Ram Deivanayagam, Ph.D.
Battery Materials Researcher | Experimental Electrochemist

Welcome to my personal website!
 

I am a materials researcher and a Ph.D. graduate from the University of Illinois Chicago. My research deals with developing electrode materials and solid electrolytes for rechargeable batteries and evaluating their performance in lab scale. For my Ph.D. thesis that I completed at the NanoEngineering Lab, I developed composite polymer electrolytes for lithium-metal and multivalent-ion batteries -- a class of batteries that can potentially be more powerful, cheaper, and safer than its present-day lithium-ion counterparts.

​

Before my Ph.D., I worked at the Nanomaterials and Energy Devices Lab of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, where I completed my Master's thesis on nanostructured electrode materials for lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries. Find out more about my research experience and publications.  ​

Experimental skills

• Battery analysis:

  • Coin cells & Swagelok cells: Assembly and testing

  • Performance evaluation with potentiostats/galvanostats and battery cyclers

• Materials synthesis: 

  • Polymer blends & nanocomposites for electrolyte applications

  • Transition metal oxides through sol-gel & hydrothermal methods for anode/cathode applications

  • Carbon nanotubes & carbon composites through Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)

• Characterization techniques:

  • Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) Analysis, Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Raman Spectroscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), BET surface/pore analysis

Research interests

• Energy storage:

  • Batteries: Lithium-ion, lithium-metal, and magnesium batteries

  • Electrolytes: Solid polymers, polymer-ceramic composites, and polymer nanocomposite electrolytes

• Materials:

  • Nanomaterials and transition metal oxides for application as rechargeable battery anodes/cathodes 

  • Carbon nanotubes/carbon composites as additives for battery electrodes

  • 3D nano-architectures for battery electrodes