About

Chong Liu is an Associate Professor of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. She received her PhD in materials science and engineering from Stanford University in 2015 and her BS in chemistry from Fudan University. Following her doctoral studies, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University from 2015 to 2018. In 2018, she joined the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering as a Neubauer Family Assistant Professor. Her research focuses on the design and synthesis of materials, as well as the development of electrochemical and optical tools to address challenges in the water-energy nexus. Her work encompasses resource extraction from water systems, separation in liquid and gas phases, and catalysis, studying phenomena across a wide range of length scales from molecular interactions to mass transport. She aims to develop advanced characterization tools to understand and correlate the microscopic properties of materials with their macroscopic performance. Chong Liu has received several awards, including a 2024 Sloan Research Fellowship, the Department of Energy’s Early Career Research Program award, and was named a 2023 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar.

Research topics

• Biology
• Genetics
• Medicine
• Computational biology
• Computer science

Selected publications

• Modulating multivalent ion interaction in angstrom-scale confinement through solvent environment

  Faraday Discussions · 2026-01-01

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  When the size of the confinement approaches that of individual molecules and ions at the angstrom-scale (Å-scale), intriguing ion-ion and water-ion interactions emerge. Water, being a unique solvent, has asymmetric dielectric constants and discrete configurations within Å-scale confinement. However, how these distinctive characteristics of water affect ion behaviors as well as how they translate to other solvents remains largely unexplored. Here, with the robust platform of functionalized two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide nanochannels, we systematically probed how the solvent environment regulates ion dynamics, uptake, and selectivity in Å-scale confinement, using rare-earth elements (REEs) as a model system due to their periodic properties and practical relevance. By tuning solvent composition, we find that both ion uptake and selectivity are governed by the interplay between binding-site deprotonation controlled by solvent-dependent acidity and dielectric effects mediated by the solvent environment. Maximum uptake was observed at intermediate solvent ratios where acidity and dielectric properties are balanced. Increasing deprotonation in dimethylformamide-rich systems shifts selectivity toward heavier REEs. Dynamic tests further reveal that the preference for heavy element Yb arises from stronger binding and improved channel accessibility, facilitated by carboxylate formation and lighter-element-assisted channel opening. Collectively, these findings highlight solvent composition as a powerful lever for tuning ion behavior in 2D channels, and provide mechanistic insight into solvent-mediated approaches to selective REE recovery and separation.

  PublisherDOI

• A multiscale perspective for understanding transport mechanisms in desalination and ion-selective membranes

  Nature Water · 2026-02-17 · 2 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Selectivity mechanisms of ion intercalation in Prussian blue analogs

  Matter · 2026-02-03 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Distributed direct air capture by carbon nanofiber air filters

  ChemRxiv · 2025-09-19

  article

  The rising atmospheric CO2 concentration is one of the biggest challenges the human civilization faces. Direct air capture (DAC) that directly removes CO2 from the atmosphere provides great potential in carbon neutralization and even reverses the CO2 concentration in the long run. However, the massive land use and capital investment of centralized DAC plants and the energy-intensive process of adsorbent regeneration limit its wide employment. Here, we develop a distributed carbon nanofiber (CNF)-based DAC air filter capable of adsorbing CO2 downstream in indoor ventilation systems. The DAC air filter not only has the potential to remove 596 MtCO2 yr−1 globally but can also decrease the energy consumption in existing building heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. The CNF-based adsorbent has a high capacity of 4 mmol/g under a humid atmosphere and excellent lifetime cyclability. More importantly, the CNFs can be regenerated either via solar thermal or electrothermal method with extremely low carbon footprints, owing to their superior solar absorptivity of 94.4%, electrical conductivity, and low heat capacity of 1.3 J/(g·˚C). The ultrafine nanofiber has a low pressure drop of 66 Pa at a face velocity of 76 cm/s, minimizing the additional energy load to the ventilation system. Through life cycle assessment, the CNF air filter shows an excellent carbon removal efficiency of 92.3% from cradle to grave with low environmental impacts, such as land use and ecotoxicity.

  PublisherDOI

• From Molecules to Modules: Advanced Characterization of Membrane Systems

  Advanced Materials · 2025-09-12 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Membrane technologies can enhance the efficiency and selectivity of chemical separations in energy-water systems. Advanced characterization tools are critical for discerning separation mechanisms, revealing degradation processes, and designing novel materials and material systems for new and emerging challenges. The pursuit of next-generation membranes for water and energy applications requires understanding phenomena at the molecular scale, mesoscale, and macroscale. This perspective highlights advanced characterization techniques for elucidating and enhancing membrane performance, while addressing fundamental trade-offs involved in characterizing membranes under realistic conditions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Li and Na Interaction in Intercalation Materials

  ECS Meeting Abstracts · 2025-11-24

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Electrochemical intercalation offers a promising platform for Li extraction. However, the phase transformation behaviors during Li and Na co-intercalation are largely unknown for different classes of intercalation materials. In this talk, I will focus on two model types of materials, olivine iron phosphate, and layered oxides, to introduce the intriguing and complicated Li and Na interactions in the same host material. Due to the ionic size difference, Li and Na tend to phase separate. Such phase separation behavior can be understood from the thermodynamic and kinetic energies, and it can be harnessed to guide the Li and Na ion pathways for targeted phase transformation, which will benefit both Li extraction and predictive synthesis.

  PublisherDOI

• A Topological Superconductor Tuned by Electronic Correlations

  ArXiv.org · 2025-03-28

  preprintOpen access

  A topological superconductor, characterized by either a chiral order parameter or a chiral topological surface state in proximity to bulk superconductivity, is foundational to topological quantum computing. As in other topological phases of matter, electronic correlations can tune topological superconductivity via modifications of the low-energy Fermiology. Such tuning has not been realized so far. Here we uncover a unique topological superconducting phase in competition with electronic correlations in 10-unit-cell thick FeTe$_{x}$Se$_{1-x}$ films grown on SrTiO$_{3}$ substrates. When the Te content $x$ exceeds $0.7$, we observe a rapid increase of the effective mass for the Fe $d_{xy}$ band, with the emergence of a superconducting topological surface state confirmed by high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy; however, near the FeTe limit, the system enters an incoherent regime where the topological surface state becomes unidentifiable and superconductivity is suppressed. Theory suggests that the electron-electron interactions in the odd-parity $xy^-$ band with a strong $d_{xy}$ character lead to an orbital-selective correlated phase. Our work establishes FeTe$_{x}$Se$_{1-x}$ thin films as a unique platform where electronic correlations sensitively modulate topological superconductivity, suggesting opportunities to use tunable electron-electron interactions to engineer new topological phases in a broad class of materials.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Electro-driven direct lithium extraction from geothermal brines to generate battery-grade lithium hydroxide

  Nature Communications · 2025-01-18 · 70 citations

  articleOpen access

  As Li-ion batteries are increasingly being deployed in electric vehicles and grid-level energy storage, the demand for Li is growing rapidly. Extracting lithium from alternative aqueous sources such as geothermal brines plays an important role in meeting this demand. Electrochemical intercalation emerges as a promising Li extraction technology due to its ability to offer high selectivity for Li and its avoidance of harsh chemical regenerants. In this work, we design an economically feasible electrochemical process that achieves selective lithium extraction from Salton Sea geothermal brine and purification of lithium chloride using intercalation materials, and conversion to battery grade (>99.5% purity) lithium hydroxide by bipolar membrane electrodialysis. We conduct techno-economic assessments using a parametric model and estimated the levelized cost of LiOH•H2O as 4.6 USD/kg at an electrode lifespan of 0.5 years. The results demonstrate the potential of our technology for electro-driven, chemical-free lithium extraction from alternative sources. Extracting lithium from alternative aqueous sources becomes crucial in meeting increasing lithium demand. Here, authors design an economically feasible electrochemical process that achieves selective lithium extraction from geothermal brine and finally produce battery grade lithium hydroxide.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• WITHDRAWN

  ChemRxiv · 2025-09-01

  articleOpen access

  This content was removed at the journal's request because it did not align with publishing policy.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Development of Layered Oxides for Electrochemically Driven Li Extraction from Dilute Li Sources

  ECS Meeting Abstracts · 2025-11-24

  articleSenior author

  Due to the rising demand of Li-ion battery powered vehicles, the lithium supply chain is projected to experience strain in the coming decades. This strain can be mitigated by developing new Li + extraction methods that can access unconventional Li + sources such as seawater. Electrochemical Li + extraction has demonstrated high selectivity and recovery rates from dilute Li + sources; the insertion host material selection plays a key role in the overall performance. However, few materials have been explored nor have materials been tailored for Li + extraction from these multi-cation solutions. We have found that spontaneous ion-exchange drives a phase transformation of layered cobalt oxide to two-phase equilibrium of Na 0.48 CoO 2 and Li 0.94 CoO 2 . With this in mind, we have explored the role of particle size and C-rate of layered cobalt oxide on Li + extraction from mixed Li + and Na + solutions. We show that the relative rate between ion exchange and intercalation is critical to determine the ion pathways. The relationship can be quantitatively compared using the average pseudo ion exchange rate (C pseudoIX ) and the intercalation rate (C inter ). The ion pathways at the three regimes with C pseudoIX > C inter , C pseudoIX ~ C inter , and C pseudoIX < C inter are constructed. By optimizing the ion extraction pathway, high Li + recovery performance can be maintained over multiple extraction sequences. Here, we demonstrated 9.7×10 4 Li + selectivity with 99% purity Li + recovery from an initial 1:1000 Li: Na molar ratio solution using 115 mAh/g capacity with good reversibility. This work highlights the importance of understanding the phase separation behavior of Li + and Na + in layered transition metal oxides for improved Li + recovery capacity and lifetime.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Chao Chen

  297 shared

• Rujia Dai

  167 shared

• Yan Xia

  Xinxiang Medical University

  140 shared

• Michael J. Gandal

  130 shared

• Daniel Levy

  National Heart Lung and Blood Institute

  120 shared

• Yarong Song

  Union Hospital

  101 shared

• Elliot S. Gershon

  University of Chicago

  100 shared

• Thomas G. Schulze

  National Institute of Mental Health

  99 shared

Awards & honors

• 2024 Sloan Research Fellowship
• Department of Energy’s (DOE) Early Career Research Program a…
• 2023 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar