About
Chulsung Bae is Ford Foundation Professor at Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology (with a joint appointment at Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Broadly speaking, Bae's research group focuses on development of functional polymeric materials that might find applications in the areas of clean energy and environment technologies, using synthetic organic chemistry as a tool. Specific examples of projects include innovative ion conducting polymer electrolytes that can be used as a key component in next generation energy conversion and storage technologies, such as fuel cells, hydrogen production via water splitting, and redox flow battery, and functional polymers that can play a crucial role in energy efficient separation process.
Bae received BS in Polymer Science & Engineering at Inha University, MS in Materials Science at POSTECH, MS in Chemistry at University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and PhD in Chemistry at University of Southern California under the guidance of Surya Prakash and Nobel Laureate George Olah. After postdoctoral research with John Hartwig at Yale University, he started independent academic career at University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) as an Assistant Professor in 2004. In 2012 Bae relocated his research group to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Dr. Bae received a number of awards including New Investigator Award of UNLV (2005), National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2008), and RPI School of Science Outstanding Research Award (2016). In 2017 Dr. Bae received a $2.5 million contract from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Products Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to develop innovative solid ion conducting materials for next generation renewable energy conversion and storage technology.
- Postdoc at Yale University / Department of Chemistry
- PhD in Chemistry, University of Southern California (USC)
- MS in Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- MS in Materials Science and Engineering, POSTECH
- BS in Polymer Science and Engineering, Inha University
Research
Dr. Bae's research areas encompass organic chemistry, green chemistry, polymer chemistry, and materials science. Broadly speaking, Dr. Bae's research group focuses on development of functional organic/polymeric materials that might find special applications, particularly for clean energy and environment technologies, using synthetic organic chemistry tools. Currently his group pursues two major branches of research in that direction: (i) ion-conducting polymer materials for applications in energy conversion device and (ii) gas separation polymer membrane.
Ion-conducting Polymers for Clean Energy Technology Applications
We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy. Fuel cells hold significant promise as an alternative energy technology with many advantages over the fossil fuel combustion such as high energy conversion efficiency and environmentally friendly operation. Additionally, fuel cells offer high energy density by virtue of their use of chemical fuels, which is a limitation in many other electrochemical energy storage and conversion devices. Of the different types of fuel cells, proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are the most attractive candidate for automobile application because of high power density. Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM), typically made of ion-conducting polymers, critically determines the power output performance of PEMFCs device. So far perfluorosulfonic acid ionomers such as Nafion have been the most widely tested PEM material. Unfortunately, Nafion has serious drawbacks that prevent widespread commercial application in PEMFCs, including high cost, rare availability of fluorine-containing precursors, reduced proton conductivity above 100?, and high methanol crossover in direct methanol fuel cells. The goal of this research project is to develop novel proton-conducting materials that will significantly advance progress in fuel cell technology. Recently, we have developed a new controlled polymer functionalization method based on borylation of C-H bonds in aromatic polymer. This new synthetic method has allowed to incorporate various types of sulfonate groups into polymers. Synthesis and characterization of these new ionic polymers will advance our understanding of relationships between chemical structure and performance of the materials in fuel cell properties at molecular level and, eventually, lead to development of next-generation PEMs that overcome the limitation of currently available fuel cell membranes.
Recognition
- The Trustee Celebration of Faculty Achievement, RPI, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023
- Distinguished Member of Scientific Advisory Council, Advanced Energy Conference, 2018
- Outstanding Research Award, RPI, 2016
- Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, NSF, 2008
- New Investigator Award, UNLV, 2005
Publications
The following is a selection of recent publications in Scopus. Chulsung Bae has 121 indexed publications in the subjects of Materials Science, Chemistry, Energy.
Research Group
Postdoctoral Researcher
Graduate Student
Zongwei Ma
Sariah Marth
Adam McKnight
Former Member
Hailey (Heemin) Park Postdoc 2020-2024 - Los Alamos National Lab
Pothana Gandhi Nellepalli Postdoc 2022-2024 - University of Victoria
Lauren Zakrzewski PhD 2023 - Lithography Engineer at IBM
Musashi Briem PhD 2022 - Booz Allen Hamilton
Younghan Song Postdoc 2021-2022 - Koera Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)
Yeongsik Kim Postdoc 2021-2022 - Pohang Accelerator Laboratory
Rykelle Adley MS 2022 - Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing
Michael Pagels PhD 2022 - Polymer Scientist at Envision Energy
Chandula Walgama PhD 2021 - MAS
Xiaofeng Wang Postdoc 2019-2021 - Baker Hughes
Linda Cortes MS 2021 - ERM: Environmental Resources Management
Carrie Trant PhD 2021 - Senior Scientist at Entegris
Gregory Kline Postdoc 2018-2020 - Department of Energy
Jong Yeob Jeon Postdoc 2017-2020
Ding Tian PhD 2020 - INTEL
Natalie Fifield MS 2020 - SABIC
Liwen Chen Postdoc 2019-2020 - University of Minnesota
Santosh Adhikari Postdoc 2018-2020 - Los Alamos National Lab
Asheesh Singh Postdoc 2019-2020
Sungmin Park Postdoc 2018-2019 - Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT)
Kihyun Kim Postdoc 2017-2018 - Faculty at Gyeongsang National University, Korea
Sangtaik Noh Postdoc 2016-2018 - Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information(KISTI)
Junyoung Han Postdoc 2016-2018 - Hanwha Solutions
Stefan Turan PhD 2018 - Polymer Scientist at Keystone Industries
Eunjoo Sarah Park PhD 2016 - Staff Scientist at Los Alamos National Lab
Dongwon Shin Postdoc 2013–2015 - Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER)
Angela Mohanty PhD 2015 - Faculty at Takoma Community College
Woo-Hyung Lee Postdoc 2012–2014 - DuPont
Bhagyashree Date MS 2014 - Adjunct Lecturer at Maharshi Dayanand University, India
Ying Chang Postdoc 2009–2013 - Senior Research Scientist at Armstrong World Industries
Jongwon Park Postdoc 2011–2012 - Samsung SDI
Jihoon Shin PhD 2009 - Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT)
Se Hye Kim MS 2008 - Albemarle Corporation
Ho Yong Chung MS 2006 - Faculty at Florida State University
Former Visiting Scholars
Dmytro Serchiichuk (2022) - Exchange student from Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
Taeyang Son (2019) - Exchange student from Gyeongsang National University, Korea
Ibuki Hosaka (2017-2018) - Exchange student from University of Yamanashi, Japan
Prof. Sun-Joo Song (2015) - Professor at School of Materials Science and Engineering, Chonnam National University, Korea
Dr. Kyung Ho Choi (2012-2013) - Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH)