Research Areas

Core Competencies & Focus Areas:
Energy Storage & Nanomaterials Development Expert:
• Advanced Material Development: Specializing in materials for high-performance Li-ion, Na-ion batteries, Supercapacitors, Superbatteries, and Li-ion Capacitors.
• Large-Scale Fabrication & Up-scaling: Expertise in developing cost-effective, large-scale processes for synthesizing nanomaterials and fabricating diverse cell formats (cylindrical, pouch) for Electric Vehicle (EV) applications.
• Catalysis & Environmental Solutions: Development of UV and visible-light-driven photocatalysts for self-cleaning applications, including H2 production and pollutant degradation.

Research & Development Expertise:
1. Advanced Electrode Material Synthesis & Up-scaling
• Li-ion Battery Materials: Developed and up-scaled carbon-coated cathode materials (C-LiFePO4, LiMn0.5Fe0.5PO4, LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4) and anode materials (LTO, Si-C) using a cost-effective, large-scale process suitable for Electric Vehicles (EVs).
• High-Energy Milling: Successfully up-scaled Li-ion battery materials (C-LFP and LTO) via a High Energy Milling process.
• Na-ion Battery Materials: Synthesized novel cathode (NVP, NVP-F) and anode (hard carbon) materials for next-generation Na-ion batteries.
• Recycled Material Validation: Validated the use of recycled Li-ion raw materials for synthesizing LFP and LTO electrode materials, with subsequent testing in coin and cylindrical cells.

2. Energy Device Fabrication & Facility Establishment
Li-ion Cell Fabrication: 
• Cylindrical Cells: 18650,21700,32700 types.
• Pouch Cells: 10Ah capacity.
• Superbatteries: 10Ah capacity with 17C charging capability.

Supercapacitor Development:
• Synthesized supercapacitor-grade porous carbon using bio/industrial wastes via physical/chemical activation, up-scaling the process to kg level.
• Fabricated 1200F cylindrical Supercapacitor devices using indigenous porous carbon, successfully benchmarking them against commercial devices.
• Designed, assembled, and demonstrated Supercapacitor modules for EV applications.

Pilot Plant Setup:
• Established a Semi-pilot plant facility for the fabrication of Cylindrical Supercapacitor devices (1000−3000F).
• Set up a specialized dry room (10% RH and 0.5% RH) and semi-pilot plant for pouch cell fabrication.

3. Photocatalysis and Nanomaterials
• Photocatalyst Design: Designed and synthesized visible-light and UV-light-driven photocatalysts for self-cleaning applications.
• Catalytic Evaluation: Performed photocatalytic evaluation for key applications: H2 production (fuel cells), pollutant degradation, and antibacterial activity testing.
• Advanced Characterization: Conducted water photo-oxidation reaction on rutile TiO2 single crystal using high-energy synchrotron x-ray radiation.
• Nanomaterial Synthesis: Developed synthesis protocols for mesoporous materials, mesoporous carbon, and carbon nitrides.

4. Validation & Benchmarking
• Device Validation: Successfully validated electrode materials at both coin and cylindrical cell levels, performing rigorous benchmarking against commercial standards.

Highest Qualification

Ph.D

Other Qualifications

2001 to 2003 Master of Philosophy (Chemistry), Bharathidhasan University, Thiruchirappalli, India. Thesis title: ‘Bio-Pharmacology of some isolated pigments’. 1999 to 2001 Master of Science in Chemistry from Bharathidhasan University, Thiruchirappalli, India 1996 to 1999 Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Bharathidhasan University, Thiruchirappalli, India

Awards and Honours

* Awarded “ECSI- Amar Raja National Award 2024” by the Electrochemical Society of India.
Research Advisory Board Member in MLR Institute of Technology, Hyderabad
* Member of Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) in Electrotechnology in Mobility Sectional Committee, ETD 51
* Selected as “Associate Fellow of Telangana Academy of Sciences” by Telangana Academy of Sciences in the year 2019.
* Stanford University, USA rated as Top 2% Scientist around the world in the field of Materials Science in the year of 2020 & 2022.
* Awarded a prestigious “JSPS FELLOWSHIP” by Japan Society for Promotion of Science, Japan
* Awarded “YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARD” by the Material Research Society of Japan at IUMRS-ICA 2008, Nagoya, Japan. 
* Selected and Participated for LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT in SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMME (LEADS April-2024) jointly organized by Indian National Science Academy and National Centre for Good Governance at INSA, New Delhi from 1st to 7th April, 2024. 
* Member of Material Research Society of Japan (Reg. No. MRS-J, No.3441).
* One of the organizing committee members in the IUMRS-ICA2008 conference held in Nagoya, Japan on December 2008.
* Chaired a session in the IUMRS-ICA2008 conference held in Nagoya, Japan in December 2008. 
* Best Oral Presentation Award for the co-authored paper entitled “Design, Development and Real-Time Demonstration of Supercapacitor Powered Electric Bicycle” at the International Conference on ‘Super Capacitors and Energy Storage Applications (ICSEA-2019)’ held at Thrissur, Kerala during March 08 - 09, 2019.
* Best Poster presentation award for the co-authored paper entitled “Graphene sheets like nanoporous carbon derived from Agricultural bio-waste (jute stick) as electrode material for high performing Supercapacitors” at the “Battery Technologies & Electric Mobility” at HP Green R & D Centre, Bangalore on March 8-9, 2018.
* Best Poster presentation award with the Cash Prize of Rs. 20,000 for the co-authored paper entitled “Large Scale Synthesis of High Performance Zero Strain Lithium Titanate For High Energy Density Li-ion Battery Application” at the 9th Bengaluru INDIA NANO 2017 held during 7-8th December 2017 at Bangalore.
* Best poster presentation award for the co-authored paper entitled “Technology development of nanostructures titania microspheres for self-cleaning application” presented in 8th Bangalore INDIA NANO conference held during 3-4th March 2016 at The Lalit Ashok, Bengaluru.
* Best oral presentation award for the co-authored paper entitled “Ordered mesoporous carbon as an efficient anode material for lithium ion battery application” presented in National Conference on Carbon Materials 2015 (NCCM 2015) held during 26-28th November 2015 at IIC, New Delhi.

Professional Affiliations

Member of Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) in Electrotechnology in Mobility Sectional Committee, ETD 51
Member of Electrochemical Society of India
Associate Fellow of Telangana Academy of Sciences
Member of Material Research Society of Japan
Life Member of The Indian Carbon Society