Dr. Chil-Hung Cheng

In Chil-Hung Cheng’s lab, something is always cooking. Cheng is developing recipes for creating porous materials with structures that can selectively capture different molecules. The technology could help lead to a greener world, particularly in the case of coal plants where porous membranes could be used to bind harmful greenhouse gases before they reach the atmosphere.

"Porous materials have phenomenal functionalities,” says Cheng. “The critical point is figuring out how to synthesize the unique structure, which is what I'm focusing on.”

However, predicting membrane structure is a challenging process. “You put liquid inside a container, bake it, and sometimes it’s a needle shape and sometimes it’s a disk,” says Cheng. “We don’t understand how it forms yet. But in the next five years, I want to find out.”