Stuart Licht

Stuart Lawrence Licht is an American chemist and academic. He is a Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at George Washington University (GWU). Licht's research focuses on carbon capture to mitigate climate change and the electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide into nanocarbons and other useful society stables, as well as solar energy, battery chemistry, and physical/analytical chemistry.

His earlier works primarily focused on fundamental physical and analytical chemistry, high efficiency solar cells, and photo-electrochemistry. This included the use of cesium to increase solar cell voltage and solar cells that could store energy for night time use. Prof. Licht's focus expanded to include, electron transfer, batteries and fuel cells, including making the first practical aqueous sulfur batteries (overcoming sulfur inherited insulating properties), super iron batteries (based on iron molecules in a plus six oxidative state, which previously was thought impossible to stabilize), the assembling of micro-electrodes, vanadium diboride batteries and air batteries (redox of 11 or over 11 electrons per vanadium diboride molecule and has energy density over that of gasoline at times), and in 2013 the molten air battery.

After 2009, his work primarily shifted to focus on generating useful molecules, such as graphene nanocarbons (such as CNT, graphene, and CNOs), ammonia, iron, solar fuels such as sungas, and hydrogen using high temperature electrolysis where heat and electricity can come from either renewable or non-renewable energy. High temperature electrolysis per equations outlined in his STEP solar energy conversion process reduces the energy needed for electrolysis with higher efficiencies than that of a heat engine, and using available heat, exogenic reactions, concentrated reactants, and the use of high ionic activity electrolytes (molten salts) facilitates the predicted and observed highest levels of electrical to chemical energy and, separately solar and climate mitigation decarbonization conversion efficiencies. From 1986 to 1988, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he studied, developed theory on, and experimented with microelectrode and chemical diffusion under the guidance of Mark S. Wrighton.

Academic career From 1988 to 1995, Licht held the Carlson Endowed Chair in Chemistry at Clark University. He subsequently served at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology from 1995 to 2003, and then chaired the Department of Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2008. He also worked as a Program Director at the National Science Foundation. In 2008, he joined George Washington University, where he became Professor Emeritus of Chemistry in 2023.

He has chaired the New England Section of the American Chemical Society and is a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society, where he founded both the New England and Israel sections.

Research Licht's research is centered on developing carbon-negative technologies. His work on liquid solar solar cells pursued (1) discovery of the role of solution chemistry in the mechanism and enhancement of photoelectrochemical (semiconductors immersed in electrolytes) solar energy conversion, (4) a light addressable sensor and (5) highest solar conversion efficiencies for solar water splitting to produce hydrogen. CO2 emitted from the Shepard 860 MW NG Power plant in Calgary, CA, using Stuart Licht Technology at his company, is directly converted to carbon nanotubes or carbon nano-onions at high purity by tuning the electrochemical conditions of the C2CNT process using the Genesis Device Modules. Both pure lithium carbonate and strontium/lithium carbonate was used in this technology, with mixed electrolyte being much cheaper and developed later on.

He is the developer of the Solar Thermal Electrochemical Photo (STEP) process, which combines solar energy and high-temperature electrolysis to eliminate or convert carbon dioxide into solid carbon nanomaterials. Examples of STEP CO2 elimination processes are STEP iron and STEP cement. STEP carbon capture converts CO2 directly into solid carbon, and in particular, a new chemistry, C2CNT (CO2 to carbon nanomaterial technology) decarbonization, which transforms carbon dioxide directly to various graphene nano-allotropes of carbon, such as carbon nanotubes and carbon nano-onions.

In a 2015 "Diamonds from the Sky" American Chemical Society press conference, Prof. Licht described the discovery and the carbon dioxide removal process. The resulting nanocarbons such as a wide variety of advanced material CNTs, graphene, nano-onions and graphene nano-scaffold, all made from CO2, The STEP Carbon Capture process is designed to both capture and utilize CO2, contributing to climate mitigation efforts.

In addition to carbon conversion, Licht has conducted research in solar water splitting, polysulfide batteries, highest power domain aluminum/permanganate, ferricyanide or peroxide batteries, Licht introduced theoretical and experimental tools for the measurement of aqueous pH beyond14 pH, He has also delineated extensive revisions of the fundamental physical chemical constants of high purity water, selenides, sulfides, and iodides. Measurement at extreme basic pH from extremely alkaline solution made by Stuart Licht in 1985. He has authored numerous scientific publications and holds patents related to physical chemistry, carbon removal, solar energy and energy storage, and books including those on photoelectrochemistry, and solar hydrogen generation. Several advances included the decarbonization electrode size was scaled from square centimeters to square meters. Additionally, the group used C2CNT CNM to make pure electrolytic buckypapers and high-strength, electrically conductive electrolytic CNT polymer and cement composites were formed.

Later on, he investigated C2CNT's CNT to create a unique, cold dusty plasma through microwave radiation efficiently shown below as an image and video. 2006 Energy Technology Research Award, Electrochemical Society 2013 Outstanding Academic Achievement Award, NEPU 2015 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award by EPA 2015 Open Innovation Energy Storage Prize, BASF 2016 Hillebrand Prize 2018 Fellow of the Electrochemical Society 2019 Distinguished Researcher Award by the George Washington University 2022 XFactor XPrize Award for the most valuable product from CO2, Carbon Corp Team Leader by Xprize Foundation.