TEAM

Dipan Kundu

Team Lead

Dipan has been a Senior Lecturer (assistant professor equivalent) in the School of Chemical Engineering (cross-appointed with the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering) at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, since the end of 2019. His research experience and expertise span the areas of electrochemistry, electrochemical energy storage, solid-state chemistry, materials science, and structure-function relationships in energy materials.

Dipan obtained his M.S. from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.), Bangalore, India. Later, he received his PhD, working with Prof. Reinhard Nesper at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, and worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Linda F. Nazar at the University of Waterloo. During 2015-2016, he co-founded and led the R&D activity at Salient Energy (Canada), a spinoff out of his postdoctoral research. From 2017 till joining UNSW at the end of 2019, he was a group leader at the Dept. of Materials at ETH Zurich, endowed by the prestigious Ambizione Fellowship Grant by the Swiss National Science Foundation. At the end of 2024, Dipan co-founded a startup 'ZenQuo' along with his colleague and collaborator, Dr. Priyank Kumar, aiming to develop rechargeable aqueous zinc batteries commercially.

For more, check his UNSW Researcher Profile and Google Scholar.

Post-Doctoral Researchers

Yuan Shang

Yuan completed his undergraduate studies in Material Science at Central South University (China) in 2017. He then pursued further education at the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy, University of New South Wales (UNSW), under the guidance of Alison Lennon. In December 2019, he graduated with his master's degree from UNSW. Yuan graduated with his doctoral degree from UNSW in 2025 under the supervision of Dr. dipan Kundu.

Currently, Yuan is engaged in his post-doctoral research within Dipan's group, focusing on the fascinating field of Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries (AZIBs).

Jacob Otabil Bonsu

Jacob earned his bachelor's degree in Petrochemical Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. He subsequently pursued his master's degree in South Korea, where his research predominantly centered around electrochemical energy storage materials, particularly supercapacitors. He earned his docoral degree from LBRI, UNSW under the supervision of Dr. Dipan Kundu.

Jacob is actively pursuing his post-doctoral studies within Dipan's group, focusing on developing new solid electrolytes.

Doctoral Students

Sankhadip Saha

Sankhadip earned his bachelor's degree in Ceramic Technology from Government College of Engineering and Ceramic Technology, Kolkata in 2018. He completed his master's degree in Metallurgical Engineering and Material Science, specializing in Corrosion Science and Engineering, at IIT Bombay in 2021. Prior to joining UNSW for his doctoral studies in the School of Chemical Engineering, he worked as a Project Associate at CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, Kolkata.

Sankhadip joined the LBRI team in May 2023, collaborating with Dipan on the development of cathode materials for Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries (AZIBs), under the co-supervision of Dr. Priyank Kumar.

Ipsita Pal

Ipsita earned her bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Hooghly Mohsin College (Burdwan University) in 2019. She then pursued a master's in Energy Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay, with a thesis focused on anode protection in lithium-sulfur batteries. In July 2022, she graduated with her master's degree from IIT Bombay.

Joining the LBRI group in 2023, Ipsita is currently involved in research concerning anode protection and cathode development for lithium sulfur batteries under the primary supervision of Dipan along with Dr. Neeraj Sharma as her co-supervisor.

Maxime Brunisholz

Maxime obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the School of Engineering and Architecture of Fribourg (part of HES-SO Universities) in 2019. He pursued a Master in Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) and graduated in July 2023. He did his master thesis in Prof. Raffaella Buonsanti’s group on copper nanocrystal synthesis for CO2 electroreduction.

Maxime joined UNSW in May 2024 to pursue his doctoral studies in Prof. Dipan Kundu’s group (LBRI). His research is focused on the comprehensive advancement and development of all-solid-state batteries.

Yingna Ding (Dina)

Yingna completed her undergraduate studies in Energy and Environmental Engineering at South China Agricultural University (China) in 2021, and then pursued a Master's degree in Materials Science at University College London (UCL).Her thesis was on aqueous zinc ion battery cathode materials under the supervision of Dr Buddha Deka Boruah, and in September 2022 she received her MSc from UCL.

Yingna joined the group in September 2023 and is working on the development of electrode materials for aqueous zinc ion batteries (AZIBs) under the primary guidance of Dipan and with Chunhui Wang as a co-mentor.

M. Ghalib Alfaza

Ghalib earned his bachelor's degree from Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia. In his free time, he enjoys reading and watching movies.

He is currently conducting research on battery materials under the supervision of Dr. Dipan Kundu and Dr. Priyank Kumar.

Ravindra Kokate

Ravindra completed his bachelor's degree in 2017 from RGTU, Bhopal, India, and went on to earn his master's degree in Material Science from Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea, in 2022. Following his studies, he worked as a research assistant at Konkuk University for six months. In May 2023, Ravindra joined the School of Chemical Engineering at UNSW to pursue his PhD under the supervision of Dr. Priyank Kumar and Dr. Dipan Kundu as his joint supervisors. His research focuses on anode protection in Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries (AZIBs), employing computational techniques and experimental approaches.

Masters Students

Qihui Zhang

Qihui earned his bachelor's degree in New Energy Materials and Devices from Soochow University (China) in 2023. His thesis was on anode stablization of Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries (AZIBs) under the supervision of Prof. Jingyu Sun.

Qihui is actively pursuing his MPhil studies in Chemical Engineering at UNSW. He joined the LBRI team in May 2024 to develop electrode materials and advanced separators for AZIBs under the supervision of Dr. Dipan Kundu, with Dr. Priyank Kumar as a co-mentor.

Visiting Researchers

Priyanshi Goyal

Priyanshi completed her bachelor’s in Chemistry (Organic Chemistry) from the University of Delhi, India, in 2018. She further pursued a Master of Science in Chemistry, specializing in Organic Chemistry, from the University of Delhi in 2020. After spending several months in labs and startups working on biodegradable polymers, she joined SurfChem in 2021 to pursue her doctoral studies under the supervision of Prof. Leena Nebhani at the Department of Material Science and Engineering, IIT Delhi, India.

Priyanshi is focusing on the synthesis of sulfur copolymers in her doctoral studies. She has been granted a SPARC fellowship by the Indian Government, allowing her to join the LBRI team as a visiting researcher for three months to study the application of sulfur copolymers as cathodes for lithium-sulfur batteries.