Dr. Debdyuti Mukherjee is an Electrochemist and Material Scientist with an expertise in the field of Electrocatalysis and Next Generation Electrochemical Energy Systems like Fuel Cells, Electrolyzers and Batteries. She has a strong academic background; she was the university topper in both her bachelors and masters. Dr. Debdyuti had qualified various national-level competitive examinations like NET, GATE, aiming for higher studies and research, where she secured her position among top 6% and top 2% meritorious students respectively. She cleared both Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) entrance exam, but opted to begin her research career at IISc, Bangalore as a PhD student. At the PhD program, she was focused in developing efficient, novel and cost-effective Electrocatalysts for studying the fundamental electrochemical reactions, used in energy conversion and storage systems. During that time, she got an opportunity to present her work at one of the most prestigious conferences in the world, the Gordon Research Conference, held in Ventura, CA, USA in 2015, where she was recognized and her work was praised by the famous electrochemists present in the conference. Further, her work on hydrogen evolution reaction using layered chalcogenophosphates over a wide pH range, especially in sea-water was published in ACS Energy Letters and highlighted as top 5 most read articles in 2016.
After completion of PhD at 2017, Dr. Debdyuti moved to The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (2017-2018) for pursuing her first postdoctoral research program, where along with the laboratory work on Hybrid Battery-Supercapacitors, she was also involved in an industrial project in collaboration with Ashalim Solar Power Station, Negev Desert, and Bright Source Pvt. Ltd., Israel, where she developed a fluoropolymer based transparent anti-soiling coatings on the surfaces of solar mirrors in the ‘Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Plants’. This work was identified as one of the most promising works in the area of next-generation renewable energy systems by Israel Vacuum Society – Material Research Society, Israel in 2018.
Later on, she went to the New York, USA for her second postdoctoral research at New York University (2019-2021) and worked on conducting polymeric materials for various applications, including Electrochemical Energy Devices as well as in ‘Separating Olefins from Paraffins in Gaseous Mixtures Electrochemically’. Her work on the studies on conducting ionomer binders for PEMFC was featured by the U.S. Department of Energy on its University and Stakeholder News page.
She received DST Inspire Faculty Fellowship to start her independent research career in India and currently, she is the DST Inspire Faculty at the Centre for Fuel Cell Technology (CFCT), ARCI, Chennai. Her area of interest includes the study of 2D ceramic materials and short-chain ionomers for next-generation energy storage and conversion systems such as Alkaline Fuel Cells, Electrolyzers.