Amartya Mukhopadhyay

Presently, Professor at the Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay (IITB), Amartya Mukhopadhyay obtained his Doctoral in Materials research from the University of Oxford, UK, in December, 2009. He had obtained his Masters by research in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur (IITK), India in September, 2006. Prior to that he did his under-graduation in Metallurgical Engineering from Regional Engineering College (presently, National Institute of Technology; NIT), Durgapur, India (1999-2003) and had also subsequently worked for one year (2003 - 2004) as a graduate engineer trainee at ESSAR steel plant, Hazira, India, where he was selected via campus recruitment. Following his PhD he did his Post-doctoral Research at Brown University, USA for a couple of years.

He is also, a Young Associate of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, Founder Member - cum - Vice-President of the newly formed Battery Research Society (of India), Swarnajayanti Fellow (DST) and Council Member of MRSI Mumbai Chapter.

Prof. Mukhopadhyay has set-up the Advanced Batteries & Ceramics Laboratory (formerly, High Temperature and Energy Materials Laboratory) at IIT Bombay and has established research programs at IIT Bombay in the areas of materials for electrochemical energy storage (focusing primarily on the alkali metal-ion battery systems) and engineering ceramics. Presently, he has authored/co-authored more than 100 research papers in peer-reviewed International Journals. Presently h-index of his publications is 35 (i-10 index of 76) and total citations of >4800 (as per google scholar citations; https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ci2NiyIAAAAJ&hl=en). He has also contributed towards one text book and five book chapters in books published by renowned International Publishers; and holds 10 patents (granted). He has been contributing as a reviewer for peer-reviewed International Journals (including Science, Nature, various ACS journals etc.) and member of editorial board for a few (like J Power Sources, ACS Electrochemistry, Nanomaterials and Energy). His Scopus Author ID is 15064516200 and ORCID ID is 0000-0002-9368-0935. He is also a co-founder -cum- director of VaultIonix Energy, a spin-off company (start-up) from his research group, which focuses on Na-ion battery development.

In light of his important publications/works, Prof Mukhopadhyay was invited by the Science journal for writing a perspective article [published as, Science 359 (2018) 1463]. Among various other recognitions (National/International), he has been awarded with the prestigious 2024 ‘Tata Transformation Prize’ in Sustainability (by TATA Sons and the New York Academy of Sciences), ‘SwarnaJayanti Fellowship 2020-21’ by the Government of India and recognized by the Royal Society of Chemistry (United Kingdom) journals as a ‘2019 Emerging Investigator’ and also 'Outstanding Reviewer 2024'. He is also the recipient of various young scientist/engineer awards from the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Indian Ceramic Society (INCeRs) and IIT Bombay. Some of the achievements with respect to development of Na-ion battery system have been Listed as a 'Success Story' on Materials for Energy Storage by the Department of Science and Technology (DST); vide: 'Story on Green Energy Storage', article 13 ('Enabling the development of Na-ion batteries'), pp 64-68, 2021. His PhD students also keep receiving important national/international recognitions/awards for their research and thesis.

It may also be mentioned here that he has been publishing regularly in highly reputed and high impact journals, like Science, Advanced Energy Materials, ACS Nano, J Mater Chem A, Carbon, Chemistry of Materials, ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, Nanoscale, Electrochim Acta, ChemComm, Scripta Mater, J Electrochem Soc etc., totally based on work done solely in India. He also has more than 10 patents (granted + filed). The recognition of such work, not only within India, but also world-wide, has resulted in him being regularly invited (as keynote/invited speaker) to various National/International Conferences organized by respected professional societies. Of special mention are the invitations to the highly respected International Battery Materials Association (IBA 2025) meeting, to be held in Singapore in November 2025, and the ‘6th World Materials Summit’ (organized by E-MRS), that was held at Strasbourg, France, in November 2017, as a ‘Next Generation Researcher’.

From a practical perspective, the sustainable development of high performance, environment friendly and cost-effective electrochemical energy storage systems has been recognized as one of the important avenues towards minimization of the dependence on fossil fuels, successful usage of energy harvested from intermittent renewable sources and addressing of the concerns associated with increasing environmental pollution (viz., by facilitating widespread usage of electric vehicles). Such development will also lead to further advancement of the ‘battery-run’ electronic items and healthcare set-ups. Thus, from a broader perspective, research outputs of Prof Mukhopadhyay are, undoubtedly, expected to improve the quality/availability of energy in the required form, the environment and, concomitantly, the living and health conditions of human population worldwide. Overall, for battery related developments, presently, his group has active collaborations/MoU with various industry partners; which fall in line with the motive of his group, concerning ‘from concepts → materials → electrodes → cell development → battery prototype’.

In terms of organizational roles, presently, he has coordinated the theme on ‘Materials Science and Renewable Energy’, on behalf of IIT Bombay, towards the DST (Govt. of India) - World Bank initiative towards strengthening of the African Centers of Excellence (ACEs). He is also one of the Young Associates of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) and a former honorary secretary of the Mumbai Chapter of the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM). He is an Expert Committee member for MHRD STARS (for the 'Nanoscience domain'), ANRF-ARG (MMME), DST division on Climate, Energy, Sustainability & Technology (CEST), is part of the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) member for research vertical "Advanced Nanomaterial" of DRDO's DIA-CoE IIT Kanpur and has been part of expert advisory committee for National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), Government of India. He has also contributed towards the 'eMobility R&D Roadmap for India', which has been released by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.

As an organizer, he has organized, as the Convener, the 1st National Meeting on Sodium(-ion) Batteries at IIT Bombay (NMSB-1; on October 4-6, 2024). Earlier, he had organized, as the Convener, a symposium on ‘Materials for Advanced Batteries’ for IIM ATM 2022 (annual conference organized by the Indian Institute of Metals), held in Hyderabad in November 2022. He has also been a session organizer-cum-chair for a session on “Materials for Batteries”, as part of the International Conference on Powder Metallurgy & Particulate Materials (PM 2023) (organized by the Powder Metallurgy Association of India; PMAI), held in Mumbai in March 2023. He is part of the International Scientific Committee of the prestigious Asian Conference on Electrochemical Power Sources (ACEPS). Earlier, he has been conveners for the the  3rd Indo-Austria Symposium on Advances in Materials Engineering (AME 2016), 1st joint IITB-NUS Workshop on Energy (ENERGY 2014) and 5th National Symposium for Materials Research Scholars (MR 13); and co-convener of the dedicated symposium on 'Materials for Fuel Cells and Batteries' as part of NMD ATM 2014 (the annual National conference organized by IIM). He has also contributed towards identifying the research areas that are important for the Nation’s cause with respect to the theme of ‘Energy Materials’ (under the domain of ‘Advanced Materials’), as part of the IMPRINT India initiative.