Miguel Munoz

PhD candidate

Miguel earned his B.S. in Biological and Pharmaceutical Chemistry and M.S. in Chemical Science and Technology from the Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Mexico. His past research involved DFT theoretical calculations and experimental work focused on quinone derivatives for energy storage applications. As a Ph.D. student, his research interest are eutectic solvents for redox flow batteries. Miguel enjoys watching and playing soccer, reading, and going to the gym during his free time.

Zhongyu Xie

PhD student

Zhongyu received his M.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Florida (UF) in 2023. He joined the group in the Fall semester of 2024 after serving as a research assistant for a year at the Department of Chemical Engineering of UF. His past research experience involved fabrication and characterization for electrodes and electrocatalysis
for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction. Out of the lab, Zhongyu likes cooking and enjoys food.

Saudagar Dongare

Saudagar earned his PhD in 2021 from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, India. His PhD thesis was focused on the development of  electro-catalysts for CO2 conversion to ethanol. Saudagar uses different in-situ and ex-situ characterization methods to study catalyst’s physical, chemical and electrochemical properties. He currently studies the role of ionic liquids on the CO2 electrochemical reduction reaction. In his free time, he enjoys travelling and exploring historical places both near and far. He also enjoys learning new technologies and watching comedy shows.

Sabhapathy Palani

Sabha received M.Sc (2012) in analytical chemistry from the Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Madras and a PhD (2019) from National Tsing-Hua University (NTHU) as a TIGP fellow (TaiwanInternational Graduate Program -jointly with Academia Sinica and NTHU). After his PhD, he continued as a postdoctoral researcher at NTHU before joining CWRU in 2023. Sabha’s expertise include electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution, oxygenreduction, and carbon dioxide reduction reactions. Sabha is currently workingon developing electrolytes for redox flow batteries. In his free time, he lovesreading, playing badminton and cricket.

Vaishali Khokhar

Vaishali earned her B.Sc degree in Chemistry from Miranda House and her M.Sc degree in Chemistry from the Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi, India. Later, she joined IIT Delhi to pursue her Ph.D. in Chemistry. She graduated in March 2023 and her PhD thesis work was focused on the physical characterization and spectroscopic studies within Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) while developing a strong foundation in the fundamentals of these neoteric solvents. As a postdoctoral researcher in the Energy Lab, her work focuses on the characterization and development of novel DESs for their application as electrolyte media. Outside of research, Vaishali loves cooking and dancing to Bollywood music. She is also an avid cinephile.