Faculty Directory

Lee, Sang Bok

Lee, Sang Bok

Associate Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Director, MD Nanocenter
Materials Science and Engineering
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Maryland Energy Innovation Institute
0107 Chemistry Building

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Seoul National University, 1997

Recently, supercapacitors have received growing interest as an complementary energy-storage device and a small scale power system for mobile electronics with the rapid advance of high-performance electronic devices.

Conductive polymers and transition metal oxides are promising materials for the redox supercapacitor because they can be readily converted between oxidized and reduced states by the switch of the applied potential. This conversion process involves charging/discharging (or doping/dedoping) of counter-ions to keep electro-neutrality in the materials, which is a fundamental character for a capacitor. Because the mass transfer of counter ions is necessary, however, this charging/discharging is too slow to provide required high power. This results in an inefficient utilization of the electroactive material, that is, loss of usable energy.

The hollow nanotubular structures can provide a solution for fast charge/discharge with their intrinsic structural characteristics. The thin nature of the nanotube wall enables the rapid redox process of conductive polymer by providing short diffusion distance to the counter-ions in the nanotubes (as well as in bulk solution). Furthermore, long nanotubes can provide high mass-loading for enough energy density.

We investigate the supercapacitive electrochemical properties of the nanotube arrays with various materials such as conductive polymer (e.g. PEDOT and polypyrole) and metal oxide (e.g. MnO2 and RuO2). The micron-long, thin-walled nanotubular structures will allow the full usage of deposited materials even at fast charge/discharge rate and enable us to accomplish a supercapacitor with high power density and high energy density. The nanostructures are synthesized by electrochemical method rather than chemical one to provide higher conductivity.

Electrochemical synthesis of nanotube-structured materials for ultrafast electrochromics, supercapacitors, and solar cells; magnetic nanotubes for targeted drug delivery and chemical/biochemical separation; shape-coded nanotubes for dispersible nanosensors; properties of pseudo-1-dimensional silica nanotubes; chemical and biochemical sensors.

UMD Research Team Advances the Battery Revolution

Solid state energy storage research receives $2.25M in DOE funding.

UMD Faculty Members to Lead U.S. Side of $18.4M U.S.-Israel Energy Center Project

Project will develop lithium and sodium metal solid-state-batteries for advanced energy storage applications.

Department of Energy renews NEES EFRC for four years

The center develops highly ordered nanostructures that offer a unique way of looking at the science of energy storage.

"Pseudo Inverse Opal" Particle Boosts Plastics Production

Three-dimensional reaction engineering results in high output, less waste.

UMERC/Nanocenter Team Named "Energy Frontier" Center

Cross-campus team works to improves electrical storage technologies.

ResearchFest 2009 Winners Announced

Nargund, Thomas, and Dowling presentations come out on top.

Choi, Lee Groups: Breakthroughs in Nanofibers

Polymer nanofibrils observed forming inside a silica tube with TEM.