Ram Deivanayagam, Ph.D.
Battery Materials Researcher | Experimental Electrochemist
Position
Laboratory / Department
Institution
Period
6.
Visiting Researcher
Karlsruhe, BW, Germany
Energy Storage Systems Group,
Group Leader: Prof. Maximilian Fichtner
Advisor: Dr. Zhirong Zhao-Karger
7.
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Graduate Research Assistant
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Lab Manager
(Ad-hoc)
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Battery Technology Lab
Chicago, IL, United States
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December 2015 - July 2020
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May 2016 - July 2020
Schematic of a Mg-metal battery with an intercalation cathode.
R. Deivanayagam et al. Energy Storage Materials 21 (2019) 136-153
Image © 2019, Elsevier. (Used with permission from publisher)
Ph.D. work at NanoEngineering Lab
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Synthesizing composite polymer electrolytes for application in safe, highly cyclable solid-state Li-metal and Mg-metal batteries
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Synthesizing and evaluating the performance of transition metal oxide materials and sulfur-carbon composites as cathodes in solid-state Li-metal and Mg-metal batteries
Managerial responsibilities at Battery Technology Lab
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Developing user manuals, experiment protocols, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for glovebox and other lab equipment meant for materials synthesis, electrode fabrication, cell assembly, and electrochemical analyses
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Maintaining lab equipment by monitoring day-to-day usage, developing troubleshooting procedures, ensuring staff compliance, arranging equipment service, repair, and replacement
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Training new users, determining their readiness for unsupervised handling of equipment, and recommending authorization for lab access
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Preparing annual budgets, and maintaining inventories of equipment and consumables
Advisor: Prof. Reza Shahbazian-Yassar,
Principal Investigator, NanoEngineering Lab, UIC
Master's Thesis in Physics (Degree major)
Nanostructured electrodes for lithium-ion & sodium-ion batteries
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Synthesized materials of different classes and morphologies viz., transition metal oxides, their carbon composites, and intermetallic alloys; Characterized and tested their performance as electrodes for lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries
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Developed 3-dimensional array of intermetallic Ni-Sn nanorods, and tested their electrochemical performance for their potential application as sodium-ion battery electrodes
Thesis Advisor: Prof. M. M. Shaijumon
Principal Investigator, Nanomaterials & Energy Devices Lab
School of Physics, IISER Thiruvananthapuram
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Graduate Researcher
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Master's Thesis
Student
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June 2014 - May 2015
5.
SEM image of Ni-Sn intermetallic nanorods (Top view)
Image © IISER Thiruvananthapuram, 2014.
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June - November 2015
Thiruvananthapuram, India
May - August 2019
Semester research project in Chemistry (Degree minor)
Post-synthetic composition tuning of quantum dots
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Synthesized liquid-phase quantum dots (QDs) with different crystal structures by tuning standard reaction protocols; Carried out sequential, reversible cation-exchange reactions and analyzed the resultant crystal structures to investigate the possible presence of memory effects
Advisor: Prof. K. George Thomas
Principal Investigator, Photosciences & Nanomaterials Group
4.
Student Researcher
January - May 2014
(1 semester)
TEM image of cadmium selenide quantum dots.
Image © IISER, NIIST Thiruvananthapuram, 2014.
Thiruvananthapuram, India
Summer Research Fellow,
Science Academies' Fellowship
3.
July & December 2013
Summer Research Project
Propagation of coronal mass ejections of the 24th solar cycle in the inter-planetary medium
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Obtained wind-speed data from NASA's LASCO aboard SOHO, and WIND satellites, and modelled the arrival times and speeds of interplanetary coronal mass ejections for the current solar cycle
Project Guide: Prof. P. K. Manoharan,
Head, Radio Astronomy Centre, NCRA-TIFR
Summer Research Project
Two-photon transtions in rubidium.
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Worked on Doppler-free LASER Spectroscopy: Two-photon experiment. After achieving high-precision LASER alignments, the line-widths of hyperfine components of the two-photon transitions in rubidium were measured
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Gained hands-on experience in optic workbench, LASER alignment, optical electronics, piezo-electric controller circuits
Project Guide: Prof. Vasant Natarajan, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
2.
May - June 2013
Summer Intern
Summer Research Project
Fabrication of organic solar cell
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Fabricated organic solar cells using ready-made indium/tin oxide substrates, and PEDOT:PSS electrodes. Gained hands-on experience on experimental techniques including spin-coating, device fabrication and testing
Project Guide: Prof. P. Predeep, Department of Physics, NIT Calicut.
May - June 2011
Summer Intern
National Institute of Technology, Calicut, India
1.