To pursue a challenging and an exciting research career in the frontier areas of materials chemistry, Solid-state electrochemistry and nano-structured electrode materials for electrochemical energy storage and conversion then contribute my innovative ideas with results of high impact and quality.
Doctor of Philosophy in chemical science
Institution : Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CSIR-CECRI), Karaikudi.
Course Duration : 2010 – 2012.
Year of Passing : 2012
Title of the Thesis : Synthesis and Electrochemical Evaluation of High Performing Electrode Materials For Lithium Rechargeable Batteries
Research Advisor : Dr. S. Gopukumar, Senior Principal Scientist,
Electrochemical Power Systems Division, Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CSIR-CECRI),Karaikudi, Tamilnadu.
Master of Philosophy in chemical science
Institution : Bharathidasan University
Degree Issued by : Bharathidasan University
Year of Passing : March 2008
Class obtained : First class with Distinction
Dissertation : Synthesis of Propyl ester of p-Substitutedbenzoylpropionic acids By Different Methods-A Comparative Study.
Research Advisor : Prof. A. K. Ramasamy, Periyar University, Salem, Tamilnadu.
Master of Science in Chemistry
Institution : School of Chemistry, Bharathidasan
University
Degree Issued by : Bharathidasan University
Year of Passing : April 2006
Class obtained : First class
Dissertation : Synthesis of Certain New Esters of
Biological Importance
Research Advisor : Prof. M. Nallu
Bharathidasan University
Bachelor of Science in Chemistry
Institution : N. K. R. Govt. Arts College for
Women, Namakkal
Degree Issued by : Periyar University
Year of Passing : June 2004
Entire education studied in English as the medium of instruction.
TITLE : Synthesis and Electrochemical Evaluation of High
Performing Cathode Materials for Lithium
Rechargeable Batteries
GUIDE : Dr. S. Gopukumar, Senior Principal Scientist,
Electrochemical Power Systems Division,
Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CSIR-
CECRI), Karaikudi, Tamilnadu.
In the present study we focused on the synthesis and electrochemical evaluation of high performing cathode materials for lithium rechargeable batteries. The cathode were prepared and characterized by various techniques like TG/DTA, XRD, SEM, TEM, FT-IR, Laser Raman, XPS, charge/discharge measurements and cyclic voltammetry studies. Based on these results obtained from those studies we can conclude that synthesized cathode materials are performed well at high voltage regions because of the suitable dopant and small particle size. In the First chapter of the thesis we decals with High capacity, succinic acid assisted sol-gel synthesis of LiNixCoyMn1-x-yO2 cathode materials for lithium rechargeable batteries. Results confirmed that the succinic acid chelated materials exhibit very good capacity as compared to citric acid chelated materials. In the second chapter we have investigated the synthesis of high voltage (4.9V) cycling LiNixCoyMn1-x-yO2 cathode materials; results indicate that electrochemical performance of these materials mainly depends upon the high charge voltage (4.9V) because the redox reactions of Ni2+ and Co3+ ions completed well at high voltage regions. In the third chapter we discussed about the microwave assisted synthesis of high voltage (4.6V) Cu doped LiCoO2 cathode materials which confirmed that Cu dopant provides good structural stability at high voltage regions and exhibit good capacity retention of 89% after 50 cycles. In the fourth chapter we have investigated the high performing LiCoxMn1-xPO4/C nano-composite cathode materials for lithium rechargeable batteries. TEM studies confirmed that carbon part particles are appeared as coating layers over the active particles and cycling studies confirmed that Co dopant enhances the discharge capacity and capacity retention; hence the carbon particles increases the electronic conductivity of synthesized materials and decreases the particle-particle contact distance which eventually increases the Lithium ion diffusion.
Financial support: DST (India)-JST (Japan) Sponsored project, India.
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, India.
DST-INSPIRE Faculty Award, DST, India.
Best paper award (oral presentation) in 6th Asian Conference on Electrochemical Power Sources (ACEPS-6) held on 5-8 Jan’2012.
Rank holder (B. Sc., chemistry)from Periyar University (2004), Salem, India
Proficiency award (B. Sc., chemistry - 2004) from N. K. R. Govt. Arts College, Namakkal, India.
Research Intern (CSIR, India) (Dec’2006 – Nov’2008)
Junior Research Fellow (DST (India) – JST (Japan))Sponsored Project (Nov’ 2008 – Mar’2011)
Senior Research Fellow (MNRE) (Mar’2011 – Oct’2012)
DST-INSPIRE Faculty Awardee from Ministry of Science and Technology, NIT, Trichy (Nov’2012 – till now)
Collaboratively research work carried out with CSIR (India) – Royal Society (UK) funded project entitled “New Electrode Materials for High Energy Density Batteries” from 2008-2010.
Electrode Materials: Nano-structured Electrode Materials for Lithium rechargeable batteries includes Lithium transition metal oxides, Phosphates, Sn and Sb based alloy anode materials, Lithium Titanate materials, graphene based materials by different synthesis routes.
Materials Characterization: TG/DTA, XRD, SEM, TEM, FT-IR, Laser Raman, XPS, Charge/discharge measurements and cyclic voltammetry.
Solid State Electrochemistry
Preparation and characterization of nanostructured electrode materials for energy storage applications.
Cathode materials, Alloys, Graphene and nanostructured metal oxide based anode materials for Alkali ion (Li and Na ion) batteries.
Electrode materials for alkali ion supercapacitors.
Graphite and Sn based composite anodes for lithium ion batteries – Presented (oral) in 6th Asian conference on Electrochemical Power Sources, India, January, 5-8, 2012.
Synthesis and electrochemical performance of LiMgxNiyMn1-x-yO2 materials for lithium rechargeable batteries, C. Nithya, R. Lakshmi, S. Gopukumar – Presented (Oral) in 5th Asian conference on Electrochemical Power Sources, Singapore, September, 17-20, 2010.
Synthesis and Electrochemical characterization of LiCo0.01Mn0.99PO4 cathode materials for lithium rechargeable batteries, C. Nithya, R. Thirunakaran, A. Sivashanmugam, S. Gopukumar - Presented in 3rd International conference on Electrochemical Power Sources, Trivandrum, Kerala, India, November, 26-28, 2008.
Synthesis and electrochemical behaviour of LiMg0.1Co0.9O2 for lithium rechargeable batteries, C. Nithya, C. N. Zaheena, R. Thirunakaran, A. Sivashanmugam, S. Gopukumar - Presented in 14th National Convention of Electrochemists, Kalpakkam, Tamilnadu, December 6-8, 2007.
Workshop on Materials for energy storage, January, 18-22, 2010.
Total Citations: 189
h-index – 9
i10 index - 9
Total Impact factor – 85.323
1. Microwave assisted synthesis and electrochemical behaviour of LiMg0.1Co0.9O2 for lithium rechargeable batteries - C. N. Zaheena, C. Nithya, R. Thirunakaran, A. Sivashanmugam, S. Gopukumar, Electrochim. Acta, 54 (2009) 2877-2882 (ISSN: 0013-4686)
2. High-Capacity sol-gel synthesis of LiNixCoyMn1-x-yO2 (0≤ x, y ≤ 0.5) cathode material for use in lithium rechargeable batteries - C. Nithya, R. Thirunakaran, A. Sivashanmugam, G. V. M. Kiruthika, S. Gopukumar, J. Phys. Chem. C 113 (2009) 17936-17944 (ISSN: 1932-7447).
3. Microwave synthesis of novel high voltage (4. 6V), high capacity LiCuxCo1-xO2±δ cathode material for lithium rechargeable cells - C. Nithya, R. Thirunakaran, A. Sivashanmugam, S. Gopukumar, J. Power Sources 196 (2011) 6788-6793 (ISSN: 0378-7753).
4. Synthesis of high voltage (4.9 V) cycling LiNixCoyMn1-x-yO2 cathode materials for lithium rechargeable batteries - C. Nithya, V. S. Syamala Kumari, S. Gopukumar, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 13 (2011) 6125-6132 (ISSN: 1463-9076).
5. Novel Li4Ti5O12/Sn nano-composites as anode material for lithium ion batteries – A. Sivashanmugam, S. Gopukumar, R. Thirunakaran, C. Nithya, S. Prema, Mater. Res. Bull. 40 (2011) 492-500 (ISSN: 0025-5408).
6. LiCoxMn1-xPO4/C – A high performing nano composite cathode material for lithium rechargeable batteries - C. Nithya, R. Thirunakaran, A. Sivashanmugam, S. Gopukumar, Chem. Asian. J. 7 (2012) 163-168 (ISSN: 1861-4728).
7. Role of Mg dopant on the electrochemical performance of LiCo0.5Ni0.5O2 cathode materials for lithium rechargeable batteries – C. Nithya, S. Bharathi Devi, S. Gopukumar J. Mater. Sci. 47 (2012) 6784-6791 (ISSN: 0022-2461).
8 .Effect of Mg dopant on the Electrochemical Performance of LiNi0.5Mn0.5O2 Cathode Materials for Lithium Rechargeable Batteries– C. Nithya, R. Lakshmi, S. Gopukumar, J. Electrochem. Soc. – 159 (2012) A1335-A1340 (ISSN: 0013-4651).
9. A new high performing cathode material for lithium rechargeable batteries - C. Nithya, R. Thirunakaran, A. Sivashanmugam, S. Gopukumar ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 4 (2012) 4040–4046 (ISSN: 1944-8244).
10. Mechanochemical synthesis of Sn nano wires for anodes in Li+ ion secondary batteries - Nuria Tapia-Ruiz, C.Nithya, Sobha Jayakrishnan, S.Gopukumar, Duncan H. Gregory, J. Chin. Chem. Soc. 59 (2012) 1190-1195 (ISSN: 0009-4536).
11. Solar Powered New Lithium ion battery incorporating high performing electrode materials – S. Gopukumar, C. Nithya, R. Thirunakaran,A. Sivashanmugam, S. K. Dhawan, R. B. Mathur, P. H. Maheshwari – RSC Advances 2 (2012) 11574-11577 (ISSN: 2046-2069).
12. Development of free standing anodes of high aspect ratio carbon materials for rechargeable Li-Ion batteries, P. H. Maheswari, C. Nithya, Shilpa Jain, R. B. Mathur – Electrochim. Acta 92 (2013) 55-63 (ISSN: 0013-4686).
13. High Performing SnxSbyCuz Composite Anodes for Lithium Ion batteries - C. Nithya, T. Sowmiya, K. Vijaya baskar, N. Selvaganeshan, T. Kalaiyarasi, S. Gopukumar – Solid State Sciences 19 (2013) 144-149 (ISSN: 1293-2558).
14. Reduced graphene oxide/Sn nano composite: A superior anode for lithium ion batteries – C. Nithya, S. Gopukumar – ChemSusChem 6 (2013) 898-904 (ISSN: 1864-5631).
15. 2,3′˗Diamino˗4,4′˗Stilbenedicarboxylic acid Sensitizer for Dye Sensitized Solar Cells: Quantum Chemical Investigations – P. Senthilkumar, C. Nithya, P. M. Anbarasan - J. Mol. Model. 19 (2013) 4561-4573, (ISSN: 1610-2940).
16. Effect of donor (tetradecyloxy) and acceptor (carboxamide) groups in trans-stilbene for DSSCs: Quantum chemical investigations - P. Senthilkumar, C. Nithya, P. M. Anbarasan – Spectrochim. Acta 117 (2014) 181-185 (ISSN: 1386-1425).
17. Quantum chemical investigations on the effect of dodecyloxy chromophore in 4-amino stilbene sensitizer for DSSCs - P. Senthilkumar, C. Nithya, P. M. Anbarasan – Spectrochim. Acta 122 (2014) 15-21(ISSN: 1386-1425).
18. Effect of Mg doping on the local structure of LiMgyCo1−yO2 cathode material investigated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy - .H. Cheng, C.J. Pan, C. Nithya, R. Thirunakaran, S. Gopukumar, C.H. Chen, J.F. Lee, J.M. Chen, A. Sivashanmugam, B.J. Hwang, J. Power Sources 252 (2014) 292-297 (ISSN: 0378-7753).
19. rGO /nano Sb composite: A high performing Anode material for Na+ ion Batteries and Evidence for Formation of Nanoribbons from Nano rGO sheet during Galvanostatic Cycling – C. Nithya, S. Gopukumar – J. Mater. Chem. A – 2 (2014) 10516-10525 (ISSN: 0959-9428).
20. Probing electron transfer dynamics of pyranine with reduced graphene oxide - M. Asha Jhonsi, C. Nithya and A. Kathiravan, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 16 (2014) 20878 – 20886 (ISSN: 1463-9076).
21. Diamondoid-Structured Cu–Dicarboxylate-based Metal–Organic Frameworks as High-Capacity Anodes for Lithium-Ion Storage - R. Senthikumar, C. Nithya, S. Gopukumar, M. Anbu Kulandainathan. Energy Technol. 2 (2014) 921-927 (ISSN: 2194-4288).
22. Sodium Ion Batteries: A Newer Electrochemical Storage –C. Nithya, S. Gopukumar – WIRES: Energy and Environment – 4 (2015) 253-278 (ISSN: 1942-4795).
23. Bi2O3@Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite: An Anode Material for Sodium-Ion Storage – C. Nithya, ChemPlusChem 80 (2015) 1000-1006 (ISSN: 2192-6506).
24. Can the Degree of Crystallinity of Ball Milled Mg2Ni Intermetallic Compound Decide Its Electrochemical Characteristics? – A. Venkateshwari, C. Nithya, S. Kumaran, Particulate Science and Technology: An International Journal, 2015, DOI: 10.1080/02726351.2015.1054969 (ISSN: 0272-6351).
25. High performance NaxCoO2 as a cathode material for rechargeable sodium batteries – B. Venkata Rami Reddy, R. Ravikumar, C. Nithya, S. Gopukumar, J. Mater. Chem. A. 3 (2015) 18059-18063 (ISSN: 0959-9428)
Process for the preparation of high voltage nano composite cathode (4.9 V) for lithium ion batteries – S.Gopukumar, C.Nithya, R.Thirunakaran and A.Sivashanmugam - US Patent App. US20130277619 A1.
Cathode Material and Lithium Ion Battery Therefrom – S.Gopukumar, C.Nithya, R.Thirunakaran and A.Sivashanmugam –US Patent App. US20140087257 A1
