ഡോ രാഖി ആർ ബി
- ഡോ രാഖി ആർ ബി
- പ്രിൻസിപ്പൽ സയന്റിസ്റ്റ്
- rakhiraghavanbaby@niist.res.in
- 0471 2515411
- +919497113659
Personal webpage: https://sites.google.com/view/rakhirb/home
IRINS Profile: https://niist.irins.org/profile/228893
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wxWW0zMAAAAJ&hl=en
Dr. Rakhi R.B., a native of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala is a first rank holder of M.Sc. Physics from University of Kerala in 2000. She received her Ph.D. in Physics with the best thesis award, from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), Chennai in July 2009. She completed her postdoctoral research training from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She worked as a UGC-Assistant professor (June 2019 – August 2021) at the Department of Physics, University of Kerala. Dr. Rakhi R.B. is currently a Principal Scientist at the Materials Science and Technology Division of CSIR–NIIST. Dr. Rakhi is the recipient of the Ramanujan fellowship in 2016, International SABIC postdoctoral fellowship award consecutively for 2013 and 2014. She has published more than 78 articles in international peer reviewed journals with more than 6800 citations and has an h-index of 36. Her name has been included in the Stanford Global top 2% scientists list consecutively for the last three years (2019-2020, 2020-2021 and 2021-2022) published by Elsevier, Netherlands. Her current research interests include functional nanomaterials (nanocarbons, Transition Metal Oxides, and Conducting Polymers) nanocomposites, layered materials (Transition Metal Dichalcogenides and MXenes), nanotechnology-enabled energy storage devices (supercapacitors and hybrid devices), electrocatalysis, and electrochemical sensors.
- Principal Scientist (August 2021- to date) at CSIR-NIIST, Thiruvananthapuram, India
- UGC-Assistant Professor (June 2019- August 2021), Department of Physics, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, India
- Ramanujan Fellow (February 2016 – June 2019) at CSIR-NIIST, Thiruvananthapuram, India.
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow (March 2010 – October 2015) at the Functional Nanomaterials and Devices Group, KAUST, KSA.
- Senior Research Fellow (January 2007 – December 2009) under CSIR Fellowship at IIT Madras, Chennai
- Junior Research Fellow (January 2004 – December 2006) under CSIR-UGC/JRF -NET Fellowship at IIT Madras, Chennai
- Name has been included in the Stanford Global list of top 2% Scientists in the field of Applied Physics-Nanotechnology published by Elsevier, Netherlands consecutively for the years 2019, 2020, and 2021
- UGC-FRP assistant professorship, UGC, Govt. of India, 2017
- Ramanujan Fellowship from Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology (SERB-DST), Govt. of India in 2015
- Global Collaborative Research Award from KAUST- Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2014.
- SABIC International Post-Doctoral Fellowship award consecutively for the years 2012 and 2013
- Prof. A.L. Laskar award for the best Ph.D. thesis in Physics from IIT Madras, 2009.
- First Ph. D student from IIT Madras Physics Department to visit NUS as a part of NUS-India Research Initiative (IRI) program.
- Best poster prize in International Symposium of Research Scholars (ISRS-2006), held at IIT Madras, Chennai during 18th to 20th of December, 2006
- Best paper prize in International Symposium of Research Scholars (ISRS-2008), held at IIT Madras, Chennai during 10th to 12th of December, 2008
- Both Junior and Senior Research Fellowships by ‘Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’ (CSIR), Government of India (2004) after qualifying the national level competitive examination, the Joint UGC-CSIR National Eligibility Test
- First rank in M.Sc. (Physics) examination conducted by University of Kerala, India in 2000
In our group, we synthesize nanostructured electrode materials for electrochemical energy storage, electrocatalysis, and electrochemical sensing applications. Currently, the group focuses on the growth of 2D layered materials (graphene, MoS2, MXenes, and heterostructures), transition metal oxides, and organic/inorganic hybrid composites.
Supercapacitors
From portable electronics and transportation systems to backup systems that complement renewable sources such as solar and wind, the demand for energy storage is expected to grow substantially well into the foreseeable future. Supercapacitors can act as a promising energy- storage alternative for rapidly growing electronic industry. In this project we design and develop nanostructured electrode materials for supercapacitor applications. We are specifically interested in the development of inorganic layered materials including oxides, chalcogenides, and carbides and organic/inorganic hybrid composites to improve supercapacitor performance.
Electrochemical Sensors
Sensitive and selective enzyme based biosensors are used for the detection and quantification of various components present in the biological systems. Highly sensitive enzyme-based biosensors can be fabricated by the incorporation of enzymes with a suitable electrochemical transducer. Since many of the attributes of materials used for energy storage devices such as large surface area, fast ion and electronic transport, some of the materials developed for energy storage actually work well as sensor materials. In this project, potentiostatic, conductivity-based, and capacitance-based sensing devices are being investigated.
Electrocatalytic Water Splitting
Electrocatalytic water splitting to generate hydrogen and oxygen has gained immense attention as it can meet the constantly increasing energy demands of humanity as well as it is an eco-friendly energy generation mechanism. Ideally, the electrolysis of water involving two half-cell reactions – hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) requires a theoretical input energy of ∆E ° = 1.23 V vs normal hydrogen electrode (NHE). But the sluggish kinetics of the two-electron HER mechanism and the four-electron OER mechanism together requires an additional amount of energy to initiate the water splitting process. Recently, research is progressing towards designing and synthesizing efficient electrocatalyst materials which can reduce the overpotential (difference between theoretical and required potential) required for water electrolysis. Our group is currently focussing on the development of 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenides for Electrocatalytic Water Splitting.
Functional nanomaterials
Novel functional nanomaterials are the basis of newly emerging nanotechnologies for various device applications. In our group we are indulged in the synthesis of various nanomaterials and their composites for electrochemical applications
- Nanocomposites for electrochemical energy storage applications (GAP 136739)
Principal Investigator in DST-Ramanujan project.
Duration: 5 Years (2016-2021)
Sponsoring Agency: SERB, DST, India - Design and processing of nanostructured hybrid composite materials for electrochemical energy storage(GAP-137839)
Co-investigator in DST-MES project coordinated by Dr. K.N. Narayanan Unni, CSIR-NIIST, Trivandrum.
Duration: 3 years (2017-2020)Sponsoring Agency: DST, India
- American Chemical Society
- Materials Research Society of India
- Indian Science Congress Association
- Kerala Academy of Sciences
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Dr. Manuraj M.(Ph. D, University of Kerala, 2022) Thesis title: Efficient electrode materials based on molybdenum dichalcogenides for Supercapacitors Email ID : manuraj.m1@gmail.com |
- Ph.D. in Physics IIT Madras, India 2009 (Best thesis award) Thesis title: “Synthesis of carbon nanotube-based nanocomposites and their applications to field mission and biosensors” Thesis supervisors: Prof. S. Ramaprabhu & Prof. K. Sethupathi, Department of Physics, IIT Madras, Chennai
- M.Phil. in Physics University of Kerala, India 2002
- B. Ed. in Physical Sciences University of Kerala, India 2001.
- M.Sc. in Physics University of Kerala, India 2000 (First rank)
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Mrs. Anjana P.M (University of Kerala) |
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Mrs. Haritha V.S. (University of Kerala) |
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Mr. Visakh V. Mohan (University of Kerala) |
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Mrs. Shilpa R. (University of Kerala) |
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Ms. Sophy Mariam Vargheese |
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Ms. Aparna S.M. |
National
- R.B. Rakhi, S.R. Sarath Kumar and S. Mohanan, Thermo-optic studies on certain medicines nearing their expiry dates, 15th Kerala Science Congress National conference on Solid State Physics, Kanakakkunnu Palace, Thiruvananthapuram, India, January, 2003.
- S.R. Sarath Kumar, R.B. Rakhi and S. Mohanan, Thermo-optic studies on the effect of sunlight on certain medicines, 15th Kerala Science congress, Kanakakkunnu Palace, Thiruvananthapuram, India, January, 2003.
- R.B. Rakhi, K. Sethupathi and S. Ramaprabhu, Synthesis and characterization of multi walled carbon nanotubes by thermal chemical vapour deposition using RE based AB2 alloy hydride catalyst, DAE National conference on Solid State Physics, BARC, Mumbai, India, December, 2005.
- R.B. Rakhi, K. Sethupathi and S. Ramaprabhu, Field emission propertiesof Multi-walled carbon nanotubes. National Workshop on Nanostructured materials and applications, Stella Maris College, Chennai, India, January, 2007(II prize for oral presentation).
- R.B. Rakhi, K. Sethupathi and S. Ramaprabhu, Preparation and characterization of nanocrystalline Au/multi walled carbon nanotube composites. DAE National conference on Solid State Physics, BARC, Mumbai, India, December, 2008.
- R.B. Rakhi, Nanocomposite Electrodes for high performance supercapacitors. National Seminar on Recent Advances in Physics organized by the Dept. of Physics, University College on 8-9 March 2017. (Invited talk).
- P.M. Anjana and R.B. Rakhi, Direct growth of polyaniline/Fe3O4 composite on flexible carbon cloth for supercapacitor application, Polymer Conference for Young Researchers (PYCR’18) held at CSIR-NIIST on 17, November, 2018
- R.B. Rakhi, Electrochemical energy storage, invited talk at National Seminar on "Advances in Energy Related Materials", held at the Govt. College Kodanchery, Calicut on 31-12-2019 and 01-01-2020.
- R.B. Rakhi, Electrochemical characterization of supercapacitors, invited talk at National workshop on Advanced Analytical Techniques in Material Science - WAATMS 2020 organized by Department of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Calicut during the period 20 - 23 Jan 2020.
- R.B. Rakhi, Supercapacitors: electrode Materials, invited talk at one Week e-Summer School on Advanced Functional Materials for Energy Harvesting, Storage and Biomedical Applications during 13 - 19 May 2020 organized by Bishop Moore College, Mavelikkara in association with the Kerala State Higher Education Council.
- Visakh V Mohan, Manuraj Mohan and R.B Rakhi “Commercial-level mass-loading 2D WS2 towards real-time energy storage applications” in the two day National Seminar on Recent Trends n Energy and Environment (NSREE-2K22) organized by Post Graduate Department of Physics, SN College, Sivagiri, Varkala on 8-9 December 2022, in association with KSCSTE.
International
- R.B. Rakhi, M.M. Shaijumon, K. Sethupathi and S. Ramaprabhu, Hydrogen adsorption properties of carbon nanotubes synthesized by the pyrolysis of hydrocarbon over rare earth based AB2 alloy hydride catalyst, International Symposium of Research Scholars (ISRS-2006), IIT, Chennai, India, December, 2006.
- R.B. Rakhi, K. Sethupathi and S. Ramaprabhu, Synthesis and Hydrogen adsorption properties of carbon nanotubes, International Workshop on Hydrogen Energy, University of Rajastan, Jaipur, India, November, 2006.
- R.B. Rakhi, A. Leela mohana Reddy, M.M. Shaijumon, K. Sethupathi and S. Ramaprabhu, Field emission studies of Multi-walled carbon nanotubes synthesized by chemical vapour deposition using alloy hydride catalysts, International conference on Advanced Nano Materials (ANM-2007), IIT Mumbai, India, January, 2007
- R.B. Rakhi, K. Sethupathi and S. Ramaprabhu, Synthesis and field emission properties of polymer/metal/metal oxide dispersed carbon nanotubes International conference on Advanced Materials and Composites (ICAMC-2007), NIST, Trivandrum, India,October, 2007.
- S.S.Jyothirmayee Aravind, T. Arockiadoss, R.B. Rakhi, and S. Ramaprabhu, Biological sensor based on Au/MWNT for Dopamine detection., International conference on Functional Materials (FM-2008), IIT Madras, Chennai, India, November, 2008.
- S.S. Jyothirmayee Aravind, Tessy Theres Baby, R.B. Rakhi, T. Arockiadoss and S. Ramaprabhu, Fabrication of Amperometric Dopamine biosensor using Au/Graphene, International Symposium of Research Scholars (ISRS-2008), IIT Madras, Chennai, India, December, 2008.
- R.B. Rakhi, K. Sethupathi and S. Ramaprabhu, Electron field emission from conducting polymer coated metal encapsulated and metal oxide loaded multi walled nanotube composites, International Symposium of Research Scholars (ISRS-2008), IIT, Chennai, India, December, 2008.
- R.B. Rakhi, K. Sethupathi and S. Ramaprabhu, Development of an amperometric cholesterol biosensor based on nanocrystalline metal cluster coated multi walled carbon nanotubes and organically modified sol-gel/chitosan hybrid composite film, International Conference on Functional Materials (FM-2008), IIT, Chennai, India, November, 2008.
- Tessy Theres Baby, T. Arockiadoss, R.B. Rakhi,and S. Ramaprabhu, Magnetic bio- nanoparticles modified Multi walled carbon nanotubes based Glucose biosensor, International conference on Functional Materials (FM-2008), IIT Madras, Chennai, India, November, 2008.
- Tessy Theres Baby, S.S. Jyothirmayee Aravind, R.B. Rakhi, T. Arockiadoss and S. Ramaprabhu, Fabrication of Amperometric glucose biosensor using two dimensional Graphene, International Symposium of Research Scholars (ISRS-2008), IIT Madras, Chennai, India, December, 2008.
- R.B. Rakhi, X. Lim, K. Sethupathi, S. Ramaprabhu and C.H Sow, Micro-topiary: Laser pruning of CNT arrays, Second International Conference on Frontiers in Nanoscience and Technology (Cochin nano - 2009), CUSAT, Cochin, India, January, 2009.
- Tessy Theres Baby, R.B. Rakhi, N. Ravi and S. Ramaprabhu, Cerium Oxide Dispersed Multiwaleed Carbon Nanotubes as Cathode Material for Flexible Field Emitters, 3rd International Conference on Advanced Nano Materials (ANM-2010) held in Agadir, Morocco on 12-15 September 2010.
- R.B. Rakhi, and H.N. Alshareef, Supercapacitors based on graphene/metal oxide nanocomposite electrodes, Winter Enrichment Program (WEP 2011), held at King Abdullah University of Science and technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia on 15-31 January, 2011.
- R.B. Rakhi, W. Chen and H.N. Alshareef, Synthesis of MnO2/Carbon Nanotube Dispersed Graphene as Efficient Electrode Materials for Supercapacitors, 2012 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit, held at Moscone West Convention Center/Marriott Marquis - San Francisco, California on 9 - 13April, 2012.
- W. Chen, R.B. Rakhi and H.N. Alshareef, Carbon-coated MnO2 Nanorods as Supercapacitor Electrodes with Enhanced Performance, 2012 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit, held at Moscone West Convention Center/Marriott Marquis - San Francisco, California on 9 - 13April, 2012.
- W. Chen, R.B. Rakhi and H.N. Alshareef, High-performance Nanostructured Supercapacitors on a Sponge, 2012 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit, held at Moscone West Convention Center/Marriott Marquis - San Francisco, California on 9 - 13April, 2012.
- R.B. Rakhi, W. Chen and H.N. Alshareef, Conducting Polymer/Carbon Nanocoils Composite Electrodes for Efficient Supercapacitors, 2012 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit, held at Moscone West Convention Center/Marriott Marquis - San Francisco, California on 9 - 13April, 2012.
- R.B. Rakhi and H.N. Alshareef, Enegry Storage on Flexible Carbon Fabric, Global Collaborative Research (GCR) Symposium, KAUST, Saudi Arabia, 26-27 March 2014. (Best poster award)
- Nuha A. Alhebshi, R. B. Rakhi and H. N. Alshareef, Conformal Coating of Ni(OH)2 Nanoflakes on Carbon Fibers by Chemical Bath Deposition for Efficient Supercapacitor Electrode, Supercapacitors Europe 2014 Conference, Berlin, Germany 1-2 April 2014.
- R.B. Rakhi, Nanostructured Electrode materials for aqueous supercapacitors, Advanced functional Materials and devices (IWAFMD-2017) held at MS University Thirunelveli, from 8-12, January 2017.
- P.M. Anjana and R.B. Rakhi, Direct growth of Manganese Cobalt - Double hydroxide on flexible carbon cloth for supercapacitor application, International Conference on Nanomaterials: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications (ICN 2018) held at M.G university, Kottayam from 11-13, May, 2018
- P.M. Anjana and R.B. Rakhi, antibacterial and electrochemical activities of silver, gold, and palladium nanoparticles dispersed amorphous carbon composites, International Conference on Nanomaterials: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications (ICN 2018) held at SRM University Chennai from 28-30, January, 2019
- Manuraj Mohan, K.N. narayanan Unni, R.B. Rakhi, Nanostructured ternary chalcogenide electrode materials for electrochemical energy storage accepted for presentation in 5th International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICONN-2019) to be held at SRM University from 28th to 31st January 2019.
- Manuraj Mohan, K.N. narayanan Unni, R.B. Rakhi (2018) 2D Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Composite Material as a High-Performance Supercapacitor Electrode, presented at International Symposium on Functional Materials(ISFM-2018) held at Chandigarh, on April 13-15, 2018
- Manuraj Mohan, K.N. narayanan Unni, R.B. Rakhi (2018) Conducting polymer/ carbon nanotube composites as efficient supercapacitor electrodes, presented at the Polymer conference for Young Researchers (PCYR-2018) held at CSIR-NIIST on November 17, 2018
- Manuraj Mohan, K.N. narayanan Unni, R.B. Rakhi (2019) Commercial level mass loading of MoS2 nanotubes grown on nickel foam substractes for supercapacitor applications at International Conference on Frontiers in Materials from Basic Science to Real –time Applications(F2DM) held at JAIN University Bangalore on March-13 to 16 2019.
- R.B. Rakhi, Supercapacitors: Stategies and perspectives toward high performance, invited talk at International conference on recent advances in Materials Science (ICRAMS-2020) organized by MG college, Thiruvananthapuram during the period 22 - 23 Jan 2020.
- R.B. Rakhi, RGO Based composites as efficient electrode Materials for high-performance supercapacitors, invited talk at ICAFM-2019 held at CSlR-NIlST, Thiruvananthapuram on 9- 10 December 2019
- Manuraj Mohan, K.N. narayananUnni, RB Rakhi*, High performance Supercapacitors based on MoS 2 nanostructures with near commercial mass loading, poster presentation at ICAFM- 2019 held at CSIR-NIIST, Thiruvananthapuram on 9-10 December 2019.
- P.M. Anjana and R.B. Rakhi, 2D flexible graphite oxide sheets for supercapacitor application, International Virtual Conference on Advanced Nanomaterials and Applications” - VCAN 2020, held at Vellore Institute of Technology,Chennai From 17-19, June, 2020.
- R. Rohith, M.Manuraj and R.B. Rakhi, MoS2 nanoflower coated carbon fabric as a flexible electrode for supercapacitors, International Virtual Conference on Advanced Nanomaterials and Applications” - VCAN 2020, held at Vellore Institute of Technology,Chennai From 17-19, June, 2020.
- Visakh V Mohan, M Manuraj and R.B Rakhi , High performance supercapacitor based on 2D WS2 Nanoflower” at 1st International conference on Thin films and Nanotechnology-Knowledge, leadership, and commercialization (ICTN-KLC 2021) held virtually from 24th to 26th August ,2021 under the auspices of the Thin film Laboratory, Department of physics , IIT Delhi, India
- Visakh V Mohan, M Manuraj and R.B Rakhi , “FLEXIBLE SYMMETRIC HIGH PERFORMANCE SUPERCAPACITOR BASED ON WS2 2D MATERIAL” at International e-Conference on Advanced Materials (ICOAM 2021) organized by Department of Physics, JP College of Arts & Science, Agarakattu, Tenkasi, Tamil Nadu, India held on 24th & 25th Septemper 2021 .
- Visakh V Mohan, M Manuraj and R.B Rakhi, “One pot synthesis of WS2 for high performance supercapacitor applications” in the Indo-South Korea International e-Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology for Energy, Environment and Biomedical Applications (iNEEBA2021), organized by Vinayaka Missions Kirupananda Variyar Arts and Science College, India in association with Gyeongsang National University, Republic of Korea during 07-08 October, 2021.
- Visakh V Mohan, P. M Anjana and R.B Rakhi, “ONE POT SYNTHESIS OF TUNGSTEN OXIDE NANOMATERIAL AND APPLICATION IN THE FIELD OF FLEXIBLE SYMMETRIC SUPERCAPACITOR ENERGY STORAGE DEVICE” at Second International Conference on Engineering Materials, Metallurgy and Manufacturing (ICEMMM 2021) organized by SSN College of engineering , Kalavakkam, India.
- Visakh V Mohan and R.B Rakhi “Synergistically modified 2D Inorganic–Organic hybrid composite electrodes enable high specific capacitance in symmetric supercapacitors” in the Indo-South Korea – Thailand 2nd International e-Conference on “Nanoscience and Nanotechnology for Energy, Environment and Biomedical Applications” (iNEEBA2022), organized by Vinayaka Missions Kirupananda Variyar Arts and Science College, India in association with Gyeongsang National University, Republic of Korea and Chulalongkorn University, Thailand during on 24 - 25 November, 2022
- Visakh V Mohan, and R.B Rakhi “Can oxygen vacancies enhance the electrochemical performance of tungsten nano structures in symmetric supercapacitors” in the International Symposium on Semiconductor Materials and Devices-2022 (ISSMD-22), held at School of Electronics Engineering, KIIT, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India during 16-18 December 2022.
- Visakh V Mohan and R.B Rakhi Outstanding performance of commercial-level mass-loading 2D WS2 for aqueous energy storage devices” International e-Conference on Chemical and Environmental Sciences (ICCAES-22) organised by Institute of Engineering & Management, Kolkata 16-18 December, 2022.