top of page

Research

Materials

Concrete is the most used material on the earth, second to water. Cement, the glue of concrete, is responsible for 8% of global CO2 emission and 5% of energy use. How to decarbonize carbon-intensive cement, convert CO2 to carbon-negative cement, and co-benefit other industries? How to add value to the margin-sensitive industry?

​

Replacing cement with energy industry's byproducts can significantly decarbonize different sectors. These low- or carbon-negative materials exhibit higher performance than ordinary cement.

Potential solutions to further reduce the environmental impacts of the systems are being explored. The valorization of cement-based materials for high-value end use is being investigated.

​​

C8B3C67C-D685-4ABC-BD09-E15CAFED2FD8.jpeg

Nanostructure of low-carbon cement

Experimental tools

​To tackle complicated problems and understand the nature of complex low-carbon or carbon-negative materials as well as high-performance high-value products, state-of-the-art experimental tools are necessary, such as advanced synchrotron-radiation-based characterization techniques (X-ray Absorption ​Near-Edge Structure, Soft X-ray Ptychography, High-Pressure X-ray Diffraction​, High-Pressure X-ray Raman Scattering Spectroscopy, Micro Computed Tomography). Conventional tools are also useful (e.g., calorimeter, Raman)

​

The laboratory uses concrete 3D printer, isothermal calorimeter, thermogravimetric analyzer, Raman, mass spectrometer, CO2 incubator, high-temperature furnace, vacuum oven, potentiostat, booster, large reactors, etc. 

Micro tomography.png

Concrete microstructure using μCT

Modelling

​Modeling approaches are powerful to unveiling the environmental impacts (e.g., CO2-emission-induced global warming potential) and energy use of the infrastructure materials and built environment. The correlation between engineering performance and environmental performance is critical to sustainability and decarbonization at scale. 

​

Life-cycle assessment is a methodology for evaluating the environmental impacts associated with stages of the life cycle of products. 

​

Techno-economic analysis is a methodology for modeling the cost and scalability of new technologies.

​

The team uses OpenLCA with up-to-date databases.

LCA_edited.jpg

Environmental impact of cement production

Personal:  me at Jiaqi.Li

Work:  Licee at umich.edu

© 2025 by Jiaqi Li. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page