Applied Energy Materials Group

• Feb 2024 – Present PhD: Student in School of Chemistry, UNSW Sydney; Supervisor: Prof Neeraj Sharma.
• Sep 2021 – June 2022: Master of Science (Advanced Materials Science), University College London.
• Sep 2016 – June 2020: Bachelors of Engineering (Materials science and Engineering), Northeastern University, China.

Zhao Chen received her Master of Science in Advanced Materials Science degree in University College London in 2022. She is currently a PhD student in the School of Chemistry at the University of New South Wales, Australia. She is focusing on direct recycling cathode materials from used lithium-ion batteries and exploring solid-state electrolytes in the lithium and sodium batteries.

• February 2024 – Present: Graduate Student under Dr Dong Jun Kim at the School of Chemistry, UNSW Sydney.
• September 2023 - December 2023: Technical Assistant in charge of Scanning Electron Microscopy at National Institute of Technology Calicut, India.
• October 2020 - December 2022: Junior Research Fellow at SRM Institute of Science and Technology Chennai, India.
• July 2018 - June 2020: Master of Technology in Material Science and Chemical Technology from Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, Pune.
• July 2023 - May 2013: Bachelor of Technology in Nanotechnology from Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education.

Faizal was born in Kerala, India. He completed his bachelor’s degree from Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education in the field of Nanotechnology and received a prestigious scholarship from the All India Council for Technical Education under the Ministry of Human Resources and Development to pursue his higher education. Faizal did his master’s degree in Material Science and Chemical Technology, from Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, an institution under Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Ministry of Defence. Shortly after, with a fellowship from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Faizal joined as a Junior Research Fellow under Dr K Kamala Bharathi at SRM Institute of Science and Technology where he studied various Sulfide based solid electrolytes for all solid state lithium-ion batteries for two years. After this fellowship, Faizal then joined as a technical assistant in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the National Institute of Technology Calicut, where he worked as a technical staff member in charge of scanning electron microscopy. Presently, Faizal is a graduate student at UNSW under the guidance of Dr DJ Kim and Prof Neeraj Sharma. He is planning to explore solid-state energy storage devices.

• May 2024 – Present: PhD Student in School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering / School of Chemistry, UNSW Sydney; Supervisors: Prof Neeraj Sharma, Dr Robert Patterson, Dr Matthew Teusner.
• Jan 2023 – Dec 2023: Research Assistant in School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, UNSW Sydney; Supervisor: Dr Rong Deng.
• Jan 2020 – Dec 2023: Bachelor of Renewable Energy Engineering (Honours), UNSW Sydney; Supervisor: Dr Robert Patterson, Prof Neeraj Sharma

Ricky graduated with First Class Honours in Renewable Energy Engineering in 2020 and was included on the Faculty of Engineering’s Dean’s Honours List for outstanding academic achievement. During his honours year, he utilised the Density Functional Theory package CP2K to rapidly model and optimise the structures of novel sulphide battery materials, focusing on estimating the activation energy of ionic transport. He also participated in the School of Engineering’s Taste of Research program as a research assistant, contributing to techno-economic and life cycle assessment modelling of end-of-life solar panels in Australia. 

He is currently pursuing a PhD at UNSW Sydney under the supervision of Prof Neeraj Sharma and Dr Robert Patterson. His research focuses on sodium solid electrolytes, with a particular interest in understanding how crystal structure governs solid-state electrolyte performance. His work utilises a range of techniques such as X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption spectroscopy and neutron powder diffraction. He has experience conducting experiments at the Australian Synchrotron and Open-pool Australian lightwater reactor, utilising beamlines including MEX-2 and the Echidna high-resolution powder diffractometer.

Govardhan (Gova) Reddy Sontam is a PhD candidate.

• Nov 2024 – Present: PhD Student in Chemistry, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia; Supervisors: Prof Neeraj Sharma, Dr Marzi Barghamadi, Dr Thomas Ruether, A/Prof Jitendra Mata.
• Jan 2024 – Nov 2024: Research Engineer, Stockholm Water Technology AB, Sweden.
• Jul 2023 – Apr 2024: Visiting Master’s Student in Physics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden; Supervisor: Prof Joydeep Dutta.
• Aug 2022 – Jun 2023: Visiting Master’s Student (Erasmus+), Umeå University, Sweden; Supervisor: Prof Thomas Wågberg.
• Oct 2021 – Sep 2024: Master of Science (Physics), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany; Supervisor: Prof Carsten Ronning.
• Oct 2018 – Sep 2021: Bachelors of Science (Physics), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany.

Marcell Szabó was born in Budapest, Hungary. He obtained both his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Physics from Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany, specializing in solid state physics, materials science, and electrochemistry under the supervision of Prof Carsten Ronning. During his M.Sc. studies, he undertook research placements at two universities in Sweden. At Umeå University, under the supervision of Prof Thomas Wågberg, he carried out cleanroom based experimental work involving plasma treatment of polymer substrates followed by the deposition of gold nano islands for surface and interface characterization. He later joined the Functional Nano Materials Group at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm under the supervision of Prof Joydeep Dutta, where he completed his master’s thesis on Prussian Blue analogues for capacitive deionization water treatment, aiming to improve electrochemical stability and performance. Following his master’s degree, he worked as a Research Engineer at Stockholm Water Technology AB, gaining experience in the translation of laboratory research to applied water treatment technologies. He began his PhD in Chemistry at UNSW Sydney in November 2024, where his research focuses on sulfur rich copolymers for lithium–sulfur battery cathodes, targeting improvements in capacity retention and long term cycling stability. His research interests include advanced materials characterization, particularly using synchrotron- and neutron-based techniques.

• Feb 2025 – Current: PhD Student, Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 (France) and The University of New South Wales (Australia); Supervisors: Dr Vittoria Pischedda and Dr Neeraj Sharma.
• Jan 2024 – May 2024: Master’s Dissertation Research, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal, India; Supervisor: Dr Rohith Ranganathan Gaddam.
• 2023: IAS–INSA–NASI Summer Research Fellow, CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI), Karaikudi, India;cSupervisor: Dr R Thangamuthu.
• 2019 – 2024: Integrated MSc in Chemistry, Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), India.

Megha Mini Reghunathan is from India. She completed her Integrated Master of Science in Chemistry from Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT). During her academic training, she was awarded the IAS–INSA–NASI Summer Research Fellowship at CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI), Karaikudi, where she gained research experience in electrochemical systems.

She subsequently joined the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal, for her master’s dissertation under the supervision of Dr Rohith Ranganathan Gaddam. Her work focused on developing free-standing flexible MoO₂/C anode frameworks for high-capacity and stable sodium-ion batteries, involving material synthesis, structural characterization, and electrochemical performance evaluation.

She is currently in the second year of her PhD at Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 (France) and The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney, Australia) as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie AUFRANDE Fellow, a co-tutelle doctoral program under the supervision of Dr Vittoria Pischedda and Dr Neeraj Sharma. Her research focuses on understanding structural modifications of battery materials under extreme conditions.

• June 2025 - Current PhD Student in School of Chemistry, UNSW Sydney; Supervisor: Prof Neeraj Sharma
• Sept 2020 – Jan 2025: Master's in Materials Science & Engineering and Nanoscience & Technology, National Centre for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Supervisor: Prof Wang Bin.
• Jan 2016 – Feb 2020: Bachelor of Science (Chemistry), University of Calabar, Nigeria.

Emilia holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering. She is currently a PhD student at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, under the supervision of Prof Neeraj Sharma. Her research focuses on sodium-ion battery cathode materials and their interactions with water and aqueous processing.

• February 2022 – December 2022, Honours Researcher in the School of Chemistry, UNSW Sydney; Supervisor: Dr Dong Jun Kim
• February 2023 – May 2023, Research Assistant.
• October 2023 – September 2025, Master of Science (Research) in Chemistry, UNSW Sydney; Thesis title: Designing Synthetic Analogues of Cytochrome c Oxidase with Hydroquinonyl-Imidazole Ligands; Supervisor: Dr Dong Jun Kim.
• October 2025 – Current, PhD student.

Born in the Philippines, Daniel Santos made an early move to Australia, where he grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney. He pursued his passion for Chemistry and graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from UNSW Sydney. He completed his MS (Research) degree in September 2025 under the supervision of Dr DJ Kim and commenced his PhD studies the following month.