Bo Liu
Bio: Bo Liu is a Ph.D. candidate in Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, working with Professor Yuzhang Li. Her doctoral research investigates aqueous electrochemistry and the solid–liquid interphases that control stability in electrochemical energy-storage systems. She leverages cryogenic electron microscopy, along with complementary electrochemical characterization, to connect nanoscale interfacial structure with performance and lifetime, with work spanning zinc and lithium chemistries. She studies how water, ions, and byproducts reorganize at interfaces, driving corrosion and uneven metal growth. Bo earned an M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Zhejiang University in 2021, where she studied the design and modification of nanomaterials for high-energy lithium batteries. She has been recognized for the UCLA Dissertation Year Fellowship and was named an MIT ChemE Rising Star.
Postdoctoral research project: Engineering dual-function interphases on metal anodes for aqueous batteries. Aqueous metal batteries could offer low-cost, nonflammable storage for a renewable grid, but they often fail because water corrodes the metal anode, generates gas, and drives uneven metal buildup. Bo Liu will design dual-function surface coatings that act like selective skin: they keep water away from reactive surfaces while providing fast pathways for metal ions to deposit evenly. She will pursue three practical approaches: a one-step polymer coating made at the liquid–liquid interface, scalable boron nitride films with tunable wetting, and hybrid bilayers that combine a water-repelling layer with a water-trapping, ion-regulating overlayer. By linking coating structure to battery performance, this work aims to enable longer-lasting, higher-energy aqueous batteries and extend the design rules to other metals and chemistries for safer storage at scale.
Research focus: Energy Conversion & Storage - Batteries
Advisors: Steve Chu - Physics | Yan-Kai Tzeng - SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory