After an early education in chemistry from The American College, Madurai, Devaraj earned his PhD from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru (supervisor: Prof. Nookala Munichandraiah) for the work on "Developing MnO2 as an electroactive material for supercapacitor applications". One of the papers that emerged from his PhD thesis has shattered a general belief that only amorphous metal oxides are useful for supercapacitor applications. This work has been well recognized globally and it has been cited more than 1400 times. Following his doctoral studies, he served as a research associate at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru for six months. In 2010, he joined Prof. Palani Balaya's research group at the National University of Singapore for post-doctorate, where he developed high-rate performing lithium-ion batteries for micro-flying robots, a project sponsored by The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, US.

In July 2013, he joined the School of Chemical and Biotechnology, SASTRA Deemed University as an Assistant Professor. Presently, he is an Associate Professor. His research interests include energy storage & conversion, interfacial electrochemistry, and materials chemistry.

Awards & Fellowships:

• Guest Associate Editor, Frontiers in Materials

• Guest Editor, Materials Today: Proceedings

• Young Investigator Award from the American Ceramic Society

• Early Career Chemist Award from the American Chemical Society 

• Young Scientist Award from DST-SERB 

• DARPA Fellowship

• CSIR JRF & SRF

• Qualified GATE

• Gold medal in masters