Publications

Metal‐phenolic networks (MPNs) are a promising platform for developing new heterogeneous catalytic materials for water splitting technologies. This study systematically investigates the relationship between MPN composition and catalytic properties via electropolymerization of copper and cobalt combined with lignin, tannic acid, epigallocatechin‐3‐gallate (EGCG), and gallic acid polyphenols. We find that the choice of metal, size of… Read more

Despite concerted efforts, several plans and policies of the government addressing rural electrification remained unrealized since India’s independence. Although India attained near‐complete grid connectivity in 2018, the problem of inconsistent, unreliable and unaffordable electricity persists, expressly in remote and rural areas. This paper conceptualizes issues of rural electrification in India as a ‘Wicked Problem’ –… Read more

Abstract Characterizing the rheological properties of faults and the evolution of fault friction during seismic slip are fundamental problems in geology and seismology. Recent increases in the frequency of induced earthquakes have intensified the need for robust methods to estimate fault properties. Here we present a novel approach for estimation of aquifer and fault properties,… Read more

Highly disordered amorphous Li7La3Zr2O12 (aLLZO) is a promising class of electrolyte separators and protective layers for hybrid or all-solid-state batteries due to its grain-boundary-free nature and wide electrochemical stability window. Unlike low-entropy ionic glasses such as LixPOyNz (LiPON), these medium-entropy non-Zachariasen aLLZO phases offer a higher number of stable structure arrangements over a wide range… Read more

Chemical bath deposition (CBD) is widely used to deposit tin oxide (SnOx ) as an electron-transport layer in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The conventional recipe uses thioglycolic acid (TGA) to facilitate attachments of SnOx particles onto the substrate. However, nonvolatile TGA is reported to harm the operational stability of PSCs. In this work, a volatile… Read more

Efficient and affordable synthesis of Li + functional ceramics is crucial for the scalable production of solid electrolytes for batteries. Li‐garnet Li 7 La 3 Zr 2 O 12−d (LLZO), especially its cubic phase (cLLZO), attracts attention due to its high Li + conductivity and wide electrochemical stability window. However, high sintering temperatures raise concerns… Read more

The accuracy and robustness of numerical models of geologic CO2$$\hbox {CO}_2$$ sequestration are almost never quantified with respect to direct observations that provide a ground truth. Here, we conduct CO2$$\hbox {CO}_2$$ injection experiments in meter-scale, quasi-2D tanks with porous media representing stratigraphic sections of the subsurface, and compare them to numerical simulations of those experiments. We evaluate (1)… Read more

Controlling cell adhesion to surfaces is an important, but difficult, problem. Current methods to control adhesion rely on surface functionalization, which have limited material choice to avoid cell toxicity and are typically cell specific. Herein, cell adhesion is modulated by using nanometric high‐k dielectric films. Voltage is applied across the dielectric film, changing the film… Read more

Thin-film photovoltaics with functional components on the order of a few microns, present an avenue toward realizing additive power onto any surface of interest without excessive addition in weight and topography. To date, demonstrations of such ultra-thin photovoltaics have been limited to small-scale devices, often prepared on glass carrier substrates with only a few layers… Read more

Civilian fusion demands structural materials that can withstand the harsh environments imposed inside fusion plasma reactors. The structural materials often transmute under 14.1 MeV fast neutrons, producing helium (He), which embrittles the grain boundary (GB) network. Here, it is shown that neutron-friendly and mechanically strong nano-phases with atomic-scale free volume can have low He-embedding energy E… Read more

Activating inert sp3 -sp3 carbon-carbon (C-C) bonds remains a major bottleneck in the chemical upcycling of recalcitrant polyolefin waste. In this study, redox mediators are used to activate the inert C-C bonds. Specifically, N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI) is used as the redox mediator, which is oxidized to phthalimide-N-oxyl (PINO) radical to initiate hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) reactions… Read more

The unprecedented increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration calls for effective carbon capture technologies. With distributed sources contributing to about half of the overall emission, CO2 capture from the atmosphere [direct air capture, (DAC)] is more relevant than ever. Herein, an electrochemically mediated DAC system is reported which utilizes affinity of redox-active quinone moieties towards CO2… Read more

Atomically thin membranes comprising nanopores in a 2D material promise to surpass the performance of polymeric membranes in several critical applications, including water purification, chemical and gas separations, and energy harvesting. However, fabrication of membranes with precise pore size distributions that provide exceptionally high selectivity and permeance in a scalable framework remains an outstanding challenge.… Read more

Nanostructured functional oxides play an important role in enabling clean energy technologies and novel memory and processor devices. Using thin‐film La 0.6 Sr 0.4 FeO 3 (LSF) as a model system, the novel utility of exsolution in fabricating self‐assembled metal oxide nanocomposites with tunable functionalities is shown. Exsolution triggers the formation of metallic iron (Fe… Read more

Printed lead‐based perovskite photovoltaics (PV) have gained interest due to their potential to be manufactured with scalable roll‐to‐roll techniques. In industrial scale‐up, toxicity of inks can constrain roll‐to‐roll manufacturing due to the added cost of managing toxic effluents. Due to solvent toxicity, few perovskite solution chemistries in published works are scalable to gigawatt production capacity… Read more

Pervaporation has a high potential for separating miscible solutions, particularly azeotropic mixtures. However, mass transfer limitations have long been a common concern in pervaporation device design. Therefore, in this work, we design a static mixer‐based pervaporation device using water–ethanol separation as a model system and further develop computational fluid dynamics tools to investigate systematically all… Read more

Fluoridation of Lithium‐ion (Li‐ion) cathodes is of growing interest for high‐capacity Li + storage materials, but well‐controlled fluoridation processes are elusive. We investigated an electrochemical methodology to grow lithium fluoride (LiF) by reduction of perfluorinated gas onto metal oxides (MO), which then forms M−O−F by splitting of LiF upon charge, using MnO as an example… Read more