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Replacing Cobalt with Nickel in Lithium-ion batteries

Dr. Sujith Kalluri, Assistant Professor of Electronics and Communication Engineering, published a paper on “Building High-Rate Nickel-Rich Cathodes by Self organisation of Structurally Stable Macrovoid” in a highly reputed journal, “Advanced Science” having Impact Factor of 15.8. During his association with Samsung- UNIST Battery R&D Centre at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) South Korea, he began researching on the alternate battery cathodes for high-rate lithium-ion batteries, and proceeded the study at SRM University AP, Andhra Pradesh.

Cathode is one of the key components of batteries used in portable smart devices (mobile phones). Presently, batteries comprise of Lithium Cobalt Oxide as a cathode. Dr. Kalluri’s research focuses on the fast mobility of the lithium-ions present inside the battery with respect to the applied electricity. In his path-breaking study, he designed a new cathode for batteries, which is Lithium Nickel-rich transition metal oxide. He explains the supremacy of his designing Nickel-rich cathode, “When we did thorough electro-chemical and electrical studies, the lithium-ion batteries infused with nickel-rich cathode exhibited higher performance in terms of high current operations and elevated temperatures. Also, the Nickel-rich based lithium-ion batteries are a cost-effective substitute as the major portion of Cobalt is replaced with Nickel, a cheaper metal. These batteries can be employed in portable electronic devices and in larger scale, can be a promising candidate for e-mobility appliances.”

The research of Dr. Kalluri also aims at improving the “high current rate operation” which will ensure fast charging of portable devices and electric vehicles. When asked regarding his future research plans, he says “At SRM AP, we are establishing SRM – Amara Raja Centre for Energy Storage Devices in association with Amara Raja Batteries Limited. In this centre, we are planning to further optimize the lithium-ion battery technology, and also we will look beyond and try to implement sodium-ion battery technology for societal demands.”

SERB Project in Mathematics

Dr. Fouzul Atik, Assistant Professor at the Department of Mathematics in SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh has received a prestigious Start-up Research Grant (SRG) from Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Govt. of India.

Objective of the Grant:

This is a Start-up Research Grant (SRG) has a particular objective to assist researchers to start off their research career in a new institution. This two-year grant ushers in researchers in the domain of research from where they can escalate to the mainstream core research grants.

Selection and Nature of Support:

The selection for this grant is highly competitive and is based on the profile of the applicant and his proposed research plan. Nationwide only 500 grants are awarded per year across all subject areas.
The one-time research grant will cover equipment, manpower, consumables, travel and contingency apart from overheads. Applicant has the flexibility to propose budget under various heads as per requirement.

About Dr. Fouzul Atik’s Project:

In his project titled as “Characterization of graphs by spectra of its distance and resistance matrix and some problems related to matrix theory and graph theory”, Dr. Atik is initiating the investigation of different properties of graphs with the help of several matrices associated with it. “In this project we will focus on the distance matrix and resistance matrix of graphs. Many challenging problems are there which are equally important in the fields of graph theory and matrix theory. We will try to solve few of them in this project.” Dr. Atik said.

Reference:

SERB, India – http://www.serb.gov.in/home.php

SRG – http://www.serb.gov.in/srgg.php

Dr. Fouzul Atik- https://srmap.edu.in/faculty/dr-fouzul-atik/

Prototypes were awarded in ETHDenver International Hackathon

Innovations of SRM University-AP’s Students were acknowledged and rewarded in ETHDenver, an International Conference organised by Ethereum Foundation. Ethereum Foundation is the largest platform for blockchain technology development. In this conference, they arranged for an US Blockchain Technology Hackathon, the biggest challenge on blockchain technology developments and applications. Approximately 2000 students across the world registered for the conference. Students of SRM-AP presented their innovative ideas with prototypes and secured bounty of total $3000 for their projects called URBANBOWL and SECURENOTE. They were also awarded the Community Prize for being on the Top 5. As a part of Global Scholars Programme supported by Ethereum Foundation, the students represented SRM University-AP in the conference.

Urbanbowl partcipants in ETHDenver with Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum 

URBANBOWL was developed by Koushik Bhargav, Pushyamitra, Srinivas Teja and Rohit, four students of 3rd year, Computer Science and Engineering Department. This project was about making cities self-sustainable by urban farming on rented places. Considering the American societies, where people have unused places like the backyards, the students developed prototype of Urbanbowl, a decentralised urban farming platform where people can lease out empty spaces like backyards or basements. This platform was developed using blockchain technology. Their project also satisfied five UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)- End Hunger, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Reduction in Forest Loss and Land Degradation, Climate Action and Sustainable Production Pattern. The students received a bounty of $500 from SKALE and $500 from DAPPHERO for their project.

Securednote  participants praised in ETHDenver

SECURENOTE, the second project from SRM-AP, was also highly praised in the conference. Yoganand and Nikhil, 3rd year students of Electronics and Communication Engineering along with Chaitanya and Abhin, 3rd year students of Computer Science and Engineering were the brains behind the project. They have developed a platform where people’s complaints will not go unnoticed. The present scenario in Indian police station shows that people register their complaints manually, and most of the times, those complaints get lost or no action is taken. Using blockchain technology, students of SRM-AP have developed such a platform where such complaints will be registered and digitised in such a way that cannot be modified later without bringing it into notice of all the concerned authorities. This will make the process more secure as none will be able to alter or modify the complaints without notifying the concerned people. They also have received a bounty of $2000 from DAOSTACK for their project.

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