The Ardo Group consists of a diverse Team of researchers and educators. We are committed to providing a supportive environment that fosters personal and team growth, research and personal integrity, creative thinking, collaborative brainstorming, and dissemination of new knowledge. These constitute the foundational guiding principles that underpin our daily actions, and lead to our Team's successes.
In our research, we invent new ways to leverage daily variations in terrestrial photon fluxes between the Sun, the Earth, and the Universe to help close the cycles of water, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen. More specifically, the central aim of our research program is to understand and control dynamics of non-equilibrium processes relevant to light-driven photocatalytic proton-coupled-electron-transfer (PCET) reactions (DOE EPN EFRC & formerly DOE EERE), liquid fuels (DOE LiSA Hub), protonic photovoltaics (DOE BES), and ionic ratchets (UCI), which includes interfacial ion-transfer catalysis (formerly NSF CCI CI2), excited-state proton-transfer dynamics (formerly NSF CSDM-B), oceanic carbon capture (formerly DOE ARPA-E), photoelectrochemical desalination (formerly Moore Foundation), and electrolyzer & fuel cell membranes (formerly DoD ARO).
Guided by results from computational simulations and processes that occur in Nature, our Team designs and fabricates kinetically asymmetric systems using chemical synthesis and molecular-level engineering of molecule–material structures. Specific tailoring of the mechanisms imparted by these asymmetries allows us to control photo-induced charge separation in light-driven energy conversion schemes, current rectification using electrochemical ratchets and ionic diodes made from ice or ion-exchange membranes, selective and rapid catalysis of PCET reactions and water dissociation, and local temperature using photonic and heat transfer processes. Results from each study increase fundamental knowledge of transport and transfer phenomena (ion, electron, photon, energy, heat) that dictate the function and effectiveness of technologies poised for real-world impact.
The Ardo Group is well-suited for students and postdoctoral scholars with various backgrounds and expertise, spanning the disciplines of chemistry, applied physics, chemical engineering, materials science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and biophysics. Click on the following links to watch a short video from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation that explains the Ardo Group's photo-ionic desalination concept and Shane's Distinctive Voices Lecture (53 minutes) from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine titled "Development of a plastic water bottle for sunlight-driven desalination."
We are grateful to our sponsors for their generous support of our research program
1/3/2026: Nate presents an invited talk at the Gordon Research Seminar: Electrochemistry in Ventura, CA. Congratulations, Nate!
12/31/2025: The Ardo Group closes out 2025 with many new collaborative publications that can be found here, and include (co-)corresponding authors from the Dukovic Group at CU Boulder, Sambur Group at Colorado State Univ., Bala Chandran Group at the Univ. of Michigan, Breunig Group at LBNL, James Group at Strategic Analysis, Inc., Boettcher Group at UC Berkeley / Univ. of Oregon, Reid Group at NREL, Ferguson Group at NREL, Gish Group at NREL, Esposito Group at Columbia Univ., Surendranath Group at MIT, Patterson Group at UC Irvine, and Minus Group at Prairie View A&M Univ.
12/10/2025: Shahriar Fahim, Hongjun Park, and Jenny Yao join Team Ardo. Welcome, Fahim, Hongjun, and Jenny!
11/13/2025: Dennis's first-author publication, in collaboration with the Minus, Surendranath, and Giles Groups, titled "Synthesis of 4,5-Disubstituted o-Phenylenediamines: An Enabling Platform for Electrochemical Investigations of Interfacial Ion Transfer Reactions" is accepted for publication in The Journal of Organic Chemistry. Congratulations, Dennis, Nate, and Munho!
10/27/2025: Deniz successfully passes her preliminary oral exam in the Materials & Manufacturing Technology Engineering Program. Congratulations, Deniz!
10/14/2025: Justin's co-first-author publication, in collaboration with the Patterson, Cushing, Kudo, Pan, and Talin Groups, titled "Direct Observation of Rh and La Dopant Positions in SrTiO3 Nanoparticles with Atomic-Scale Electron Microscopy" is accepted for publication in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Congratulations, Justin and Brad!
8/15/2025: Shirley is now also Dr. Chang. Congratulations on your successful thesis defense and thank you for being determined, receptive, and devoted, Shirley!
8/1/2025: Tiffany Husni, Ethan Westfall-Gomez, and Goldie Zhang join Team Ardo. Welcome, Tiffany, Ethan, and Goldie!
7/1/2025: Shane is named a UCI Chancellor's Fellow. Congratulations, Shane!
6/16/2025: The Ardo Group and collaborators in the Segev Group receive seed funding from the UC Irvine – Tel Aviv Univeristy Joint Research Engineering call to pursue research toward "Selective ion separation in nanofluidic devices with flashing ionic ratchets." Go Team!
5/22/2025: At the annual Edward K. C. Lee Dinner and Ceremony, Nathaniel receives the prestigious Gebel Award, an award given to a chemistry graduate student working in environmental chemistry and who has had a period of work prior to graduate school. Congratulations, Nathaniel!
5/12/2025: Ethan is now also Dr. Heffernan. Congratulations on your successful thesis defense and thank you for being interdisciplinary, a master of short-cuts, and a closer, Ethan!
1/30/2025: Deniz Keskin joins Team Ardo. Welcome, Deniz!
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