PI: Progna Banerjee, Ph.D.

Progna Banerjee, Ph.D. is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry at Loyola University Chicago (since 2024), where she leads the PBEnergyLab. Her research integrates synthetic inorganic chemistry, advanced electron microscopy, and machine learning to design next-generation solid electrolytes and superionic conductors for batteries, fuel cells, and catalytic systems. Prior to Loyola, Banerjee was a NST Center postdoctoral appointee at The Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) at Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois, USA (2021–2024), where she developed electron microscopy–driven approaches to map ionic transport and nanoscale phase transitions in energy materials. She previously held two prestigious fellowships: the NSF MRSEC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas, USA (2020–2021), where she studied light–matter interactions in bioinspired nanostructures as part of a DoD MURI; and the EBI–Shell ALS Postdoctoral Fellowship at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, USA (2019–2020), where she studied PLD based thin-film solid-state batteries. Banerjee earned her Ph.D. in Physics (with a focus on Materials Chemistry, 2018) and M.S. in Condensed Matter Physics (2014) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA. She also holds an M.Tech. in Solid State Technology and an M.Sc. in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Her work has appeared in leading journals including Nano Letters, Nature Communications, Chemistry of Materials, and Angewandte Chemie. She is recognized for bridging fundamental condensed matter physics with scalable colloidal synthesis and electrochemical performance, and for leading high-throughput, machine-learning–enabled discovery pipelines for complex ionic materials.

FELLOWSHIPS, HONORS AND AWARDS Post-Ph.D. 2022 – American Chemical Society–CAS Future Leader (1 of 30 awardees worldwide, across all chemistry disciplines) 2021–2024 – Postdoctoral Appointee, Center for Nanoscale Materials (Argonne National Laboratory; 1 of 8 postdocs selected annually) 2021 – ACS Postdoc-to-Faculty Future Faculty Scholar 2020–2021 – Postdoctoral Fellow, NSF MRSEC, University of Texas at Austin 2019–2020 – EBI–Shell ALS Affiliated Postdoctoral Fellow, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory During Ph.D. (University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign) 2018 – Scott Anderson Outstanding Graduate Assistant Award, Department of Physics 2017 – University Graduate Fellowship & Travel Grant, Graduate College 2017 – AVS Prairie Chapter Symposium Registration Award M.Tech, M.Sc, and Early Career 2010–2012 – Government of India MRHM Institute Fellowship, IIT Kharagpur 2011 – SIPIS Summer Fellowship, National University of Singapore (10 awards granted annually) 2010 – Indian Academy of Sciences Summer Research Fellowship 2009 – Summer Research Fellowship, S.N. Bose Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata 2010 – Top 1 percentile (Rank 43 / 8,000+) in GATE National Exam (Physics, India) – nationwide graduate entrance examination 2008 – Top 1 percentile in JAM National Exam (Physics, India) – nationwide entrance for M.Sc. admission (thousands of candidates) 2005–2008 – First Rank in Department (Physics), highest GPA among all STEM students in college 2008 – Hiron Bala Memorial Gold Medal (Highest GPA in College, University award) Institutional Support (Loyola University Chicago) 2025 – Research Support Grant Competition Award, Office of Research Services – Advanced Structural and Compositional Characterization of Colloidal Copper Boron Selenide Nanocrystals for Superionic Conductors

PBEnergyLab Members

PBEnergyLab Alumni

Name of member/timeline of association with PBEnergyLab/next position	Project(s) assigned	Accomplishments from PBEnergyLab
Yunhao Xu 2024-25 Graduated with M.S. Current: University of Birmingham Medical School	Colloidal hot injection syntheses of unexplored complex chalcogenide nanocrystals	Co-author in journals J18 and J22. 2025 Student Award from the American Institute of Chemists (AIC)
Niket Powar 2025 Postdoc	Ammonia selectivity of nanocrystals for electrochemical nitrate reduction	Co-author in journals J18, J22, pre-print P1.
Kelly Zervos 2024-25 Graduated with M.S.	Structural determination of unexplored complex chalcogenide nanocrystals	Co-author in journals J18 and J22.