Rong Kou, Ph.D.

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Rong Kou, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Director of Lyle Lab Operations and Safety

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Education

  • Post-Doctoral Fellow: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

  • Ph.D. Department of Chemical Engineering, Tulane University

  • M.S. Department of Chemical Engineering, Arizona State University

  • B.S. Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University

Biography

Prof. Rong Kou received her B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University, Arizona State University and Tulane University, respectively. After graduation, Prof. Kou worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where she developed functional catalysts for fuel cell technology. She then transitioned to small businesses, focusing on the commercialization of novel materials for energy technologies. In 2019, she joined Penn State as an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Prof. Kou's research focuses on material characterization for energy storage technologies, collaborating with faculty members at Penn State’s Battery and Energy Storage Technology Center. She employs a variety of characterization techniques to understand the properties and mechanism of battery materials, electrodes, and cells. Prof. Kou

has authored or co-authored 20 peer-reviewed publications with over 5311 citations, and she has an H-index of 20. Prof. Kou has served as a principal investigator (PI), Co-PI, and key personnel in several state and federally funded projects related to the development and characterization of new energy storage technologies.

Honors and Awards

  • First place (in Scientific Category) in the 2021 Materials Visualization Competition

Research

  • Characterization of Energy Storage Materials, Electrodes and Cells

  • Fuel Cell Catalysts

  • Battery Safety and Failure Mechanisms

Recent Publications

  • Shan,S., Parekh, M., Kou, R., Wang, D., Rahn, C., Increasing the Cycle Life of Zinc Metal Anodes and Nickel-Zinc Cells Using Flow-through Alkaline Electrolytes, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 2024, 171.3.

  • Mackereth, M., Kou, R. and Anwar, S., Zinc-ion Battery Research and Development: A Brief Overview. European Journal of Engineering and Technology Research, 2024, 8, 5, 70–73.

  • Shan, S., Parekh, M., Kou, R, Wang, D, Rahn, C., Aqueous Zinc Sulfate Flow Through A Copper Mesh Anode Improves Zinc Metal Electrodeposition Morphology and Impedance, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 2023, 170, 9.

  • Kou, R., Shao, Y., Mei, D., Nie, Z., Wang, D., Wang, C., Viswanathan, V. V., Park, S., Aksay, I. A., Lin, Y., Wang, Y., Liu, J., Stabilization of Electrocatalytic Metal Nanoparticles at Metal−Metal Oxide−Graphene Triple Junction Points. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2011, 133, 2541-2547.

  • Kou, R., Shao, Y. Y., Wang, D. H., Engelhard, M. H., Kwak, J. H., Wang, J., Viswanathan, V. V., Wang, C. M., Lin, Y. H., Wang, Y., Aksay, I. A., Liu, J., Enhanced Activity and Stability of Pt Catalysts on Functionalized Graphene Sheets for Electrocatalytic oxygen reduction. Electrochemistry Communications, 2009, 11, 954-957.

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