Yonggang Yao developed novel electrified approaches to material synthesis and chemical manufacturing, featuring ultra-high temperatures (1000–3000 K) pulsed at a short duration (~milliseconds to seconds), which could help relieve our dependence on fossil fuels by enabling renewable energy to power fundamental industrial processes. While most industrial syntheses rely on continuous heating, this pulsed electrical heating to a high temperature significantly improves the energy and time efficiency of the reaction process following the Arrhenius Equation. As a result, lower carbon footprints can be achieved in fundamental syntheses as well as the fabrication of novel materials featuring new properties.
Yao made significant contribution in the research field of high entropy alloy catalysts. Using electrified heating (2000 K, 55 ms), Yao successfully synthesized a library of novel high entropy alloy catalysts (featuring 5–15 atomically mixed elements, despite their immiscibility). The developed catalysts exhibit superior activity, selectivity, and stability in various energy and catalytic reactions like ammonia decomposition, oxidation, and methane conversion/combustion, significantly improving the energy efficiency of these reactions. In 2022, Yao published a review in Science to summarize the synthesis, characterization, and application of high entropy alloy catalysts, providing unique insights for the development of multi-component high-entropy materials in the field of highly efficient energy catalysis.
In the same year, Yao and colleagues reported electrified heating to drive efficient thermochemical synthesis. Unlike traditional steady-state heating using fossil fuels, electrified heating allows people to program the heating process toward dynamic catalysis (e.g., 20 ms on up to 2000 K and 1.08 s off, repeated), thus tuning the reaction route and selectivity to high-value products (e.g., olefins and ammonia), along with a much higher energy-efficiency and lower CO2 emission. This electrified and programmable heating can be used for many thermochemical reactions, such as natural gas reforming, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, and biomass cracking, thus laying a solid foundation for the decarbonization in chemical industry.
Industrial manufacturing is the pillar of the global economy. It is therefore a fundamental question and global challenge of how we can maintain economic prosperity while simultaneously achieving decarbonization. The mission is challenging for now, yet it is not a curse, but a blessing to all people living in this world once we achieve it.
