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Emmanuel P. Giannelis

Associate Dean for Innovation

Director, Engineering Innovations in Medicine

Walter R. Read Professor of Engineering

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Emmanuel P. Giannelis
Emmanuel P. Giannelis
Graduate Field Affiliations
Applied Physics
Chemical Engineering
Material Science and Engineering
Sustainable Energy (minor)

Biography

Giannelis is the Walter R. Read Professor of Engineering and the Director of Engineering Innovations in Medicine, a collaboration between Cornell Engineering and Weill Cornell Medicine. His research interests include Nanomaterials for Energy, Biomedical, and Environmental Applications. His group is internationally recognized as one of the leading groups in nanohybrids and nanocomposites. He is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society and of the Polymer Materials Science and Engineering Division of the American Chemical Society. He has won the 2014 Cooperative Research Award from the American Chemical Society, and he is a member of the European Academy of Sciences.

Research Interests

Research in our group focuses on energy production, conversion, and storage. Currently, our efforts center around two main themes: (a) the design and synthesis of nanoparticles that self-assemble at interfaces and control the properties of emulsions and foams, and (b) the development of high surface area porous materials, including porous carbons, as sorbents and catalyst supports.

  • Emulsions and Foams
    • We investigate specially engineered nanoparticles that can withstand high-temperature, high-salinity environments and assemble at liquid–liquid or liquid–air interfaces. The assembly behavior—and ultimately the system’s properties—can be fine-tuned by controlling various parameters such as nanoparticle size, surface chemistry, and surface charge. Originally developed for oil–water emulsions, our work has expanded to include systems for CO₂ storage and the remediation of nanoplastics and perfluorinated compounds (“forever chemicals”). A notable outcome of this research is the development of fluorine-free oil-repellent coatings. This technology has been licensed by DryFiber and recently led to a joint development agreement with AGC Chemicals Americas Inc. to produce and commercialize the coatings for nonwoven fabrics and technical textiles. Discussions are underway with a new startup to license and commercialize this newly developed PFAS remediation technology.
  • Porous Materials
    • A recent addition to our portfolio of synthetic approaches includes the use of hypergolic reactions—typically used in rocket propulsion—as a novel synthetic route for porous materials. In that respect, we recently demonstrated a family of carbons with record-high surface area and porosity. These materials exhibit excellent CO₂ sorption capabilities with extremely fast adsorption kinetics. In addition, when employed as supercapacitor electrodes, they deliver exceptionally high volumetric energy density and power (the highest reported for activated carbons). The unique experimental conditions of hypergolic reactions offer a novel pathway for designing and synthesizing electrocatalysts with enhanced properties, a direction currently being extended to nanoparticle and single-atom catalysts.
  • Carbon-based Single Atoms Electrocatalysts
    • A recent extension of our synthetic approaches focuses on the design and development of single-atom electrocatalysts (SACs), in which metal active sites are atomically dispersed on various substrates including carbon-based supports, to drive advanced electrocatalysis and electrochemical conversion reactions. A central emphasis is placed on the electrochemical reduction of CO₂, with the goal of enhancing catalytic activity, improving product selectivity, and suppressing competing side reactions. Beyond their practical advantages, SACs serve as model systems with well-defined active centers, enabling mechanistic studies and the establishment of fundamental structure–property relationships.

Select Publications

  • Li, L., S. Chakrabarty, J. Jiang, B. Zhang, C. Ober, E P Giannelis. 2016.”Solubility studies of inorganic-organic hybrid nanoparticle photoresists with different surface functional groups..”Nanoscale8(3): 1338-1343.

  • Sahore, R., L P. Estevez, A. Ramanujapuram, F J. DiSalvo, E P Giannelis. 2015.”High-rate lithium-sulfur batteries enabled by hierarchical porous carbons synthesized via ice templation.” Journal of Power Sources297: 188-194.

  • Niazi, M R., R. Li, E. Qiang Li, A R. Kirmani, M. Abdelsamie, Q. Wang, W. Pan, M M. Payne, J E. Anthony, D M. Smilgies, S T. Thoroddsen, E P. Giannelis, A Amassian. 2015.”Solution-printed organic semiconductor blends exhibiting transport properties on par with single crystals.” Nature communications6: 8598-8598.

  • Turgman-Cohen, S., E P. Giannelis, F A Escobedo. 2015.”Transport Properties of Amine/Carbon Dioxide Reactive Mixtures and Implications to Carbon Capture Technologies..”ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces7(32): 17603-17613.

  • Li, L., S. Chakrabarty, K. Spyrou, C K. Ober, E P Giannelis. 2015.”Studying the Mechanism of Hybrid Nanoparticle Photoresists: Effect of Particle Size on Photopatterning.” Chemistry of Materials27(14): 5027-5031.

Select Awards and Honors

  • B.F. Dodge Distinguished Lecture, Yale University 2009
  • Dow-Karabatsos & Distinguished Alumni Lectureship, Michigan State University 2005
  • Associates Award in Applied Polymer Chemistry, PEL 1999
  • Dean's Prize for Excellence in Teaching, Cornell University 1994
  • Top 25 in Nanotechnology Citations, Information Sciences Institute

Education

  • B.S., Chemistry, University of Athens 1980
  • Ph.D., Inorganic Chemistry, Michigan State University 1985

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