Research interests

Simon is interested in development and implementation of materials and technologies for carbon dioxide removal, the interface between carbon capture technologies with carbon conversion to develop a circular carbon economy, and systems analysis for carbon removal and energy technologies. He leads DOE-funded projects spanning topics from fundamental investigations of direct air capture materials degradation mechanisms to development of hybrid reactive capture processes that integrate carbon capture and conversion. He leads the Direct Air Capture pillar of the LLNL Carbon Initiative.

Current position(s)

• Associate Group Leader, Materials for Energy and Climate Security
• Direct Air Capture Lead, LLNL’s Engineering the Carbon Economy Initiative

Subject matter expertise

• Direct air capture of carbon dioxide
• Carbon capture and catalytic conversion
• Functional porous materials and polymers
• Adsorption, surface chemistry and catalysis

Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, 2014

B.S., Chemical Engineering, Cornell University, 2009

Selected publications

Li, S.; Guta, Y.; Calegari Andrade, M. F.; Hunter-Sellars, E.; Maiti, A.; Varni, A. J.; Tang, P.; Sievers, C.*; Pang, S. H.*; Jones, C. W.* Competing Kinetic Consequences of CO₂ on the Oxidative Degradation of Branched Poly(ethylenimine). J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 28201–28213.

Calegari Andrade, M. F.*; Li, S.*; Pham, T. A.; Akhade, S. A.; Pang, S. H.* Machine Learning Demonstrates the Impact of Proton Transfer and Solvent Dynamics on CO₂ Capture in Liquid Ammonia. Chem. Sci. 2024, 15, 13173–13180.

Li, S.*; Céron, M. R.; Eshelman, H. V.; Varni, A. J.; Maiti, A.; Akhade, S. A.; Pang, S. H.* Probing the Kinetic Origin of Varying Oxidative Stability of Ethyl- vs. Propyl-spaced Amines for Direct Air Capture. ChemSusChem 2023, 16, e2022019.

Freyman, M. C.; Huang, Z.; Ravikumar, D.; Duoss, E. B.; Li, Y.*; Baker, S. E.*; Pang, S. H.*; Schaidle, J. A.* Reactive CO₂ Capture: A Path Forward for Process Integration in Carbon Management. Joule 2023, 7, 631–651.

Pang, S. H.; Lively, R. P.; Jones, C. W. Oxidatively-stable Linear Poly(propylenimine)-Containing Adsorbents for CO₂ Capture from Ultra-Dilute Streams. ChemSusChem 2018, 11, 2628–2637.

Pang, S. H.; Lee, L.-C.; Sakwa-Novak, M. A.; Lively, R. P.; Jones, C. W. Design of Aminopolymer Structure to Enhance Performance and Stability of CO₂ Sorbents: Poly(propylenimine) vs. Poly(ethylenimine). J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 3627–3630.

Pang, S. H.; Schoenbaum, C. A.; Schwartz, D. K.; Medlin, J. W. Directing Reaction Pathways by Catalyst Active-Site Selection using Self-Assembled Monolayers. Nature Commun. 2013, 4:2448.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. A Research Agenda Toward Atmospheric Methane Removal. 2024.

Pett-Ridge, J.; Ammar, H. Z.; Aui, A.; Ashton, M.; Baker, S. E.; Basso, B.; Bradford, M.; Bump, A. P.; Busch, I.; Calzado, E. R.; Chirigotis, J. W.; Clauser, N.; Crotty, S.; Dahl, N.; Dai, T.; Ducey, M.; Dumortier, J.; Ellebracht, N. C.; Egui, R. E.; Fowler, A.; Georgiou, K.; Giannopoulos, D.; Goldstein, H.; Harris, T.; Hayes, D.; Hellwinckel, C.; Ho, A.; Hong, M.; Hovorka, S.; Hunter-Sellars, E.; Kirkendall, W.; Kuebbing, S.; Langholtz, M.; Layer, M.; Lee, I.; Lewis, R.; Li, W.; Liu, W.; Lozano, J. T.; Lunstrum, A.; Mayer, A. C.; Mayfield, K. K.; McNeil, W.; Nico, P.; O’Rourke, A.; Pang, S. H.; Paustian, K.; Peridas, G.; Pilorge, H.; Pisciotta, M.; Price, L.; Psarras, P.; Robertson, G. P.; Sagues, W. J.; Sanchez, D. L.; Scown, C. D.; Schmidt, B. M.; Slessarev, E. W.; Sokol, N.; Stanley, A. J.; Swan, A.; Toureene, C.; Wong, A. A.; Wright, M. M.; Yao, Y.; Zhang, B.; Zhang, Y.; Aines, R. D. Roads to Removal: Options for Carbon Dioxide Removal in the United States. 2023. LLNL-TR-852901

Baker, S. B.; Stolaroff, J. K.; Peridas, G.; Pang, S. H.; Goldstein, H. M.; Lucci, F. R.; Li, W.; Slessarev, E. W.; Pett-Ridge, J.; Ryerson, F. J.; Wagoner, J. L.; Kirkendall, W.; Aines, R. D.; Sanchez, D. L.; Cabiyo, B.; Baker, J.; McCoy, S. T.; Uden, S.; Runnebaum, R.; Wilcox, J.; Psarras, P. C.; Pilorgé, H.; McQueen, N.; Maynard, D.; McCormick, C. Getting to Neutral: Options for Negative Carbon Emissions in California. 2020. LLNL-TR-796100

For a full publication list, see: Google Scholar | Scopus | ORCID

Patents

Pang, S. H.; Jue. M. L. “Support-Free Adsorbents for CO₂ Capture from Air;” US Patent no. 11,813,582 issued November 14, 2023.

Pang, S. H.; Jones, C. W.; Lee, L.-C.; Sakwa-Novak, M. A.; Sarazen, M. S. “Structures Including Supported Polyamines and Methods of Making the Supported Polyamines;” US Patent no. 11,794,164 issued October 24, 2023; US Patent no. 11,446,634 issued September 20, 2022.

Pang, S. H.; Haslam, J. J.; Kelly, J. P.; Stolaroff, J. K. “Resistive Heating Reactors for High Temperature CO₂ Upgrading;” US Patent Application no. US17/193,937.

• Ninth Annual Early and Mid-Career Recognition Award, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2023.
• Secretary of Energy Achievement Award, U.S. Department of Energy, 2021.
• Director’s Science and Technology Award, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2020.
• College of Engineering Outstanding Dissertation Award, University of Colorado, 2015.