Principal Investigator
Cao Thang Dinh received his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Laval University in 2010 and 2014, respectively. His graduate work focused on designing visible-light-driven nanostructured photocatalysts for water splitting and the decomposition of organic pollutants. After receiving his doctorate, Cao joined Sargent’s group at the University of Toronto as a postdoctoral fellow. Here, he focused on developing catalysts and systems for the conversion of carbon dioxide to fuels and chemicals using renewable energy. Cao began his independent career in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Queen’s University in July of 2019.
Postdocs & Visiting Scholars
Dr. Tu Nguyen – Research Associate
Dr. Tu Nguyen received his PhD from the University of Florida, and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). Currently, he is the co-founder and research director of Helen Co., Ltd, a company focusing on research and technology development and bringing innovative scientific discoveries to real-world applications. His main research interests are in developing novel porous materials and engineering systems for applications in gas capture and separation, sensing, and catalysis. His publications and patents can be found at https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-Tce9OoAAAAJ&hl=en
Dr. Anh Tran-Ly – Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Anh Tran-Ly received her PhD in Materials Science at ETH Zurich and Empa – Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology in Switzerland. Her thesis work focused on developing sustainable bio-derived materials from cellulose, fungi and other bio-polymers resources for applications such as sustainable packaging, water treatment, and artwork protection. She joined Dinh’s Lab at Queen’s University as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to work towards converting CO2/CO to acetate, with the goal of further upgrading it to biodegradable polymers through biological processes
Dr. Gelson Silva – Visiting Scientist
Dr. Gelson Tiago dos Santos Tavares da Silva received his PhD from the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa). Currently, he is a postdoctoral fellow at the Federal University of São Carlos, focusing on developing nanoarchitectures based on transition metal phosphide (TMP) to act as a catalyst in the production of useful chemicals or fuels. He joined Dinh’s Lab at Queen’s University as an international postdoctoral fellow to work towards finding a relationship between the structure and activity of the TMP to CO2RR driven by a flow electrochemical system. His publications can be found at https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3ff0OqoAAAAJ&hl=pt-BR
Graduate students
Cornelius Obasanjo – PhD student
Cornelius Obasanjo obtained his BEng and MSc in Chemical Engineering from Ahmadu Bello University and Cleveland State University, respectively. He recently completed his MEng in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Calgary before joining Dinh’s group to pursue his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with a research interest in electrochemical CO2 reduction.
Behnam Nourmohammadi Khiarak – PhD student
Behnam Nourmohammadi Khiarak received his BSs and MSc in Material Science and Engineering from Tabriz University and Sharif University of Technology, respectively. His research interests are particularly in various fields of electrochemistry, the catalytic activity of materials (Organic & Inorganic), one-two-three-dimensional materials, energy materials, CO2 conversion (electrochemical reduction) and material science. He was a research assistant at Niroo Research Institute (Tehran, Iran) for one year. Currently, he is pursuing his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering under supervision of Professor Cao Thang Dinh and working in his group with a research interest in CO2 electroreduction. His publications can be found at: Behnam Nourmohammadi Khiarak
Guorui Gao – PhD student
Guorui Gao completed his undergraduate study in Xingjiang University and Xi’an Jiaotong University. He joined Dr. Dinh’s group after obtaining his Master’s degree from China University of Mining and Technology. His previous work mainly focused on photo-thermal conversion and the synthesis of novel functional materials. His current research focuses on developing new electrochemical systems for CO2 conversion.
Mohammadreza Azarshab– MSc student
Mohammadreza is a master’s student at Queen’s University. His main field of study is electrochemical and electrocatalytic processes. During his B.Sc, he has worked as an R&D specialist in the membrane field. He has not only expanded his knowledge on membrane technology but also improved skills such as teamwork, planning, research, and engineering software which has helped him with an extending number of projects. Industrially, he has worked on chemical technologies regarding chemical processes, and developing solutions using chemical pilot plants. He is currently working on developing carbon based electrodes for CO2 conversion and H2 production under the supervision of Dr. Dinh and Dr. Barz.
Huy Trong Pham– PhD student
Huy Trong Pham completed his bachelor’s degree from the University of Science and Education in Vietnam. His major is Chemistry Teacher Education. His undergraduate research focused on developing organic solvent that allows the separation of natural pigments or organic compounds from natural material. He also did research on the green synthesis of gold and silver nanoparticles from natural materials and assess their antibacterial ability. Currently, Huy is a master student at the Department of Chemical Engineering. He is developing technology for the convesion of CO2 and CO to ethylene.
Laura Quinones-Gomez– MSc student
Laura Quinones-Gomez is a master’s student at the Chemical Engineering Department of Queen’s University. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Pontificia Bolivariana University in Colombia and her undergraduate research was focused on the synthesis and electrochemical characterization of electrodes obtained from chemically activated charcoal residues to enhance the energy storage capacity of supercapacitors. She also developed a capstone project to propose an alternative treatment to avoid the disposal of sugarcane vinasse in soils and water bodies through fermentation.
Yueying Li– MSc student
Yueying Li holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Queen’s University and completed her final project in Dinh’s lab focused on the tandem catalyst in electrochemical CO2 reduction. Yueying also worked at National Research Council in Ottawa as a coop student and contributed to the purification of boron nitride nanotubes(BNNTs). Yueying decided to pursue her master’s degree still in Dinh’s lab and try to design a high-efficiency catalyst for CO2 reduction with some metal nanoparticles loaded on carbon nanotubes (CNTs).
Dao Ho- MSc student
Dao Ho received her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi-Vietnam. Her undergraduate research focused on designing homogeneous catalyst based on thiomolybdate for electrochemical proton reduction. She also worked on fabricating nanomaterials based on Nickel and Cobalt for electrochemical water-splitting. Currently, she is a MASc student in Chemical Engineering.
Hung Lai – MSc Student
Hung Lai completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Vietnam. His undergraduate research focus on process modelling for chemical processes and developing a hierarchical approach to process design. Hung has some years of experience in Process Engineering as a Chemical Process Engineer. Currently, he is a Master student at Department of Chemical Engineering, Queen’s University. His study at Queens will focus on establishing the LCA and TEA model for the CO2 capture and conversion system which utilize the energy (heat, electricity) generated from nuclear reactor. He is co-supervised by Dr. Qian Zhang from the Mining Department at Queen’s.
Interns and visiting students
Eduardo Dia – Visisting PhD student
Eduardo Dias holds a degree in Technological Chemistry from the Federal University of São Carlos. He is currently a direct PhD student at the University of São Paulo (São Carlos, Brazil) in partnership with EMBRAPA Instrumentation (São Carlos, Brazil), and for one year he will be conducting his sandwich PhD under the supervision of Professor Cao Thang Dinh. His research project involves the electroreduction of CO2 and electrooxidation of CH4 to fuels such as methanol and ethanol, using metals and metal oxides as catalysts.
Undergraduate students
Le Anh Duc Do – Undergraduate student
Le Anh Duc Do is an undergraduate student at the Department of Chemical Engineering at Queen’s University. Currently, Duc is completing his final year of chemical engineering and is conducting research under the supervision of Dr. Cao Thang Dinh. His thesis research project is on the electrochemical reduction of co2 to polymer precursor using an electro-bio hybrid system, with focus on the optimization of acetate production in CO2 electrolyzers.
Elissa Wong – Undergraduate student
Elissa Wong is in her final year of Engineering Chemistry at Queen’s University. She will be exploring membrane electrode assembly electrolyzer for CO2 reduction.
Hugh Warentin – Undergraduate student
Hugh Warkentin is in his final year of chemical engineering at Queen’s University. He previous worked in the Dinh Group as an NSERC USRA student, where he worked on the effect of anions on copper catalyst stability and selectivity. He also worked on CO2RR with CERT Systems in the Sinton Lab at the University of Toronto, where he led a study on using multi-sine EIS to monitor electrolyzer health. His thesis work will focus on analyzing the carbonate reduction system.