Welcome to my personal website!
I'm a doctoral researcher working at the NanoEngineering Lab of the University of Illinois at Chicago. My research pertains to developing electrodes and polymer electrolytes for rechargeable batteries and evaluating their performance in lab scale. For my Ph.D. thesis, I focus on developing composite polymer electrolytes for lithium-metal and multivalent-ion batteries -- a class of batteries that can potentially be more powerful, lighter, and safer than its present-day lithium-ion counterparts.
Before coming to UIC, I worked at the Nanoscience and Energy Materials 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
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Battery analysis:
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Coin cells & Swagelok cells: Assembly and testing
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Performance evaluation with potentiostats/galvanostats and battery cyclers
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Materials synthesis:
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Polymer blends & nanocomposites for electrolyte applications
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Transition metal oxides through sol-gel & hydrothermal methods for anode/cathode applications
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Carbon nanotubes & carbon composites through Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)
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Characterization techniques:
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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
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Research interests
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Energy storage:
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Batteries: Lithium-ion, lithium-metal, and magnesium batteries
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Electrolytes: Solid polymers, polymer-ceramic composites, and polymer nanocomposite electrolytes
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Materials:
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Nanomaterials and transition metal oxides for application as rechargeable battery anodes/cathodes
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Carbon nanotubes/carbon composites as additives for battery electrodes
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3D nano-architectures for battery electrodes
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