Luke Haverhals

Biography

Dr. Luke Haverhals graduated from Northwestern College (Orange City, IA) with a B.A. in chemistry. During the summer before his senior year as an undergraduate, he performed research in the spectroscopic analysis of supercritical fluids with Dr. Frank Baglin at the University of Nevada, Reno. Dr. Haverhals earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Iowa working in laboratory of Dr. Johna Leddy in the area of electrochemistry. Dr. Haverhals’ research spanned construction and testing of polymer electrolyte fuel cells with magnetically modified electrodes for energy conversion as well as employing fuel cells as sensors with novel digital signal processing to identify analytes of interest within human breath. After receiving his doctorate in 2008, Dr. Haverhals went on to spend 5 years as an Assistant Research Professor at the United States Naval Academy working under the mentorship of Dr. Paul Trulove. At the US Naval Academy, Dr. Haverhals’ research focused on the development of novel ionic liquid-based processing of biomaterials and the characterization of new sustainable high performance biobased composite materials that are alternatives to petroleum-based plastics. In 2013, Dr. Haverhals joined the Mund-Lagowski Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry of Bradley University as an Assistant Professor. At Bradley, Dr. Haverhals has continued to be active in the field of ionic liquids, in particular, fundamental chemistries for electrochemistry and energy storage as well as natural materials processing. He is the co-author of 29 peer reviewed publications as well over 90 presentations at regional, national, and international conferences. Dr. Haverhals is a co-inventor of 4 issued patents and more than 10 patents pending. In 2015, Dr. Haverhals founded Natural Fiber Welding, Inc. which is commercializing sustainable manufacturing processes for high value, functional materials produced from biomass and waste fiber.

Teaching

Dr. Haverhals’ area of expertise is primarily within Analytical Chemistry. He has taught the following courses:

• Analytical Chemistry Lab
• Instrumental Analysis Lab (undergraduate and graduate)
• Electrochemistry (graduate)
• Chemical Kinetics (graduate)
• General Chemistry I
• General Chemistry I Lab

Scholarship

The research activities of the Haverhals research group span a range of analytical and physical chemical areas of investigation and with applications to materials science. In particular, Dr. Haverhals’ research program lies at the intersection of analytical science and engineering to solve hard problems in materials science. For example, it is well known that the multi-trillion dollar per year petroleum industry provides important functionalities/materials that enable the relatively high standards of living enjoyed by those (~2 billion of us) in developed countries. Unfortunately, the petroleum industry is unsustainable and severely limits human standards of living worldwide due to limited resources available to 7+ billion people. For the past 9 years, Dr. Haverhals has been developing a platform manufacturing technology called ‘Natural Fiber Welding’ (NFW) that will solve many of the problems associated with the resources (cost) required to produce the materials that would enable high standards of living globally. Tunable NFW processes create robust, high performance materials directly from biomass (agriculture) without use of glues and/or resins. In so doing, natural fiber substrates are converted into composites that outperform unsustainable synthetic materials while also preserving resources, reducing costs, and facilitating ‘closed loop’ economies that distributes scalable manufacturing to 7+ billion people. Moreover, because natural materials (i.e., cotton, hemp, agave, silk, wool, chitin, wood, et cetera) have rich chemistries, new functionalities can be imparted that are not possible with synthetics alone (i.e, cotton-based textiles that store electricity while simultaneously resisting fire and melting).

To innovate and solve hard problems in materials science requires an intimate and deep foundation in the fundamentals of chemistry. Dr. Haverhals’ group is presently pursuing multiple tracks of research that span both fundamental and applied experimentation. Within a fundamental research thrust, the Haverhals research group is applying state-of-the-art laser-based infrared spectroscopy instrumentation and techniques to understanding fundamental interactions between ionic liquids with other materials – especially during electrochemical perturbation. This fundamental project provides insights as to what is ‘allowed’ in the universe and may someday find traction in applications ranging from sensing dangerous gases to healthcare/medicine and even low cost, safe energy storage built into the walls of buildings. At the same time, an applied research thrust is focused on collaborating with an extensive network of academic and government collaborators (i.e., US Department of Agriculture, US Naval Academy, Johns Hopkins, Marquette University, et cetera) as well as industry partners (i.e., Natural Fiber Welding, Inc.) to innovative practical chemistry and chemical engineering techniques to generate fiber-based composites and then characterize these nature-based materials using analytical tools. In particular, the Haverhals group characterizes materials at Bradley U with x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, infrared microscopy, mechanical properties testing, et cetera to provide insight towards better process design. In so doing, the Haverhals group employs efficient iterative feedback loops to perfect sustainable materials that replace and outclass conventional incumbent materials across a wide variety of applications. The Haverhals group is grateful for extensive funding support from the US Army Research Office, the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Natural Fiber Welding, Inc., and also for generous support from Bradley University that not only has provided world class instrumentation and facilities, but also a wide range of opportunities for mentored undergraduate and graduate research.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS from 2010 to 2016 (*undergraduate and **graduate student co-author):

**D. P. Durkin, T. Ye, *E. Larson, L. M. Haverhals, K. Livi, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, H. D. Fairbrother, D. Shuai, “Lignocellulose Fiber- and Welded Fiber- Supports for Palladium Based Catalytic Hydrogenation: A Natural Fiber Welding Application for Water Treatment”, ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 2016, 4 (10) 5511–5522.

*M. K. Malik, *J. R. Chrestenson, *D. Parr IV, *D. Gray, *H. Mitiku, T. Kahila, A. Malinowski, J. Sánchez,, and L. M. Haverhals, “Probing Ionic Liquid/Electrode Interfaces by Hyperspectral Imaging”, ECS Transactions, 2016, 75 (15) 545-553.

*D. Parr IV, *J. Chrestenson, *M. K. Malik, *M. Molter, *C. Zibart, *B. Egan, L. M. Haverhals, “Structure and Dynamics at Ionic Liquid/Electrode Interfaces”, ECS Transactions, 2015, 66, 35-42.

B. Tisserat, *E. Larson, *D. Gray, *N. Dexter, *L. Moore, *C. Meunier, L. M. Haverhals, “Ionic Liquid-Facilitated Preparation of Lignocellulosic Composites”, International Journal of Polymer Science, 2015, Article ID 181097, in press.

**K. Jost, D. P. Durkin, L. M. Haverhals, E. K. Brown, M. Langenstein, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, Y. Gogotsi, G. Dion, “Natural Fiber Welded Electrode Yarns for Knittable Textile Supercapacitors”, Adv. Energy Mater., 2015, 5, 1401286. (JOURNAL COVER)

M. P. Foley, L. M. Haverhals, *D. K. Klein, *W. B. McIlvaine, W. M. Reichert, D. W. O’Sullivan, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, “Catalytic Depolymerization of Microcrystalline Cellulose Accomplished in an Ionic Liquid”, Am. J. Biomass Bioenergy, 2014, 3, 68-82.

L. M. Haverhals, *E. E. Christman, W. M. Reichert, S. Nazare, M. Zammarano, J. W. Gilman, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, “Ionic Liquid Facilitated Introduction of Functional Materials into Biopolymer Polymer Substrates”, ECS Transactions, 2012, 50, 631-640.

L. M. Haverhals, M. P. Foley, E. K. Brown, *L. M. Nevin, D. M. Fox, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, “Ionic Liquid-based Solvents for Natural Fiber Welding”, ECS Transactions, 2012, 50, 603-613.

L. M. Haverhals, E. K. Brown, M. P. Foley, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, “Formation of Surface Structures on Biopolymer Substrates Through the Inkjet Printing of Ionic Liquids”, ECS Transactions, 2012, 50, 615-621.

E. K. Brown, L. M. Haverhals, M. P. Foley, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, “Electrospinning of Cellulose from Ionic Liquid - Co-Solvent Systems”, ECS Transactions, 2012, 50, 595-602.

D. M. Fox, M. Zammarano, M. Novy, L. M. Haverhals, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, “Dispersion of Organically Modified Layered Silicates in Melt Blended Poly(lactic acid) Composites: Effects of Cation Head Groups and Oxygenated Alkyl Chains”, ECS Transactions, 2012, 50, 665-675.

L. M. Haverhals, *L. M. Nevin, M. P. Foley, E. K. Brown, H. C. De Long, P. C Trulove, “Fluorescence Monitoring of Ionic Liquid-facilitated Biopolymer Mobilization and Reorganization”, Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 6417-6419.

D. M. Fox, J. Lee, M. Zammarano, D. Katsoulis, D. V. Eldred, L. M. Haverhals, P. C. Trulove, H. C. De Long, J. W. Gilman, “Char–Forming Behavior of Nanofibrillated Cellulose Treated with Glycidyl Phenyl POSS”, Carbohydr. Polym., 2012, 88, 847-858.

L. M. Haverhals, H. M. Sulpizio, Z. A. Fayos, M. A. Trulove, W. M. Reichert, M. P. Foley, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, “Process Variables that Control Natural Fiber Welding: Time, Temperature, and Amount of Ionic Liquid”, Cellulose, 2012, 19, 13-22.

L. M. Haverhals, W. M. Reichert, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, “Natural Fiber Welding”, Macromol. Mater. Eng., 2010, 295, 425-430. (JOURNAL COVER)

SELECTED CONFERENCE PAPERS, POSTERS AND INVITED TALKS (2010-2016)

(presenter underlined; *undergraduate and **graduate student co-author)

L. M. Haverhals, *M. K. Malik, *J. R. Chrestenson, *D. Parr IV, *H. Mitiku, *D. Gray, T. Kahila, A. Malinowski, J. Sánchez, “Probing Ionic Liquid/Electrolyte Interfaces by Hyperspectral Imaging”, 230th ECS Meeting, 6 October, 2016, Honolulu, Hawaii.

L. M. Haverhals, **D. P. Durkin, **K. Jost, E. K. Brown, S. Malkedkar, G. Dion, Y. Gogotsi, H. C. De Long, B. Tisserat, and P. C. Trulove, “Natural Fiber Welded Composites: Electrodes and Capacitors”, 228th ECS Meeting, 14 October, 2015, Phoenix, Arizona. (INVITED)

L. M. Haverhals, *D. Parr, *M. Molter, *K. Malik, *J. Chrestenson, *C. Zibart, *B. Egan, “Structure and Dynamics at Ionic Liquid/Electrode Interfaces”, 227th ECS Meeting, 26 May, 2015, Chicago, Illinois.

*C. Zibart, *B. Egan, and *D. Parr, H. Morris, **Alexei Tivanski, L. M. Haverhals, “Microstructure at the Ionic Liquid/Electrode Interface”, 226th ECS Meeting, 8 October, 2014, Cancun, Mexico.

L. M. Haverhals, E. K. Brown, K. D. Sweely, **D. P. Durkin, M. P. Foley, *C. Meunier, *D. Gray, *E. Larson, *N. Dexter, *L. Moore, K. Pelphrey, B. Tisserat, *E. E. Christman, *L. M. Nevin, D. M. Fox, **K. Jost, G. Dion, Y. Gogotsi, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, “Rethinking ‘Sustainable’ and ‘Renewable’: Functional Bioplastics Composites from Natural Substrates”, Physical, Environmental and Analytical Chemistry Joint Seminar - University of Iowa, 24 April, 2014, Iowa City, Iowa. (INVITED)

L. M. Haverhals, E. K. Brown, K. D. Sweely, M. P. Foley, D. P. Durkin, *E. E. Christman, *A. E. Brenner, *L. M. Nevin, D. M. Fox, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, “Natural Fiber Welding: Ionic Liquid-Facilitated Biopolymer Mobilization and Reorganization”, Illinois Heartland Local ACS Section Speaker Series, 12 November, 2013, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois. (INVITED)

**K. Jost, D. P. Durkin, L. M. Haverhals, *C. Knittel, **J. K. McDonough, **C. R. Perez, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, G. Dion, Y. Gogotsi, “Knitted Electrochemical Capacitors for Applications in Smart Garments”, 224th ECS National Meeting, 29 October, 2013, San Francisco, California. (1ST PLACE STUDENT POSTER SESSION)

L. M. Haverhals, E. K. Brown, K. D. Sweely, M. P. Foley, D. P. Durkin, *E. E. Christman, *A. E. Brenner, *L. M. Nevin, D. M. Fox, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove “Ionic Liquid-Facilitated Biopolymer Mobilization and Reorganization”, Research Seminar – National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, 22 October, 2013, Peoria, Illinois. (INVITED)

L. M. Haverhals, *E. E. Christman, M. P. Foley, E. K. Brown, H. Szmacinski, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, “Microscopic Characterizations of Fiber Welded Biocomposite Materials”, 244th ACS National Meeting, 22 August, 2012, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (INVITED)

L. M. Haverhals, *L. M. Nevin, *E. E. Christman, M. P. Foley, D. M. Fox, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, “Natural Fiber Welding - Ionic Liquid Facilitated Biopolymer Mobilization and Reorganization”, 243rd ACS National Meeting, 27 March, 2012, San Diego, California. (INVITED)

L. M. Haverhals, *L. M. Nevin, *E. E. Christman, *D. K. D. Klein, *R. W. Burdon, *Z. A. Fayos, *H. M. Sulpizio, M. P. Foley, W. M. Reichert, D. M. Fox, M. Zammarano, J. W. Gilman, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, “Characterization of Natural Fiber Welded Biocomposites”, Analytical Chemistry Seminar - University of Iowa, 27 October, 2011, Iowa City, Iowa. (INVITED)

P. C. Trulove, L. M. Haverhals, *R. W. Burdon, M. P. Foley, W. M. Reichert, H. C. De Long, “Natural Fiber Welding - Ionic Liquid Facilitated Biopolymer Mobilization and Reorganization”, 4th International Congress on Ionic Liquids (COIL-4), 15 June, 2011, Arlington, Virginia. (INVITED)

L. M. Haverhals, *Z. A. Fayos, *H. M. Sulpizio, W. M. Reichert, M. P. Foley, P. C. Trulove, H. C. De Long, “Spectroscopic Characterization of Natural Fiber Welding”, 37th National FACSS Meeting, 18 October, 2010, Raleigh, North Carolina. (INVITED)

L. M. Haverhals, *Z.A. Fayos, *H. M. Sulpizio, W.M. Reichert, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, “Natural Fiber Welding”, EUCHEM 2010 Conference on Ionic Liquids and Molten Salts, 16 March, 2010, Bamberg, Germany.

L. M. Haverhals, *C. L. DaBronzo, J. L. Schlessman, *Z. A. Fayos, *H. M. Sulpizio, W. M. Reichert, H. C. De Long, P. C. Trulove, “Activity of Green Fluorescent Protein in Ionic Liquid Solvent Systems”, EUCHEM 2010 Conference on Ionic Liquids and Molten Salts, 15 March, 2010, Bamberg, Germany.

Service

Since joining Bradley University, Dr. Haverhals has helped to manage and maintain the instrument holdings in the Mund-Lagowski Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He presently serves as Bradley University’s faculty representative to the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. Dr. Haverhals is a member of the American Chemical Society (2008 - Present), the Electrochemical Society (2003 – Present; Member at Large 2015 - Present), and the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry (2005 - Present). Dr. Haverhals was the Lead Organizer for the Molten Salts and Ionic Liquids 20 Symposium at 230th ECS Meeting, 2-7 October, 2016, Honolulu, Hawaii. He is a reviewer for numerous journals and government funding agencies.