While more than 2 billion people have been working themselves out of poverty, world energy demand has been growing rapidly. The abatement of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission and access to secure and plentiful energy and materials remain two of the biggest and interconnected grand challenges currently faced by humanity with implications for climate change, economic development, and ecosystem stability. To meet these challenges, Park Research Group aims to advance the understanding of scientific and engineering fundamentals for Sustainable energy and materials conversion research with an emphasis on Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS).

Our group’s current research focuses on the development of novel nano-scale materials for combined CO₂ capture and conversion as well as innovative CO₂ utilization and storage options based on unique carbonate chemistry involving silicate minerals while recovering valuable materials such as rare earth elements. We are also working on a new concept of urban mining where we recover metals (e.g., copper and gold) and energy from electronic wastes and industrial wastes (e.g., ashes from waste-to-energy plants and slags from steelmaking plants). Founded on these new materials and reaction schemes, we create innovative fuel synthesis pathways using unconventional energy sources such as marine biomass and municipal solid wastes while minimizing environmental impacts, specifically by reducing CO₂ emission. In particular, the combined capture and conversion of CO₂ to dense energy carriers provides innovative long-term energy storage potential that is needed for current intermittent renewable energy systems.