🎓 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)