Public Research Seminar by Sustainable Energy and Environment Thrust, HKUST(GZ) - Toward Net-Zero: Iron-Based Powders for Hydrogen Storage and CO₂ Conversion, and Sustainable Alloy Design

This talk addresses how materials innovation can contribute to achieving global net-zero carbon emissions. The first part focuses on iron-based powders engineered for two critical challenges: long-term, large-scale hydrogen and energy storage, and CO₂ capture and conversion into carbon monoxide via water/CO₂-H₂ redox reactions. This material outperforms conventional approaches by offering outstanding cyclability, lower cost, higher volumetric energy density, and superior safety, positioning them as a promising solution for sustainable hydrogen and CO₂ utilization technologies with a high technology readiness level.

In the second part, I will discuss alloy design strategies aimed at reducing environmental impact. By leveraging sustainable, recyclable rare-earth element feedstocks and applying strengthening mechanisms, we have developed alloys with excellent mechanical performance at elevated temperatures. These alloys enable up to a 20–30% reduction in energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, and costs compared to benchmark commercial alloys. Finally, I will introduce a high-throughput, integrated computational and experimental framework that accelerates the design of advanced materials.