Dr. Ritambhara Gond |Energy Storage | Young Scientist Award

🎓 Education:

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.) (2014-2019) Faraday Materials Laboratory, Materials Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India Thesis: Electrochemical and electrocatalytic investigation of pyrophosphate and metaphosphate family of battery insertion materials Advisor: Prof. Prabeer Barpanda. Master of Science (M. Sc.) (2011-2013) Department of Chemistry, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, India. Bachelor of Science (B. Sc. Hons.) (2008-2011) Department of Chemistry, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, India

🏢 Professional Experience:

• Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-present)
  • Department of Chemistry, Ångström Laboratory, Structural Chemistry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
  • Advisors: Prof. Reza Younesi and Dr. Jiefang Zhu
  • Funded by ÅForsk and the Swedish Energy Agency
• Visiting Researcher (1 week, Nov 2023)
  • MAX IV Beamline BALDER, synchrotron radiation facility in Lund, Sweden
  • Beamline Scientist: Dr. Susan Nehzati
  • Funded by the STINT project in collaboration with Sejong University, South Korea
• Research Associate (Aug-Oct 2019)
  • Materials Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India
  • Advisor: Prof. Prabeer Barpanda
  • Funded by University Grants Commission, Govt. of India
• Visiting Graduate Student (Sep-Oct 2018) (Oct 2017)
  • Laboratoire de Cristallographie et Science des Matériaux (CRISMAT), Caen, France
  • Host: Prof. Valerie Pralong
  • Funded by LAFICS: The Indo-French Laboratory for Solid State Chemistry
• Visiting Student (1 week, Nov 2018)
  • ECHIDNA Beamline, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO), Kirrawee, Australia
  • Host: Prof. Max Avdeev
  • Funded by the Department of Science and Technology DST, Govt. of India
• Visiting Graduate Student (June 2017)
  • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS)
  • Host: Prof. Stefan Adams
• Visiting Project Trainee (1 month, Nov-Dec 2013)
  • Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Fuel Reprocessing and Chemistry Division, Anushaktinagar, Bombay
  • Hosts: Prof. Subhash Chandra Tripathi and Prof. Avesh Kumar Tyagi
• Junior Research Fellow (July 2013-May 2014)
  • Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Banaras Hindu University (BHU)
  • PI: Prof. Dhanesh Tiwari
  • Funded by the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences, Govt. of India
• Summer Intern Student (May-June 2012)
  • Inorganic Chemistry Department, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), India
  • Host: Prof. Abhishek Dey
  • Funded by Indian Academy of Science, IAS

🏅 Awards & Honors:

2024 Best Poster Award (HKD 1500) – 22nd International Meeting on Lithium Batteries (IMLB-2024), HKSAR, 2024 ÅForsk Travek Grant (SEK 27000) – ÅForsk Foundation, Sweden, 2019 ECS F.M. Becket Summer Fellowship (USD 5000) – The Electrochemical Society (ECS), USA, 2019 Ludo-Frevel Crystallography Scholarship Award (USD 2500) – The International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD), USA, 2019 Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award – Society for Research & Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies, India, 2017 Best Poster Award (SGD 200) – ICMAT-2017 Biennial Conference, IUMRS-MRS Singapore, 2013 Qualified for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) – University Grants Commission (UGC), India, 2012 Qualified for National Eligibility Test (NET National Level Competition) – University Grants Commission (UGC), India, 2011 Summer Research Fellowship – Indian Academy of Science (IAS), India

🔬 Research Focus:

Polyanionic insertion materials for sodium-ion batteries and lithium-ion batteries, Polyanionic electrocatalysts as an air-cathode for metal-air batteries, Electrolytes for long-lasting and fast-charging Sodium ion Batteries, Hard carbon as anode and the complex interfaces in sodium-ion batteries, Inorganic material synthesis (sol-gel, hydrothermal, combustion, wet chemistry, etc.), Crystallographic structural analysis (Rietveld refinement using GSAS, FullProf software), Evaluation of electrochemical and electrocatalytic properties, Computational modeling (ion migration study by Bond Valence Site Energy calculations)

🛠️ Skills:

Inorganic materials synthesis (solid-state and suites of solvothermal synthesis). Powder diffraction (X-ray, Synchrotron, Neutron diffraction methods, Rietveld analysis). Physical analyses (electron microscopy, thermal analysis, Raman/UV-VIS/FT-IR spectroscopy). Spectroscopy analysis (Mössbauer, ICP-OES, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy). Electrochemical characterization (Conductivity measurements, galvanostatic charge-discharge, ICI, GITT/PITT, impedance spectroscopy, chronoamperometry, electrocatalysis, particularly O2 electrocatalysis in alkaline media). Soft BV calculation for migration barrier calculation (Soft BV software)