCCE and comes to us with experience in both industry and academia.
We’re so excited to welcome Jason Adams @JasonSAdams to the group as a postdoc! During his PhD, Jason performed thorough studies on the rate and selectivity of oxygen reduction to H2O2 over noble metal nanoparticles under different conditions.
The group has been growing at a rapid pace, so many intros coming over the next week! First off, we're thrilled to welcome Wesley Chang @wesleykchang to the group. Wes comes from the @steingart lab, where he worked on lithium metal batteries for his PhD.
Looking forward to being a part of this excellent department, and to doing science together! I'll be looking for a few PhD students and a Postdoc to help startup my battery research lab. Join us 🙂 https://lnkd.in/gqbP9maJ
We surprised our amazing PI @KManthiram with some presents for his incoming little one! Best of luck to you and @AmritaSaigal, Karthish - you'll be fantastic parents ⚡️
We are so excited to welcome the two newest members of our group, MS student Florian Grass @florian_grass and postdoc Rachel Baker @racheljbaker17!!
Huge congrats to Aditya Limaye @adityal on successfully defending his thesis, “Physical Models and Statistical Methods for Understanding Electrochemical Kinetics"! We were incredibly fortunate to have him in the group and are excited to follow what is sure to be a stellar career.
Thrilled to have you here!

Unreal first few days as a postdoc @Caltech 😊 @ManthiramLab @CaltechCCE
Highlighting a very important member of our lab today: Dr. Pikachu (accompanied by Thu @thu_ton_2, a shining first-year star in our lab)
Just 1 week to go for our upcoming CRE webinar organized jointly with @aicheypc! Register NOW to learn more about @KManthiram's work in #electrification and #decarbonization of chemical synthesis! @ManthiramLab @CaltechCCE @Caltech
https://aiche.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_c-uA7JqGSGeMXLu8oLXCrw
New preprint up at @ChemRxiv! @kjsteinb et al. (in collab w/ amazing group of @YuzhangLi at @UclaCBE) used a variety of surface techniques - most notably cryo-EM - to probe the mechanism of electrochemical nitrogen reduction to ammonia using lithium.
Pictured: our group all smiles after meeting so many fantastic prospective students! We’d say recruitment day round 2 with @CaltechCCE was a rousing success 🔥
We're rocking the first in-person recruitment day since 2019 at @CaltechCCE! Fantastic to meet so many talented prospective students🤩 #ComeForTheWeatherStayForTheScience
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
Karthish (PI): 626-395-3140 / karthish@caltech.edu / Spalding 225
Martha (Admin): 626-395-2423 / martha@cheme.caltech.edu / Spalding 208
Caltech | Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering