Levi T. Thompson
Professor
Chemical Engineering
University of Michigan
United States of America
Biography
Professor Thompson earned his B.ChE. from the University of Delaware, and M.S.E. degrees in Chemical Engineering and Nuclear Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He served as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education in the College of Engineering from 2001 to 2005, and is Director of the Hydrogen Energy Technology Laboratory and Director of the Michigan-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. Professor Thompson is recipient of awards including a 2006 Michiganian of the Year Award for his research, entrepreneurship, and recruitment and mentoring of students, NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, Engineering Society of Detroit Gold Award, Union Carbide Innovation Recognition Award and Dow Chemical Good Teaching Award. He is also co-founder, with his wife, of T/J Technologies, a developer of nanomaterials for advanced batteries; Dr. Thompson served as founding CEO and Board Chair until the company was acquired by A123 Systems in 2006. He recently founded Inmatech to commercialize low cost, high energy density supercapacitors. Professor Thompson was Consulting Editor for the AIChE Journal, and served on the National Academy’s Chemical Sciences Roundtable, External Advisory Committee for the Center of Advanced Materials for Purification of Water with Systems, and AIChE Chemical Engineering Technology Operating Council. He presently serves on the DoE Hydrogen Technology Advisory Committee, University of Delaware Chemical Engineering Department Advisory Committee and AIChE Board of Directors, as well as the Board of Trustees for the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation.
Research Interest
Research in his group focuses on the design, synthesis and characterization of chemicals and nanostructured materials for catalytic and energy storage applications. Of particular interest is the development structure-function relationships that enable the design of highly efficient materials. Current projects to develop nanostructured catalytic materials focus on: hydrogen production (e.g. water gas shift and photoelectrochemical reactions) synfuels production (e.g. Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis, and CO2 hydrogenation) biomass deoxygenation (e.g. hydrodeoxygenation and decarbonylation) NOx abatement (e.g. oxidation and selective catalytic reduction) Current projects to develop materials with high energy and/or power densities focus on: nanostructured nitrides and carbides for supercapacitors nanostructured oxides for lithium and magnesium ion batteries metal coordination complexes for redox flow batteries
Publications
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“Metal Acetylacetonate Complexes for High Energy Density Non-Aqueous Redox Flow Batteries,†J.A. Suttil, J.F. Kucharyson, P.J. Cabrera, M.S. Sanford and L.T. Thompson, J. Mater. Chem. A 3, 7929-7938 (2015). doi: 10.1039/C4TA06622G
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“Performance of a Non-aqueous Vanadium Acetylacetonate Prototype Redox Flow Battery: Examination of Separators and Capacity Decay,†Ismailia L. Escalante-Garcia, Jesse S. Wainright, Levi T. Thompson, and Robert F. Savinell, J. Electrochem. Soc. 162(3), A363-A372 (2015). doi: 10.1149/2.0471503jes
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“Synthesis and Characterization of Hematite Nanotube Arrays for Photocatalysis,†T. Mushove, T.M. Breault and L.T. Thompson, Indust. & Eng. Chem. Res. 54, 4285 (2015). doi:10.1021/IE504585Q
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“Low-Temperature CO2 Hydrogenation to Liquid Products via a Heterogeneous Cascade Catalytic System,†Yuan Chen, Saemin Choi, and Levi T. Thompson, ACS Catal. 5, 1717–1725 (2015). doi:10.1021/CS501656X
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“Effects of Surface Oxygen on Charge Storage in High Surface Area Early Transition-Metal Carbides and Nitrides,†Abdoulaye Djire, Olabode T. Ajenifujah, Alice E.S. Sleightholme, Paul Rasmussen and Levi T. Thompson, J. Power Sources 275, 159 (2015). doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.10.161
