Physical/Materials Chemistry

Education
1994 Ph.D., Texas A&M University
1986 M. Tech., Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur

Research Interests
The research activity in Prof. Mukerjee's group is an interdisciplinary approach encompassing the areas of solid state chemistry, spectroscopy, and electrochemistry of electrode materials for electrochemical energy conversion and storage. The current focus is targeted towards technologies for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells and for batteries, these encompass electrocatalysis of oxygen reduction, CO tolerance and methanol oxidation reactions, elevated temperature polymer electrolyte membranes, advanced rechargeable batteries with nickel metal hydrides and lithium insertion electrodes for lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries.

The emphasis is to develop new novel electrode materials for both electrocatalysis as well as intercalation and to investigate mechanisms of electrode processes using advanced synchrotron based in situ techniques. The synchrotron based spectroscopic technique of X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) offers unique insights into electrode processes by providing simultaneous electronic and structural information of the electrode materials under actual in situ cell operating conditions. XAS with its element specificity and ability to probe changes in the chemical (oxidation state, corrosion etc.) and the short-range atomic order is especially relevant due to applicability to complex nano-crystalline and amorphous systems. This electrode substrate information is complimented by use of synchrotron based in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) and IR spectroscopy, both possessing advantages of higher resolution and, in the case of IR spectroscopy, the ability to measure in the far infrared, thus extending the scope and quality of these measurements.

Selected Publications

 ‘Low Temperature Performance of Copper/Nickel Modified LiMn2O4 Spinels’, Y. Ein-Eli, R. C. Urian, W. Wen and S. Mukerjee, Electrochim. Acta 50, 1931 (2005).

‘Potential Shift for OH (ads) Formation on the Pt Skin on Pt3CO(111) Electrodes in Acid: Theory and Experiment’,  J. Roques, A. Anderson, V. S. Murthi and S. Mukerjee,. Electrochemical Soc., 152(6), E193, (2005)

'Correlation of Water Activation, Surface Properties and Oxygen Reduction Reactivity of Supported Pt-M/C Bimetallic Electrocatalysts using X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy', M. Teliska, V. S. Murthi, S. Mukerjee and D. Ramaker, J. Electrochem. Soc., 152(11), A2159, (2005)

'Origin of 5 V Electrochemical Activity in Non Redox Reactive Divalent Cation Doped LiM0.5-xMn1.5+xO4 (0<x<0.5) Cathode Materials: In situ XRD and XANES Spectroscopy studies', W. Wen, S. Mukerjee, M. Auinat, and Y. Ein-Eli, J. Electrochem. Soc., 152, A1902 (2005)

‘Activation Energies for Oxygen Reduction on Platinum Alloys: Theory and Experiment’, A. B. Anderson, J. Roques, S. Mukerjee, A. S. Murthi, N. M. MArkovic and V. Stemenkovic, J. Phys.Chem. B, 109(3), 1198, (2005).

‘Unexpected 5 V behavior for Zn doped Mn Spinel Cathode Material’, Y. Ein-Eli, W. Wen, and S. Mukerjee, Electrochemical and Solid State Letters, 8, A141, (2005).

 ‘Effect of Copolymer Composition on the Oxygen Transport Properties of Sulfonated Poly (arylene ether sulfone) Sulfonated (sulfide sulfone) Proton Exchange Membranes’ L. Zhang and S. Mukerjee, J. Electrochem. Soc., 152(6), A1208, (2005).

'Dual Ion Beam Assisted Deposition as a Methid to Obtain Low Loading-High Performance Electrodes for PEMFCs, Electrochemical and Solid State Letters, 8(10), A504, (2005).

'Synthesis of Pt-Mo/Carbon Nanocomposites from Single Source Molecular Precursors: A (1:1) PtMo/C PEMFC Anode Catalyst Exhibiting CO Tolerance', K. Kwiatkowski, S. B. Milne, S. Mukerjee, C. M. Lukehart, J. Cluster Science, 16(2), 251 (2005).

'Investigation of Durability Issues of Selected Non-Fluorinated Polymer Exchange Membranes for Fuel Cell Applications' J. Electrochem. Soc., 153, A1062 (2006).

'Towards Improving the Performance of PEM Fuel Cells by Using Mix Metal Electrodes Prepared by Dual Ion Beam Assisted Deposition', A. Gulla, M. Saha, R. Allen and S. Mukerjee, J. Electrochem. Soc., 153, A366 (2006)

'High Performance Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells with Ultra-Low Pt Loading Electrodes Prepared by Dual Ion Beam Assisted Deposition', M. Saha, A. F. Gulla, R. Allen and S. Mukerjee, Electrochimica Acta, 51, 4680 (2006).

'X-Ray Absorption Studies of Water Activation on an RhxSy Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction Applications', J. M. Ziegelbauer, D. Gatewood, A. F. Gulla, D. E. Ramaker and S. Mukerjee, Electrochemical and Solid State Letters, 9(9), A430 (2006).