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Rachel Carson College Faculty Fellows

Sikina Jinnah

Sikina Jinnah is Rachel Carson College's new faculty chair!

The Chair of the Faculty is an Academic Senate member, other than the Provost, who is elected by the college Faculty to serve a two year term, and will serve as a member of the Executive Committee.

Dr. Jinnah is an Associate Professor in the Politics Department, an affiliated faculty member in the Environmental Studies Department, and a 2017 Andrew Carnegie Fellow. Her research focuses on the shifting locations of power and influence in global environmental governance, and in particular the role of transnational actors in environmental decision-making. Her most recent projects examine how key norms in global climate politics shape power relations, the role of U.S. preferential trade agreements in shaping environmental policy in trading partner nations, and the politics of climate engineering governance. 

Yat Li
  • Title
    • Professor
  • Division Physical & Biological Sciences Division
  • Department
    • Chemistry & Biochemistry Department
  • Phone
    831-459-1952 (Office), 831-502-7363 (Lab)
  • Email
  • Website
  • Office Location
    • Physical Sciences Building, 160
    • Physical Sciences Bldg 160 (Office)
    • Physical Sciences Bldg 198 (Lab)
  • Mail Stop Chemistry
  • Mailing Address
    • 1156 High Street
    • Santa Cruz CA 95064
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise Chemistry, Material Science, Energy
  • Courses CHEM 146C Advanced Physical Chemistry Laboratory, CHEM 164 Physical Chemistry Laboratory, CHEM 163A Quantum Chemistry and Spectroscopy, CHEM 268 Solid State and Material Chemistry

Summary of Expertise

Nanomaterials Synthesis; 3D printing; Electro- and Photoelectrochemical Catalysis; Supercapacitors and Batteries; Microbial Fuel Cells

Research Interests

The Li lab focuses on the rational design and fabrication of functional materials using a combination of conventional chemical synthesis methods and 3D printing techniques. These architected materials could serve as versatile platforms to study fundamental science questions and open up new technological opportunities. We seek to understand and tailor the physical/chemical properties of these materials for addressing challenges in climate change-related research directions, including carbon capture and utilization, electro-and photoelectrochemical catalysis, and energy storage (supercapacitors and batteries).

Biography, Education and Training

B.Sc. (1999), Ph.D. (2002), The University of Hong Kong
Postdoctoral Fellow (2002-2003), The University of Hong Kong
Postdoctoral Fellow (2003-2007), Harvard University

Honors, Awards and Grants

2017-2024 Highly Cited Researcher (Clarivate Analytics)

2022 Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC)

2018 CAPA Distinguished Faculty Award (Chinese-American Chemistry & Chemical Biology Professors Association)

2012, 2013 Kavli Fellow, National Academy of Sciences

2009 U.S. National Science Foundation CAREER Award

2003-2005 Croucher Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, Croucher Foundation, Hong Kong

2002 Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fellowship, Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund, Hong Kong

2002 Li Po Chun Postgraduate Scholarship, The University of Hong Kong

 

 

Selected Publications

  1. Xue X., Liu Z., Chandrasekaran S., Eisenberg S., Althaus C., Freyman M. C., Pinongcos A., Ren Q., Valdovinos L., Hsieh C., Hu B., Dunn B., Orme C. A., Wang X., Worsley M. A., Li Y. Interface-Controlled Redox Chemistry in Aqueous Mn²⁺/MnO₂ Batteries, Advanced Materials, (2025) accepted.
  2. Ren Q., Feng L. S., Tran C., Eisenberg S., Xue X., Pinongcos A., Duoss E., Zhu C., Li Y. Interpenetrating 3D Electrodes for High-Rate Alkaline Water Splitting, ACS Materials Letters, 6, 3705–3712 (2024)
  3. Xue X., Feng L. S., Ren Q., Tran C., Eisenberg S., Pinongcos A., Valdovinos L., Hsieh C., Heo T. K., Worsley M. A., Zhu C., Li Y. Interpenetrated Structures for Enhancing Ion Diffusion Kinetics in Electrochemical Energy Storage Devices, Nano-Micro Letters, 16, 255 (2024)
  4. Xue X., Liu Z., Eisenberg S., Ren Q., Lin D., Coester E., Zhang H., Zhang J. Z., Wang X., Li Y. Regulated Interfacial Proton and Water Activity Enhances Mn2+/MnO2 Platform Voltage and Energy Efficiency, ACS Energy Letters, 8, 4658−4665 (2023)
  5. Freyman M. C., Huang Z., Ravikumar D., Duoss E. B., Li Y., Baker S. E., Pang S. H., Schaidle J. A. Reactive CO2 Capture: A Path Forward for Process Integration in Carbon Management, Joule, 7, 631-651 (2023) 
  6. Chandrasekaran S., Lin D., Li Y., Worsley M. A. Aerogels, Additive Manufacturing, and Energy Storage, Joule, 7, 1-18 (2023) 
  7. Lin D., Chandrasekaran S., Forien J. B., Xue X., Pinongcos A., Coester E., Worsley M. A., Li Y. 3D-printed Graded Electrode with Ultrahigh MnO2 Loading for Non-aqueous Electrochemical Energy Storage, Advanved Energy Materials, 2300408 (2023)
  8. Lin D. and Li Y. Recent Advances of Aqueous Rechargeable Zinc-Iodine Batteries: Challenges, Solutions, and Prospects, Advanced Materials, 2108856 (2022)
  9. Kou T., Wang S., Yang S., Ren Q., Ball R., Rao D., Chiovoloni S., Lu J., Zhang Z., Duoss E., Li Y. Amorphous CeO2-Cu Heterostructure Enhances CO2 Electroreduction to Multi-carbon Alcohols, ACS Materials Letters, 4, 10, 1999–2008 (2022)
  10. Kou T., Wang S. and Li Y. Perspective on High-Rate Alkaline Water Splitting, ACS Materials Letters, 3, 224-234 (2021)
  11. Lin D., Rao D., Chiovoloni S., Wang S., Lu J. Q. and Li Y. Prototypical Study of Double-layered Cathodes for Aqueous Rechargeable Static Zn-I2 Batteries, Nano Lett., 21, 9, 4129–4135 (2021)
  12. Yao B., Peng H., Zhang H., Kang J., Zhu C., Delgado G., Byrne D., Faulkner S., Freyman M., Lu X., Worsley M., Lu J. Q. and Li Y. Printing Porous Carbon Aerogels for Low-Temperature Supercapacitors, Nano Letters, 21, 9, 3731–3737 (2021)
  13. Wang S., Kou T., Varley J., Akhade S., Weitzner S., Baker S., Duoss E. and Li Y. Cu2O/CuS Nanocomposites Show Excellent Selectivity and Stability for Formate Generation via Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide, ACS Materials Letters, 3, 100-109 (2021)
  14. Kou T., Wang S., Shi R., Zhang T., Chiovoloni S., Lu J. Q., Chen W., Worsley M., Wood B. C., Baker S., Duoss E., Wu R., Zhu C. and Li Y. Periodic Porous 3D Electrodes Mitigate Gas Bubble Traffic during Alkaline Water Electrolysis at High Current Densities, Advanced Energy Materials, 10, 2002955 (2020) 
  15. Kou T., Chen M., Wu F., Smart T., Wang S., Wu Y., Zhang Y., Li S., Lall S., Zhang Z., Liu Y., Guo J., Wang G., Ping Y. and Li Y. Carbon Doping Switching on the Hydrogen Adsorption Activity of NiO for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction, Nature Communications, 11:590 (2020)
  16. Yao B., Chandrasekaran S., Zhang H., Ma A., Kang J., Zhang L., Lu X.H., Qian F., Zhu C., Duoss E., Spadaccini C., Worsley M. and Li Y. 3D Printed Structure Boosts the Kinetics and Intrinsic Capacitance of Pseudocapacitive Graphene Aerogels, Advanced Materials, 1906652 (2020) 
  17. Freyman M., Kou T., Wang S. and Li Y. 3D Printing of Living Bacteria Electrode, Nano Research, 13(5), 1318-1323 (2020)
  18. Yao B., Chandrasekaran S., Zhang J., Xiao W., Qian F., Zhu C., Duoss E., Spadaccini C., Worsley M., Li Y. Efficient 3D Printed Pseudocapacitive Electrodes with Ultrahigh MnO2 Loading, Joule, 3, 459-470 (2019)
  19. Kou T., Smart T., Yao B., Chen I., Thota D., Ping Y., Li Y. Theoretical and Experimental Insight into the Effect of Nitrogen Doping on Hydrogen Evolution Activity of Ni3S2 in Alkaline Medium, Advanced Energy Materials, 8, 1703538 (2018)
  20. Zhang F., Liu T., Li M., Yu M., Yang L., Tong Y., Li Y. Multi-scale Pore Network Boosts Capacitance of Carbon Electrodes for Ultrafast Charging, Nano Letters, 17, 3097-3104 (2017)
  21. Zhu C., Liu T., Qian F., Han T., Duoss E., Kuntz J., Spadaccini C., Worsley M., Li Y.Supercapacitors Based on 3D Hierarchical Graphene Aerogels with Periodic Macropores, Nano Letters, 16, 3448-3456 (2016)