March 3, 2026 -- March 3, 2026
Speaker : Prof. Raj Ganesh S Pala, Faculty-Chemical Engg. IIT Kanpur.
Date & Time: 03rd Mar. 2026 Monday at 4 PM.
Venue : Seminar Hall, Chemical Engg.
Battery to “Brain” and Other Adventures in Electrochemical “Potential”
Sustainable energy and molecular transformations offer enormous opportunities for electrochemical material devices and systems. The interplay between experiments and computations has significantly illuminated underlying design principles. We propose that the coupling of physicochemical processes in these material devices results in contra-varying or co-varying properties and imposes bounds on efficiency (1). To overcome such limitations, we pursued an integrated experimental and computational ecosystem for over a decade, involving the synthesis, design, and modeling of “non-native” hetero- and nano-structures (1-3). The non-native polymorph differs from its native/ground state bulk polymorph in its discrete translational symmetry. We will illustrate this approach in the first segment of the talk through case studies in Lithium-Ion Batteries, Electrocatalysts, and Photoelectrocatalysts (1-3). Most of these systems are amenable to mathematical models at different length scales.
In the second segment, we present experimental results broadening the potential of electrochemical science and engineering to include electrodynamical effects (4-6). The purview of such process intensified Magnetoelectrocatalytic strategies is the engineered manipulation of the spin degrees of freedom and of “electro-thermo-chemical” Plasma approaches for electrochemical and electrochemically activated nuclear transformations. A comprehensive mathematical framework to assist in the design of experiments is lacking in these areas and may involve models beyond standard quantum mechanics to capture anomalies in electro-nuclear interactions.
The brief final segment, largely aspirational, is to explore the experimental correlations between “physiological computations” at a systems-biochemical level and the “rasa” or taste of ayurvedic drugs. In this area, our electrochemical travelogue is at a stage where we have qualified “rasa” via electrochemical taste-sensor measurements.
