ChE Seminar Series | Geoffrey M. Geise, Ph.D.

Electrification along with increasing deployment of electric vehicles and stationary energy storage will continue to drive global need for batteries, and new battery material sources are needed to prevent supply shortages. Lithium is used extensively in batteries, and several domestic brines may be suitable sources of lithium, provided it can be extracted efficiently. We have used a chemical redox-based process to selectively capture lithium into a solid intercalation material and subsequently convert it into battery grade products. This process has realized promising selectivity for lithium capture over sodium and nearly perfect selectivity for lithium capture over a range of multivalent ions, and the overall process is promising for domestic production of battery-grade lithium products. Using that lithium, for example, in redox flow batteries is compelling for integrating intermittent renewable energy sources into the grid because flow batteries offer scalable, long-duration energy storage with independent power and energy capacity. Non-aqueous redox flow batteries have advantages over aqueous systems but lack suitable membranes. We developed a membrane featuring favorable flow battery properties and selectivity, which can be explained via a thermodynamic framework. This presentation discusses selective lithium capture from brine sources and a lithium-selective membrane for an advanced non-aqueous redox flow battery.
   
Geoffrey M. Geise is an associate professor at the University of Virginia in the Department of Chemical Engineering and in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering by courtesy. His research focuses on studying the fundamentals of chemically- and electrochemically-driven small molecule transport through polymeric materials to engineer membranes that will address global water shortages and need for clean energy. He recently led a University of Virginia based team to a runner-up win in the American-Made Geothermal Lithium Extraction Prize for developing technology related to the recovery of lithium from geothermal brine sources, and his research also focuses on selective ion separations, desalination membranes, and flow battery separators. Dr. Geise is presently an editor for the Journal of Membrane Science Letters, and he has received several professional and academic awards and honors including the 2026 Permeance Prize for Mid-Career Excellence from the North American Membrane Society (NAMS), the NSF CAREER Award, Best ES&T Engineering Paper Award for 2022, Best ES&T Letters Paper Award for 2019, I&ECR 2020 Class of Influential Researchers Recognition, 2018, 2021 & 2023 Robert A. Moore, Jr. Award in Chemical Engineering, Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Award, the NAMS Young Membrane Scientist Award, the New Professor Travel Award from Engineering Conferences International, and a University of Virginia Excellence in Diversity Fellowship.