*(Last updated on 08 May 2026)
Current Research Scholars

	Sreelakshmi P: Sreelakshmi joined our group in Jul 2022. Her project is on Aluminum-water batteries. She is a PMRF scholar.
	Shan S: Shan S is a QIP scholar who joined our group in Jul 2022. He initially worked on understanding the capacity fade of Lithium Ion Batteries, and now his focus is on understanding oxygen evolution reaction kinetics.
	Syama S: Syama S is a QIP scholar who joined our group in Jul 2022. Her project is on developing an electrochemical biosensor to detect mosquito borne diseases.
	K U Gokul: Gokul joined IITM as an external PhD scholar in Jul 2021. His project is on Metal/Water batteries.
	Naveen Kumar: Naveen joined IITM as an interdisciplinary MS scholar, guided by Prof. VVR Sai (AMBE, IITM) and I, in Jul 2024. His project is on electrochemical and optical biosensors.

Alumni
	Y. Nagendra Prasad completed his Ph.D. in 2008. He has studied the mechanism of high selectivity STI slurries and proposed a new alkaline slurry and an inhibitor for copper CMP. The alkaline slurry is based on arginine and hydrogen peroxide. Eventhough it is alkaline, it does not polish silicon dioxide and hence will not cause oxide erosion. Uric acid is used as inhibitor and it is much more benign compared to the commonly used BTA. Nagendraprasad worked as a faculty in NIT Trichy, India and then as a post doctoral researcher with Prof. Jin Goo Park, Hanyang University, Korea. Then he worked as Assistant Manager in KC Tech, Korea; next as Manager, R&D in MCK, Korea and as Research Assistant Professor, in Hanyang University, Korea, and next as the Director (R&D),Advanced NanoSurface Technologies (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., China.
	R. Prasanna Venkatesh: Prasanna completed his PhD in 2010. His project was on understanding copper dissolution in aqueous solutions using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Earlier, he synthesized nanoparticles by liquid phase reduction of metal ions. He was a post doctoral researcher with Prof. Jin Goo Park, Hanyang University, Korea and he worked on post CMP cleaning. He briefly worked in the company MCK, Korea and is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT-Guwahati
	R. Manivannan : Manivannan completed his Ph.D. in 2010. His project was on understanding the behavior of high selectivity slurries. He determined that the abrasives play a key role in determining the selectivity of the slurry. Ceria particles are widely used in STI slurries. He has also obtained interesting results which may help in determining the 'active sites' on ceria which chemically interact with the silica surface. This is sometimes referred to as 'chemical tooth'. He also showed that, at least in some conditions, the silicon nitride polish does NOT occur by the familiar 'two step mechanism' where the nitride is first converted to oxide, and then the oxide is removed by CMP. He was a post doctoral researcher in Prof. Yuzhuo Li's group in Clarkson University, USA for an year and he worked as post doc with Prof. Jin Goo Park, Hanyang University,Korea. Now, he is an Associate Professor in Dept. Chem. Engg. NIT-Raipur
	S. Noyel Victoria: Noyel Victoria completed her Ph.D. in 2011. Her work focussed on understanding the mechanism of Cu, Ru and Ta CMP using labs scale polisher and electrochemical analysis. Cu i Glutamic acid, Ta in Guanidine hydrochloride and Ru in bromate based slurry are some of the important systems that she has investigated. She is well versed in applying linear and nonlinear electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and reaction mechanism analysis to understand dissoluton of metals. She also characterized high selectivity slurries for Shallow Trench Isolation CMP. Earlier, she synthesized nanoparticles by liquid phase reduction of metal ions. She worked with Prof. Jin Goo Park in Hanyang University, Korea as a post doc for a brief period and then as Assistant Professor in SRM University, Chennai and as Assistant Professor in the Dept. Chem. Engg. NIT-Suratkal, Karanataka. Currently she is an Assistant Professor in Dept. Chem. Engg. NIT-Raipur, Chattisgarh.
	S. Chandrasekaran : Chandrasekaran compled his Ph.D. in 2014. He worked on characterizing melting of metal particles using microwaves. In the inital phase, his work was on melting lumps of metals with low melting points (such as lead and tin). Later, melting of copper and aluminum was also characterized. He also worked on characterizing the effect of microwaves on composites. Currently he is working in Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, Chennai.
	B.V.S. Praveen: Praveen completed his Ph.D. in 2015. He synthesized ceria abrasives by different methods and employed them for STI CMP. He studied the interaction between abrasives and additives in high selectivity STI CMP and has done extensive characterization of ceria abrasives obtained from various sources to identify what causes some abrasives to yield high selectivity and other abrasives to yield low selectivity. He identified the presence of La as the critical factor. He also synthesized ceria with controlled La doping and determined which amino acids are sensitive to La doping (i.e. which will yield low selectivity). He was working as Assistant Professor in Dept. Chem. Engg. in NIT Warangal and then in BVRIT, Hyderabad. Currently, he is working as a faculty in CBIT, Hyderabad.
	Fathima Fazmin : Fathima completed her Ph.D. in 2016. Her work focused on simulation of electrochemcial impedance spectra for systems undergoing electrochemcial reactions. Specifically, the application of multi-sine to probe the systems was characterized and the benefits and losses, in terms of the experimental time, noise effects and nonlinear effects were quantified. She identified the conditions under which Kramers Kronig Transforms can detect the nonlinearities in EIS spectra.She experimentally measured and modeled the dissolution of Ti in HF. In addition, she worked on simulating the EIS spectra of PEM fuel cell under CO poisoning. She was a post-doc in IITM for a few months, and then she worked as a post doc / research scientist in QEERI (Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute). At present, she is working as Assistant Professor in Dept. Chem. Engg. NIT Calicut.
	M.S. Amrutha: Amrutha completed her PhD in May 2018. Her project was on understanding the anodic dissolution of valve metals such as Ti and Zr in acidic fluoride media. Initially she studied the corrosion rate of these metals using 'Tafel' analysis and QCM studies. Later she analyzed anodic dissolution using reaction mechanism analysis. She investigated the effect of changing HF concentration using anodic polarization studies and modeled the results to understand the reaction mechanisms. Besides these, she studied the adsorption of BTA on Cu, and worked with Ankitha on biosensors. She did post-doc in IITM and in Prof. Daniel Mandler's research lab, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Next, she was an Asst. Manager (R&D) in HPCL, Bengaluru. Currently, she is a scientist in CECRI, Karaikudi.
	Tirumal Rao : Tirumal Rao completed his PhD in Mar 2019. He joined our group in August 2013 and worked on characterizing Nb dissolution in HF solutions, using polarization and impedance experiments. Earlier, he worked on solar cell fabrication. He started working as Senior Technical Lead in Applied Materials, Bengaluru, and is presently in Applied Materials, Sunnyvale, CA.
	P.M. Ranjith: Ranjith completed his PhD in Aug 2020. He joined our group in August 2015 and his project is on corrosion of valve metals such as Ta by F^- ions and the effect of temperature. He also studied the anodic dissolution of Ta in acidic fluoride media by analyzing polarization and EIS data using reaction mechanism analysis. IN additin, he worked on evaluating corrosion resistance of modified Ti. In collaboration with R Saibi, he analyzed hydrogen evolution reaction on Pt in perchloric acid using an inverted rotating disc electrode. He is currently a post-doc in the lab of Prof. Jin Goo Park, Hanyang University, Korea. Currently, he is working in NIT Calicut as Assistant Professor.
	Rajesh: Rajesh completed his PhD in Oct 2020. He joined our group in August 2015 and his project is on nonlinear EIS measurement (viz. results of large amplitude perturbations on fundamental and higher harmonics). He developed an experimental setup to acquire NLEIS data using a lockin-amplifier and/or FFT analyzer and a potentiostat, and written a software to control the equipment and acquire data. He wrote a Matlab code to simulate the potentiodynamic polarization and NLEIS response of electrochemical reactions with kinetic and mass transfer effects under stable and unstable conditions. He also conducted NLEIS experiments on Cu electrodeposition, and written a Matlab code to simulate the NLEIS response of an electrochemical reaction with adsorbed intermediates, while accounting for both kinetic and mass transfer effects. Initially he worked as faculty in SSN College, Chennai. Presently he is working as Senior Analyst – Projects, in Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, Hyderabad.
	Ankitha Theres George: Ankitha completed her PhD in Aug 2021. She joined our group in July 2016 and completed her PhD in Aug 2021. Her project was on fabrication of biosensors for vector borne diseases, viz. malaria, chikungunya and dengue. She has fabricated electrochemical and optical fiber based biosensors to detect chikungunya and dengue in PBS solutions. She started working as a Biosensor Scientist in Zio Health, UK. Now she is workign as Analytical Methods Manager, in Cytiva - Danaher, UK.
	Twinkle Paul : Twinkle joined our group in Dec 2016 and her project is on mechanistic analysis of electrochemical reactions. Her work invovles undestanding the mechanism of anodic dissolution of cobalt in glycine based alkaline solutions (relevant for CMP applications in semiconductor indusry) and in carbonate/bicarbonate media. Earlier, she had studied Zn electrodepostion from acidic media using polarization data at various rotational speeds of electrode. She submitted her thesis in Mar 2021. She started working as a post-doc in Khalifa University, UAE. Now she is working as Senior Engineer in Wood PLC, Abudhabi.
	Saibi : Saibi completed her PhD in Oct 2022. She joined our group in Jul 2018 and her project was on understanding hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) on platinum and gold using an inverted rotating disk electrode. She is currently working as an Assistant Professor in TKM College, Kerala.
	Sachithra K: Sachithra K completed her PhD in Mar 2026.She was a QIP scholar who joined our group in Jul 2021. Her project was on understanding the mechanism of CO2 reduction on Ag and Au electrodes by electrochemical methods. She is currently working as an Assistant Professor in GEC, Kozhikode, Kerala.
	Anoop N: Anoop completed his PhD in May 2026. He joined IITM as a PhD scholar in Jan 2021. His project was on understanding CO2 reduction on Sn electrodes by electrochemical methods, and in preparing a high performance GDE, with long stability, for scaling up CO2RR on Sn. He was a PMRF scholar.
	Kapil Naik completed his MS in 2007. He has studied the ability of an UASB reactor to handle various types of food wastes and produce optimal biogas. He proceede to get his Ph.D. in TU Delft, Netherlands in 2009. he worked in several pharma companies (Crucell, Merck, Innocor, all in Netherlands) in process development and is currently Senior Manager of Sun Pharma, in Netherlands
	M. Suryasekhar completed his M.S. in 2006. He has characterized copper CMP in acidic slurries using electrochemcial techniques and has proposed hydrazine as an inhibitor. He also did some initial characterization of arginine and peroxide based slurries for copper CMP. He has completed his Ph.D. in Clarkson University, USA in Prof. Ruth Baltus' group. He continued as a post doctoral researcher in Cornell and then as Engineer in in Intel, Oregon, USA. Next he worked as CTO in Sionic Energy (formerly NOHMs technologies), and currently he is the Head Technology, L&T Green Energy

Alumni - Post Doctoral Fellows

	Dr. P Dahiveegan: Dr. P Dhaiveegan worked as post doctoral fellow for about 6 months in 2017, and then continued as post doctoral fellow in Tatung University, Taiwan. He is currently working in Tripod nanotechnology, Taiwan.
	Dr. Sheen Mers S V: Dr. Sheen Mers S V worked as an Institute PDF from April 2019 - Mar 2021. Her research interest includes electrocatalysis, sensors and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). During her PDF, she worked on synthesis of non-noble metal-based electrocatalysts for water splitting applications. She is currently an Assistant Professor in Nanjil Catholic Arts and Science College, Kaliyakkavilai.
	Dr. Nivedhini Iswarya Chandrasekaran: Dr. Nivedhini worked as a National PostDoctoral Fellow (NPDF) from Jan 2020 - Jul 2021. Her research area is Electrochemical biosensor for detections of cardiac biomarker. Her project was "Electrochemical biosensor for detections of cardiac biomarker (troponin-cTnI & cTnT) using chitosan modified mesoporous hollow CNT@NiMn-LDH nanocomposite".
	Dr. Sangamithirai: Dr. Sangamithirai complted her Ph.D. from Madras University and was an Institute Post Doctoral Fellow in our lab from Dec 2020 - Nov 2021. Her research area is electrocatalysis and sensors. She worked on the synthesis of transition metal nitrides and carbon quantum dots based electrochemical sensors for nitroaromatics detection. She is currently working as a post doc in Madras University.
	Dr. Anusha Thampi: completed her Ph.D from CSIR-CECRI, Karaikudi, and joined our group as Post Doctoral Fellow in September 2020. She worked on thin films, biomaterials, and their electrochemical characterizations, corrosion and tribocorrosion, and wearable biosensors. Currently she is working in Tata Electronics Limited, Hosue/Bengaluru.