Lu Group

Solvent extraction based separation/materials preparation

• To overcome analysis interference and operation limitation in liquid phase microextraction, invented direct suspended droplet microextraction (DSDME) method.
• Towards solvent extraction used in the deep purification of polar organic compounds, invented a solvent extraction technology with tunable operability and selectivity by using mixed solvent and pulsed sieved column with various discs.
• Prepared ion-imprinted chitosan microsphere with low cost and environmental impact as well as high capacity and fast kinetics in metal adsorption by a strategy based on dispersion and mass transfer of microdroplets.

Liquid phase nanotechnology

• Identified key species to prepare high-purity a-FePO₄ nanoparticles via direct precipitation and explored hydrothermal transformation of various iron phosphate materials.
• Prepared nano-silica through reversed conversion of silica in HF solution by ammonia cycling for utilizing WPA by-product.
• Exploited micromixing technology in the preparation of a-FePO₄/C nanocomposite via in-situ precipitation for high performance cathode.
• Synthesized magnetically manipulated polystyrene-based nano-catalyst with good activity and stability quantitatively.

Organic synthesis and polymerization in flow system

• Established platform for reaction kinetics research and sequential control with the combination of instantaneous reaction start-up and quench based on enhanced mass transfer technology and continuous flow operation mode.
• Explored homogeneous window for reaction intensification by using tubular reactor with flow characteristics and severe reaction conditions tolerance.
• Established method and techno-logy system to investigate flow cationic polymerization and developed a serial of green and efficient synthesis technologies initiated by H₂O-AlCl for various high-performance PIBs.

Microreactor and microchemical system

• Pursued a solution by developing efficient, flexible, and controllable microchemical technologies towards value-added utilization and clean production of WPA, including an asymmetric scale-up strategy for flow cross-section to break the application limitation from large amount of post precipitates on microreactor, and a set of maintenance program meeting the requirements on flexibility and robustness.
• Developed a microchemical system adaptable for coupled reaction to achieve green and continuous production of disperse dyes.