Welcome to REL at UTC

Our Mission

Welcome to the Renewable Energy Research Lab (REL) under the direction of Dr. Sungwoo Yang in the Civil and Chemical Engineering Department at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The focus of our research has been on advanced porous materials which intersect the multidisciplinary fields of solar energy harvesting, energy-efficient buildings and atmospheric water harvesting. The goal is to bring about transformational efficiency enhancements in solar energy conversion and storage, building materials, and water by manipulating optical, thermal, and adsorptive properties of porous materials with device level considerations. The focus of my research efforts has been directed towards both: 1) fundamental research on developing new class of advanced porous materials for efficient energy conversions and atmospheric water harvesting, and 2) applied research on devices and systems including for full spectrum solar energy conversion, thermal energy storage, water harvesting devices, and energy efficient buildings.