Leo W. Gordon

Interested in NMR techniques for studying energy storage and carbon capture systems.

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I am Leo W. Gordon, an NMR spectroscopist and electrochemical engineer with extensive expertise in batteries and energy storage, covering anodes, cathodes, and particularly electrolytes (both solid and liquid). Currently, I am on the faculty job market for an assistant professor position in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, or Chemistry. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch to ask about my intended research vision, and my curriculum vitae is available here for reference.

I am a postdoctoral scholar in the Clément group at UC Santa Barbara where I investigate ion transport processes in polymeric materials using NMR methodologies such as pulsed-field gradient and electrophoretic NMR. I completed my Ph.D. research at The City College of New York (CCNY) working in the field of energy storage materials where I was advised by Prof. Robert J. Messinger.

The primary focus of my Ph.D. was using NMR characterisation techniques to determine charge storage mechanisms and to understand electrolyte speciation. Solid-state NMR is my main tool for investigating charge storage, which I apply to understand ionic and electronic charge storage mechanisms in organic electrodes for rechargeable aluminium batteries. I also have expertise in liquid NMR, which I have demonstrated through my work on lithium metal battery electrolytes, along with molten salt electrolytes for aluminum batteries. I have further interests in metal anode surface chemistries, lithium cathode recycling, and the nuances of charge storage with different molten salt electrolyte speciations. My central PhD work has culminated in publications including articles in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, and the Journal of Magnetic Resonance.

Before joining the Chemical Engineering department at CCNY, I attained an integrated Masters degree in Chemistry (MChem) from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. During my thesis research I worked to develop and understand novel designs for multi-microelectrode arrays for electrochemical sensing applications. Also during the bachelors portion of my degree, I briefly investigated dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSCs) using plant derived dyes, targeting low-cost and minimally corrosive materials.

In my free time I enjoy bouldering to keep fit, and to make time-saving GUI programs to process data - many of which can be found on my GitHub profile!

News

Nov 1, 2024 In a very busy week, I had the opportunity to present at both the Southern California Users of Magnets (SCUM) meeting, and the American Institute for Chemical Engineers (AIChE) annual meeting. At SCUM 2024, I presented some of the new work from our group using spatially-resolved NMR methods for direct measurements of thermodynamic phenomena, namely partitioning. I demonstrated this capability through measurements of the octanol-water partitioning coefficients of different solutes, in addition to using NMR profilometry to visualise intensity maps of water moving across membranes. At AIChE, I was proposing my research vision as a faculty candidate. AIChE was an excellent opportunity to meet and network with my peers across a range of disciplines, I always cherish attending talks outside of my comfort zone! For anyone I met this week, please stay in touch. I’m always happy to discuss research, especially ways to incorporate NMR spectroscopy into your work!
Oct 5, 2024 A study borne from my PhD work investigates the effects of mass transport and its interplay with electrochemical kinetics for aluminium-organic batteries. The study purports that there are two competing mechanisms in aluminum-quinone batteries, one that exists under high flux of intercalants, and the other under low flux. The mechanisms are dubbed concurrent and sequential, with these names relating to the ordering of the two-step electronic reduction and corresponding charge compensation. The concurrent mechanism occurs when the electrochemical Damköhler number is small (e.g., under high flux or low rates), and is ordered as electronic reduction-complexation-electronic reduction-complexation; the sequential mechanism by comparison occurs under conditions where the Damköhler number is large, and is ordered electronic reduction-electronic reduction-complexation-complexation. The key difference is that the uncompensated semiquinone form (after the first electronic reduction) is reduced at lower discharge potentials than the ionically compensated semiquinone. These mechanisms can be considered like putting on socks and shoes, you can go sock-shoe-sock-shoe (concurrent, small Dael), or sock-sock-shoe-shoe (sequential, large Dael). This study has consequences to any multielectronic organic electrodes, and tests multiple methods to affect Dael, all to the same conclusion.
Jun 20, 2024 An investigation of eutectic electrolyte mixtures for low-temperature aluminium batteries led by Jonah Wang was published today. This work uses a combination of NMR spectroscopy and electrochemical methods to understand the electrolyte speciation and monitor the cycling performance, both for electrodeposition, and also in aluminium-graphite cells. We show operation down to -40 °C in the ternary AlCl3-urea-[EMIm]Cl mixture at a mole ratio of 1.3-0.25-0.75. In addition to supressing the freezing point, the addition of urea to the binary mixture of AlCl3-[EMIm]Cl improves the cost effectiveness of such electrolytes.
May 24, 2024 We just published a fundamental investigation of selenium structure at different length scales and how it affects the electrochemical reactions achieved in aluminium-selenium batteries. To achieve a full 6-electron capacity of selenium electrodes in aluminium batteries, it is imperative that the Se(0) to Se(–II) is attainable as well as the Se(0) to Se(IV) reactions. This paper documents the viability of the selenium to aluminium selenide electrochemical reduction in glassy selenium, which is seldom observed with crystalline trigonal selenium. This paper challenges the naive assumption that aluminium batteries using sulfur and selenium cathodes would operate in the same way. While both are chalcogens, the bonding topologies of elemental selenium and sulfur are quite different in their most stable forms (trigonal Se chains vs. 8-membered S rings) and this leads to differences in their electrochemical performances.
May 6, 2024 Our recent paper led by James Bamford demonstrates the improvements in mechanical strength after adding nickel salts to a coordinating, imidazole-containing polymer. The study demonstrates that even with addition of NiTFSI2 up to r=0.16, ionic conductivity of Li+ is not strongly affected, however, the increase in mechanical stiffness is notable as a result of dynamic crosslinking of imidazole functionalities with Ni2+. This demonstrates that ion transport and bulk mechanics can be decoupled by the addition of multivalent metal cations to polymers with chelating ligands.

Selected Publications

  1. Ternary Ionic Liquid Analogues as Electrolytes for Ambient and Low-Temperature Rechargeable Aluminum Batteries
    Jonah Wang, Theresa Schoetz,  Leo W. Gordon, Elizabeth J. Biddinger, and Robert J. Messinger
    ACS Applied Energy Materials

    Jul 2024

  2. Elucidating Consequences of Selenium Crystallinity on Its Electrochemical Reduction in Aluminum–Selenium Batteries
    Leo W. Gordon, Rahul Jay, Ankur L. Jadhav, Snehal S. Bhalekar, and Robert J. Messinger
    ACS Materials Letters

    May 2024

  3. Improved Mechanical Strength without Sacrificing Li-Ion Transport in Polymer Electrolytes
    James T. Bamford, Seamus D. Jones, Nicole S. Schauser, Benjamin J. Pedretti,  Leo W. Gordon, Nathaniel A. Lynd, Raphaële J. Clément, and Rachel A. Segalman
    ACS Macro Letters

    May 2024

  4. Solid Polymer Electrolytes with Enhanced Electrochemical Stability for High-Capacity Aluminum Batteries
    Oi Man Leung,  Leo W. Gordon, Robert J. Messinger, Themis Prodromakis, Julian A. Wharton, Carlos León, and Theresa Schoetz
    Advanced Energy Materials

    Jan 2024

  5. Revealing impacts of electrolyte speciation on ionic charge storage in aluminum-quinone batteries by NMR spectroscopy
    Leo W Gordon, Jonah Wang, and Robert J Messinger
    Journal of Magnetic Resonance

    Mar 2023

  6. Molecular-Scale Elucidation of Ionic Charge Storage Mechanisms in Rechargeable Aluminum–Quinone Batteries
    Leo W. Gordon, Ankur L. Jadhav, Mikhail Miroshnikov, Theresa Schoetz, George John, and Robert J. Messinger
    The Journal of Physical Chemistry C

    Aug 2022

  7. Performance Leap of Lithium Metal Batteries in LiPF6 Carbonate Electrolyte by a Phosphorus Pentoxide Acid Scavenger
    Jian Zhang, Jiayan Shi,  Leo W. Gordon, Nastaran Shojarazavi, Xiaoyu Wen, Yifan Zhao, Jianjun Chen, Chi-Cheung Su, Robert J. Messinger, and Juchen Guo
    ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

    Aug 2022

  8. Disentangling Faradaic, Pseudocapacitive, and Capacitive Charge Storage: A Tutorial for the Characterization of Batteries, Supercapacitors, and Hybrid Systems
    T. Schoetz,  L.W. Gordon, S. Ivanov, A. Bund, D. Mandler, and R.J. Messinger
    Electrochimica Acta

    Apr 2022