Lian, Keryn K.

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Keryn K. Lian | BSc (Tongji), MSc (Calgary), PhD (Toronto)
Professor

Office: MB 212A
T: 416.978.8631
E: keryn.lian@utoronto.ca

Research Group: Flexible Energy & Electronics (FEE) Laboratory

 

Research Areas

Electrochemical energy storage materials, devices, and hybrid systems

The electrochemical capacitor (EC) is an important energy storage technology for high power and fast energy deliveries. Our research in solid-state EC covers biomass carbon electrodes, surface modifications of nano and activated carbon electrodes, solid polymer electrolytes development, and solid EC cell assembly and characterizations.

In terms of electrodes, we are focusing on chemical modifications of porous and nonporous carbon materials to add pseudocapacitance for enhanced energy density and conductivity. As for electrolytes, we are investigating polymer proton-conducting, hydroxide ion-conducting and neutral pH electrolytes for ECs. These solid polymer electrolytes can greatly improve the volume energy and power density with enhanced safety and flexibility and very thin form factors. The thin solid cells are combined with batteries or solar cells to form hybrid or self-powered energy devices for prolonged fast energy delivery and for powering future printed flexible and wearable electronic devices such as sensors and internet of things (IOT).

Printed Organic Memories

Printed large-area flexible electronics could drastically change the future electronics surrounding our daily lives. We are partnering with government research labs to develop highly efficient low power printed organic field effect transistors (OFETs) and enabling their applications in various integrated and wearable sensors.

Research Clusters

Keryn Lian is Professor and the Director of Flexible Electronics and Energy Lab at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Toronto. She graduated in polymer Materials Engineering from Shanghai Tongji University, obtained her M.Sc in Electrochemistry from the University of Calgary, and PhD in Materials Science from the University of Toronto. Professor Lian’s research interest is on novel materials to enable light‐weight, thin, and flexible solid energy storage and electronic technologies. Her group has been developing advanced biomass carbon materials, pseudocapacitive materials to modify carbon electrodes, high-performance proton‐conducting, hydroxide ion‐conducting neutral‐salt and ionic liquid conducting polymer electrolytes as well as their applications in supercapacitors and other flexible electronics and devices.

Prior to UofT, Dr. Lian was a distinguished member of the technical staff and Manager at Motorola Labs, where she conducted and led research in energy storage, RF‐Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), microfluidics with advanced printed wiring board (PWB) technologies. She has published over 115 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings and holds 35 US patents. She is an editorial board member of ACS Applied Energy Materials, a member of the Education  Committee of the Electrochemical Society (ECS) and a board member of the International Academy of Electrochemical Energy Science (IAOEES).

Professional Memberships: 

  • Electrochemical Society
  • International Society of Electrochemistry
  • International Academy of Electrochemical Energy Science (board member)


Link to Google Scholar

Select Publications: 

  • N’Diaye, M.Elshazly, K.Lian “Unravelling Synergistic Redox Interactions in Tetraphenylporphyrin-Polyluminol-CNT Composite for Capacitive Charge Storage", ACS Applied Materials&Interfaces, 14 (24), 28359-28369, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c04882
  • Virya and K.Lian, “A Review of Neutral pH Polymer Electrolytes for Electrochemical Capacitors: Transitioning from Liquid to Solid Devices”, Materials Reports: Energy, 2021, 1, 100005 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matre.2020.12.002
  • N’Diaye, S. Siddiqui, K.Pak and K.Lian, “Layer-by-Layer Assembly of Inorganic-Organic Molybdovanadogermanic (GeMoV)-Polyluminol Composite Electrodes for Capacitive Charge Storage”, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 8, 23463-23472, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0TA04954A
  • Virya, J. Abella, A. Grindal, and K. Lian, "Na2SO4-Polyacrylamide Electrolytes and Enabled Solid-State Electrochemical Capacitors", Batteries and Supercaps, 3(2), 194-200, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/batt.201900127
  • Li, J.Qiao and K.Lian, “Hydroxide Conducting Polymer Electrolytes and Their Applications in Solid Supercapacitors: A Review”, Energy Storage Materials, 24, 6-21, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ensm.2019.08.012
  • Wu, M.Genovese, K.Ton, and K.Lian, “A comparative study of activated carbons from liquid to solid polymer electrolytes for electrochemical capacitors”, J.Electrochemical. Soc., 166 (6), A821-A828 2019, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/2.0141906jes
  • Li, H.Gao, J.R. Miller, R.A Outlaw, S. Butler, K. Lian, “Study of Solid Alkaline Electrolyte under High Temperatures and Its Application in Electrochemical Capacitors for AC Line-Filtering”, Journal of Power Sources, 417, 145-149, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2019.02.019
  • Genovese, H.Wu, A.Virya, J.Li, P.Shen and K. Lian, “Ultrathin all-solid-state supercapacitor devices based on chitosan activated carbon electrodes and polymer electrolytes”, Electrochimica Acta, 273, 392-401, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2018.04.061
  • Genovese and K.Lian, “Polyoxometalate Modified Pine Cone Biochar Carbon for Supercapacitor Electrodes”, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 5, 3939-3947  2017, https://doi.org/10.1039/C6TA10382K
  • Gao, A. Virya and K. Lian, "Proton conducting H5BW12O40 electrolyte for solid supercapacitors", J. Materials Chemistry A. 3(43), 21511-21517, 2015. 10.1039/C5TA06685A (doi.org)

MSE244: Inorganic Materials Chemistry & Processing