About

Michael J. Aziz is the Gene and Tracy Sykes Professor of Materials and Energy Technologies at Harvard University, affiliated with the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He has served as a Faculty Associate at the Harvard University Center for the Environment and was the faculty coordinator for the Graduate Consortium for Energy and Environment from 2009 to 2018. His research areas include applied mathematics, science and engineering for ClimateTech, applied physics, materials science and engineering for ClimateTech, bioengineering, electrical engineering, environmental science and engineering, and materials and mechanical engineering. Aziz holds an equity stake in Adiabatic Materials, Inc., where he has licensed intellectual property. His work focuses on advancing materials and energy technologies, with recent contributions to greenhouse gas removal technologies, grid-scale battery infrastructure for renewable energy integration, and innovative approaches to climate-related challenges.

Research topics

• Inorganic chemistry
• Chemistry
• Organic chemistry
• Computer Science
• Photochemistry
• Engineering
• Chemical engineering
• Physics
• Physical chemistry
• Internal medicine
• Nuclear physics
• Architectural engineering
• Combinatorial chemistry
• Materials science
• Cardiology
• Waste management
• Systems engineering
• World Wide Web
• Library science
• Medicine
• Nanotechnology
• Process engineering
• Electrical engineering
• Environmental science

Selected publications

• Electrochemically Driven Phenazine Autoxidation Coupled with Supported Liquid Membrane Technology for Hydrogen Peroxide Production

  ChemRxiv · 2026-03-25

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Green synthesis of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) using renewable electricity remains a substantial challenge due to strict requirements of complex catalysts and unavoidable H2O2 decomposition in electrochemical reactors. Here we report a compact electrified phenazine autoxidation (e-PAO) platform that couples an alkaline electrolyzer and a supported liquid membrane (SLM) reactor for continuous, high-purity H2O2 production. This electrified phenazine mediation system avoids the use of precious metal catalysts and gaseous reactants in electrocatalytic and conventional thermocatalytic H 2 O2 manufacture systems. The concept of SLM is applied to integrate hydrogenation, autoxidation and extraction into a single module, efficiently shuttling electrons from the aqueous electrolyte to H2O2 product across a fixed nonaqueous medium with Faradaic efficiency up to 80%. In this SLM architecture, separating electroreduction from H2O2 formation into distinct environments mitigates the H2O2 decomposition that is widespread in other electrochemical methods. We demonstrate direct applicability to advanced oxidation via in-situ Fenton treatment of organic pollutants, highlighting the potential of the e-PAO platform for modular, on demand H2O2 generation and wastewater remediation. This strategy provides an integrated and flexible reactor-construction framework for multiphase, electrochemically mediated synthetic processes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Good Practices and Common Pitfalls in the Research and Development of New Electrolytes for Flow Batteries

  Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026-05-19

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  A living document on best practices and common pitfalls in flow battery electrolyte research and development for public discussion and peer-reviewed changes by anyone in the flow battery community.

  PublisherDOI

• Replicability challenges in redox flow cell testing: insights from a multi-institutional study

  Energy & Environmental Science · 2026-01-01

  articleOpen access

  In the first, multi-institution study of its kind for flow batteries, several laboratories worldwide performed identical single-cell experiments. The findings show that procedural choices significantly alter commonly reported electrochemical metrics.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Good Practices and Common Pitfalls in the Research and Development of New Electrolytes for Flow Batteries

  Open MIND · 2026-05-19

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  A living document on best practices and common pitfalls in flow battery electrolyte research and development for public discussion and peer-reviewed changes by anyone in the flow battery community.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Correction to “Bicarbonate-Carbonate Selectivity through Nanofiltration for Direct Air Capture of Carbon Dioxide”

  ACS ES&T Engineering · 2025-09-25

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Development of Optical Sensor Using ZnO Microflowers as Sensing Material for Organophosphate Pesticide Detection

  International Journal of Integrated Engineering · 2025-04-30

  articleOpen access

  A widely utilized organophosphate pesticide for crop pest control, profenofos and diazinon, have been categorized as moderately toxic by the World Health Organization (WHO).Hence, the identification of profenofos and diazinon residues holds importance for ensuring food safety.This study focuses on the alternative profenofos and diazinon detection method utilizing optical sensors, offering a label-free and real-time measurement scheme.The sensor utilizes zinc oxide (ZnO) with a microflowers structure (ZnO MFs) as the sensing material, chosen for its enlarged surface area, which enhances sensitivity to alterations in the surrounding medium.Synthesized via the solution route method, the ZnO MFs exhibit dimensions of 5.47 0.84 m in length, 1.30 0.26 m in width, and an aspect ratio of 4.35 1.02.Profenofos and diazinon concentrations ranging from 1 to 10,000 ppm are used as targeted analytes for sensor testing.The findings demonstrate distinct responses of the optical sensor, with a detection limit (LoD) of 1 ppm.The sensing parameter, Absolute Optical Change (AOC), exhibits its highest value at 1 ppm for profenofos and 100 ppm for diazinon, indicating an optimal sensitivity.In conclusion, optical sensors using ZnO MFs as sensing material offer a good potential to be used as an alternative method for pesticide detection, with further improvement in LoD and sensitivity aspects needed.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reduced Flow Battery Capacity Fade from Mixed Redox-Active Organics Beyond the Rule of Mixtures

  ACS Energy Letters · 2025-07-30 · 4 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Aqueous organic redox flow batteries offer a sustainable approach to long-duration energy storage but suffer from molecular degradation. Here, we present a mixed redox-active strategy that stabilizes 2,6-dihydroxyanthraquinone (DHAQ) by enabling in situ regeneration of redox-active species under standard operating conditions. By incorporating 0.1 M of 4,4′-((9,10-anthraquinone-2,6-diyl)dioxy)dibutyrate (DBEAQ) into a 0.1 M DHAQ electrolyte, the fade rate is reduced from 4.7% to 0.9% per day, a 62% decrease relative to the 2.35%/day expected from a noninteracting mixture. Increasing DBEAQ concentration to 0.2 M further lowers fade to 0.43% per day, representing a 73% reduction relative to the expected value of 1.57%. Electrochemical and NMR data show that regeneration occurs via chemical oxidation of anthrone to a dimer, followed by electrochemical reoxidation to DHAQ. This approach is not limited to DBEAQ, suggesting broad applicability to other anthraquinones. The underlying regeneration mechanism offers a general framework for improving electrolyte stability in organic redox flow batteries.

  PublisherDOI

• Evaluation of highly stable redox-active materials for aqueous organic redox flow batteries using static cells

  MRS Energy & Sustainability · 2025-07-23 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Confinement of Organic Molecules in Microporous Electrodes for Enhanced Energy Storage

  ACS Applied Energy Materials · 2025-11-11

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Microporous electrodes (pores <2 nm in width) can confine molecules into uniquely packed, charged volumes that exhibit characteristics different from molecules from a bulk solution interacting with an electrode surface. By using surface and electrochemical characterizations, we show the confinement of organic molecules in micropores can shift their redox potentials beyond the classical Nernstian regime, with a shift as large as 252 mV. We identify an excess contribution to the electrochemical potentials of ions that leads to the thermodynamic limit for these shifts and use continuum-scale simulations from a modified Donnan model to confirm this limit and derive deviations from it. Density functional theory simulations confirm that micropore confinement can change the mechanism of charge transfer. We find trends in behavior in micropore environments for organic and metalorganic molecules in aqueous solutions based on their electrophilicity, charge, core molecules, and molecular functionalizations (i.e., side chains). Finally, using micropore confinement on the high and low potential sides of an enclosed secondary battery to increase the open circuit voltage, we demonstrate an increase in average discharge cell voltage of 39% and a corresponding increase in discharge energy density of 36% by replacing macroporous electrodes with microporous electrodes.

  PublisherDOI

• AN INTERPRETATION OF CLASSICAL TRANSITION STATE THEORY FOR KINETICS IN MATERIALS SCIENCE

  ChemRxiv · 2025-09-24

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This paper introduces simple phenomenological rate theory from the perspective of molecular interconversions and then applies it, in the form of Transition State Theory, to processes such as atomic diffusion and thermally-activated crystal growth in condensed matter composed of very large numbers of atoms or molecules. It is shown that in classical Transition State Theory, the unimolecular rate constant is the “thermal frequency” kBT/h times a Boltzmann factor in the free energy of activation, provided the transition state is defined as a slice of 3N-dimensional configuration space of thickness equal to the thermal deBroglie wavelength, where N is the number of atoms in the system. Equivalently, the unimolecular rate constant is the product of a normal mode frequency and a Boltzmann factor in the free energy of activation, provided the free energy is evaluated for a 3N-1 dimensional hypersurface that is perpendicular to the direction of normal mode motion along the reaction coordinate. Various other expressions for the unimolecular rate constant are derived for various other definitions of the transition state. The apparent activation enthalpy and the pre-exponential factor in the Van’t Hoff-Arrhenius equation for the temperature-dependence of the unimolecular rate constant are interpreted in terms of 3N-dimensional thermodynamic properties of the system and the thermal frequency, as well as in terms of 3N-1 dimensional thermodynamic properties of the system and a normal mode frequency. The relationship between the back reaction and the forward reaction is developed, providing an expression for the net rate as a function of thermodynamic driving force. Examples are presented for which the ratio of net rate constant to the unbiased forward rate constant saturates or increases exponentially with increasing thermodynamic driving force. This approach was developed for teaching a graduate course in materials science called “Kinetics of Condensed Phase Processes” in the late 20th century.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Film Growth Morphology and Segregation in Pulsed Laser Deposition

  NSF · $425k · 2003–2007

• SUSCHEM: Aquous organic redox chemistry for renewal energy storage

  NSF · $300k · 2015–2018

• Kinetics and stability of redox-active organics for electrochemical systems

  NSF · $530k · 2019–2022

• Collaborative Research: Combined Theoretical/Experimental Approach to Understanding Irradiation-Induced Morphology Evolution

  NSF · $300k · 2014–2018

Frequent coauthors

• Roy G. Gordon

  Harvard University

  185 shared

• Liuchuan Tong

  95 shared

• Jeffrey M. Warrender

  United States Army

  79 shared

• Eugene S. Beh

  74 shared

• Fikile R. Brushett

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  65 shared

• Michael J. Gerhardt

  University of North Carolina Health Care

  64 shared

• Ellen Kracht

  Geological Society of America

  64 shared

• Roger Narayan

  North Carolina State University

  64 shared

Labs

• Materials Science GroupPI