Physico-chemical interactions at interfaces are ubiquitous across multiple industries, including energy, medical, water, agriculture, transportation, and consumer products. In this talk, I will summarize how surface/interface chemistry, morphology, and thermal and electrical properties can be engineered across multiple length scales to achieve significant efficiency enhancements in a wide range of processes. These approaches involve both passive and active manipulation of interfaces. First, I will describe a variety of slippery interfaces that can significantly reduce interfacial friction for efficient dispensing of viscous products, enhance thermal transport in heating and cooling systems, provide anti-icing solutions, and create self-healing barriers for protection against scaling. I will then discuss active strategies, such as engineering charge transfer to alter multiphase flows for applications like water harvesting, anti-dust systems for solar panels, and reducing agricultural runoff to address critical challenges at the energy-water and water-agriculture nexus. Next, I will highlight our efforts in decarbonization, focusing on CO₂ capture and conversion and hydrogen electrolyzers. These efforts include enhancing electrochemical and biological methods for CO₂ capture and conversion. Specifically, I will discuss recent advancements we have made in CO₂ capture from point sources and direct air capture (DAC), marine CO₂ removal and conversion of CO₂ conversion to valuable products. On hydrogen electrolyzers, we will discuss the role of electrochemical bubbles and approaches to optimize catalyst distribution for enhanced performance.

In parallel, I will discuss ongoing research in biomedical technologies, spanning biomanufacturing to ovarian cancer treatment. I will present surface engineering strategies designed to prevent thrombosis and biofilm formation, tailor cell adhesion and protein adsorption, and enhance the biomanufacturing value chain. Inspired by slippery surface technologies, I will introduce a improved methodology for subcutaneous injection of highly viscous biologics, expanding the range of injectable formulations and improving healthcare accessibility. Furthermore, I will describe scalable approaches to protein separation via undersaturated crystallization, promoted through in-situ templating, which can enable continuous biomanufacturing. Finally, I will detail passive and active techniques for enhancing bioreactors by preventing foam buildup. Our non-invasive approach eliminates the need for defoamers, preventing cell death caused by bubble rupture and optimizing reactor space utilization.

Throughout the talk, I will touch on manufacturing and scale-up strategies, robust materials and processes, and entrepreneurial efforts to translate these technologies into impactful products and markets. Interwoven with these discussions, I will share insights from the start-up companies I have co-founded.