webcasts2009 Finalist :: Ranganath Teki
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Ranganath Teki
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Ranganath Teki is committed to applying his expertise in nanomaterials to develop much-needed solutions for an energy-starved world. His group of four innovations, connected under the common theme of efficient energy conversion, stands to boost the cost-effectiveness and hasten more widespread adoption of next-generation green technologies.
At the heart of Teki's research is the technique of oblique angle deposition (OAD) using sputtering, which allows him to grow vast forests of nanoscale structures of different materials. The process is relatively fast, inexpensive, and allows single-step creation of unique nanostructures with controllable shape, size, and symmetry.
Teki's first innovation, nanostructured silicon anodes for lithium-ion batteries, holds the potential to boost the energy capacity and life cycle of one of the world's most widely used battery technologies. In place of conventional graphite anodes, Teki developed lithium-ion batteries that employ nanostructured anodes made from silicon nanorods. These novel batteries, which show a four-fold increase in stable charge capacity over conventional lithium-ion batteries with graphite anodes, are currently being tested by Teki's collaborators at the University of Pittsburgh.
The second technology involves improved materials for fuel cells. A key hurdle in the mass-market adoption of fuel cell technology is the prohibitive cost of platinum, which is used as a catalyst in nearly all polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Conventional PEM fuel cell electrodes use layers of platinum supported on carbon microparticles, but this design suffers from a continual loss of performance as the carbon support degrades. Teki fabricated ultra-thin platinum nanorod electrode arrays for PEM fuel cells, which are more porous, offer more surface area, and in turn allow for significantly higher activity than conventional PEM fuel cells with layered platinum electrodes. Teki's new fuel cells were tested at Rensselaer's Center for Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Research.
The high cost of manufacturing conventional silicon-based solar cells is driving new interest and research into developing organic solar cells. Organic solar cells are generally easy and cost-effective to fabricate, but exhibit lackluster efficiency. Teki's third innovation was the first-ever creation of isolated zinc-oxide nanorods at room temperature by OAD using sputtering. These optimized single-crystalline nanorods have the right size and porosity to make them promising candidates for use in more efficient zinc-oxide-based hybrid organic solar cells. The solar cells are currently being tested by Teki's collaborators at the University at Albany.
Teki's final innovation was the development of new nanostructured surfaces with enhanced photoemission for use in creating a more sensitive photomultiplier-based detector. This type of device, which collects photons and emits electrons, is widely used in fluorescence spectroscopy, particle physics, forensics, and different medical diagnostics applications.
Taken together, Teki's four innovations hold the promise of advancing the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of key green energy technologies that could impact all people of all nations.
As a doctoral student at Rensselaer, Teki has co-authored eight journal papers, and in 2005 received the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering Howard. P. Isermann Fellowship. He volunteers his time at the Troy, N.Y-based Rosa Catholic Worker House and the international nonprofit Art of Living Foundation. He has organized seminars and workshops on "Yoga Breathing Techniques" at Rensselaer and also hosted the show "Melodies of India" on WRPI, Rensselaer's college radio station.
Born and raised in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Teki inherited his love of science and technology from his father, a professor of chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Teki enjoys the support of his parents and his brother, who is studying neuroscience at University of Oxford in England.
Teki received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, and his master's degree in chemical engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He expects to earn his doctorate in chemical engineering from Rensselaer this spring.
