Molecular Systems Design & Engineering Blog

Gary Koenig began an appointment as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia in 2012, and was subsequently promoted to Associate Professor in 2018. In addition to teaching and professional service commitments, Gary is the principal investigator of a group which researches energy storage materials and systems. Gary completed a B.S. from The Ohio State University and then a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with both degrees in Chemical Engineering. Before starting at University of Virginia, Gary was a Postdoctoral Associate at Argonne National Laboratory. Gary has published over 50 research articles. His expertise span from probing fundamental materials properties to grid scale energy storage evaluation, and includes both experimental and simulation tools. Find out more about Gary’s research on his webpage Follow Gary on Twitter at @ChemEBattery

Read Gary Koenig’s Emerging Investigator article, ‘Improving high rate cycling limitations of thick sintered battery electrodes by mitigating molecular transport limitations through modifying electrode microstructure and electrolyte conductivity‘, DOI: 10.1039/D1ME00082A

1. How do you feel about MSDE as a place to publish research on this topic?

MSDE was a good fit for for this paper, given the breadth of the molecular systems audience and the applications/technology significance component of the journal scope, which fits well with the energy storage applications of our research.

2. What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

This work investigated an electrochemical system that has significant ion transport restrictions, and what is exciting is pushing the limits in such a system to understand how fast the overall electrochemical process can be driven. The most challenging aspect for this paper was identifying a suitable electrolyte to evaluate which improved the ion transport properties without causing other cell stability limitations.

3. In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

There are many in the broader field of battery research. Most specific to this research report is how to best optimize the trade-off between electrode designs that increase energy density while still maintaining reasonable charging times/rates. This ties in more broadly to other bigger challenges with regards to safety and reliability of battery cells.

Dr. Jai Prakash is working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry, NIT Hamirpur, (India). Previously, he worked as ‘INSPIRE Faculty’ (one of the prestigious faculty award by Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India) in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, India (2016-2018). His Ph. D (2012), carried out at and sponsored by IUAC (formerly, Nuclear Science Center), New Delhi, was awarded by CCS University, Meerut (India). He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at INRS-EMT, Quebec (Canada), Aix-Marseille University (France), Universite Libre de Bruselles (Belgium) and University of the Free State, (South Africa). He has received several national and international scientific awards including DAAD Academic Award (2018), Merit Scholarship Award (ranked# 1) (2017) from Quebec Govt. (Canada), Promising Young Researcher Award (2016) from NRF (South Africa), Prestigious INSPIRE faculty award (2015-2016) and Young Scientist Fast Track (2012) award from DST (India), Guest scientist (2014) from NIMS (Japan), and Senior Research Fellow (2011) from CSIR (India). He has published more than 90 research articles including book/chapters in international scientific peer reviewed journals. Some selected publications in higher impact factor journals; J. Materials Chemistry C, ACS Appl. Materials Interface, Carbon, Inter. Reviews in Phys. Chem., Energy Storage Materials, Molecular System Design and Eng., Adv. Energy Materials etc. have gained attention worldwide. Recently, he has been listed among World’s Top 2% Scientists List created by Stanford University (2021& 2022). He is serving as “Associate Editor’ in Frontiers in Environmental Chemistry journal. His major research fields are functional nanomaterials, surface science, ion beam modifications of nanomaterials etc. His highly interdisciplinary research includes synthesis/characterizations of plasmonic, polymers, metal-oxides semiconductors nanomaterials, their nanocomposites for sensing, solar cell, optical, photocatalysis, SERS related environmental and energy applications.

Read Jai Prakash’s Emerging Investigator article, ‘Design and engineering of graphene nanostructures as independent solar-driven photocatalysts for emerging applications in the field of energy and environment‘, DOI: 10.1039/D1ME00179E

1. How do you feel about MSDE as a place to publish research on this topic?

It is very exciting to publish research on molecular systems in MSDE because it is unique in this sense which gives a feeling of completeness on such topics. It’s a best platform to publish on molecular design and engineering for multifunctional applications as MSDE appreciates authors provides update on the topics to readers. I recommend the researchers to publish their innovative work on molecular systems to this journal because it’s an emerging field for futuristic device applications as well as more fundamental studies at molecular level.

2. What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

The graphene based nanomaterials have the potential to compete with metal or semiconductor-based photocatalysts. I believe that next generation of device fabrication would be based on graphene based nanostructured materials especially in the field of energy and environment because of their unique optoelectronic and surface properties. These are emerging 2D nanomaterials showing fascinating properties for multifunctional applications and gaining interest by the researchers from all domain of sciences including biomedical. The key challenge about graphene nanomaterials is to explore as a sole material for different applications.

3. In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

In my opinion, the most important question in research of graphene based nanomaterials is whether these can replace metal based catalysts/photocatalysts in the field of energy and environment.

 4. Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

I would suggest my early career scientists’ fellows to work seriously on your topic of research with an emphasis on both positive and negative results. Build networks within your research community and try to make collaboration with scientists around the globe to exchange your ideas for fruitful and meaningful results in that direction. It will not only promote your research activities but also provide confidence to do better in the next step.

Find out more about Jai Prakash’s research on his webpage