PERMANENT ADDRESS:
C-10 Swastik Park, Judges Bunglow Road, Nr. Raksha Hospital, Ahmedabad 382015, Gujarat, India.

PERSONAL:
Date of birth: 13th February 1967.
Marital status: Married ++
Nationality: Indian.

AWARDS:

• CSIR Rural Tech Award 2010 (Team Member)
• Vikram Sarabhai Award 2006 (Team member)

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:
Associate Professor in the School of Solar Energy, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India from Feb. 17, 2011 to till date.
CSTC visiting Prof., Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan (Nov. 2008 - June 2009).
Scientist at CSMCRI, Bhavnagar from Nov. 2003 to Feb. 16 2011.

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:
Post doc. Fellow at the University of Karlsruhe in the Center for Functional Nanostructures,
Germany (Jan. 2002- Oct. 2003).
JSPS Post doc. Fellow at the Shinshu University, Japan (Oct.1999-Oct. 2001).
Post doc. Fellow at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel (Sept. 1997 to Sept. 1999).
Research associate IIT, MUMBAI (Dec.1996 to Aug.1997).

Doctoral Work : Dept. of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India. (Jan.1992 to
Oct.1996);
Thesis Title: Photoelectrochemical studies of electrochemically synthesized lead and
doped lead oxide thin film.

M.Sc. (Physical Chemistry) (1989-1991) University of Visva Bharati, Shantiniketan, West Bengal.
B.Sc. (Hons. in Chemistry) (1985-1988) Bardhaman University, West Bengal.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES INTERESTED IN
• Synthesis and characterization of novel nano-structured materials for efficient energy conversion and    storage.
• Studies on novel inorganic materials for Li ion secondary battery.

Research Activities:
My laboratory is perusing research on the development of new materials in the form of powder and thin film which are efficient for harvesting solar energy, and highly active electrode material for Li ion battery. We have been working on the photoactive nonstoichiometric semiconducting binary or ternary oxide, chalcogenides, nitrides, phosphjdes. Thin film conducting polymer and carbon materials are also considered for the same purpose. One of the major concerns of solar photovoltaic (SPV) energy conversion is the cost of the mono and/or poly-crystalline Si module. In order to reduce the cost of energy conversion by SPV, thin film Si solar cell has been proposed to be a very attractive option. The primary area of our current research is on the physical / electrochemical deposition of Si and Ge thin films on different substrates and their complete structural characterization. Since Si and Ge are also very promising negative electrode material for high capacity Li ion battery, we are looking at the Li ion intercalation properties of the fabricated films as well. The serious concern of fragmentation of the Si and Ge material due to huge volume change by the intercalation of Li ion is dealt with by studying their structural stability in various composite matrices. Another area of interest is the development of very high surface active nano-structured oxide material for the energy conversion and storage applications.