Theory‑Guided, Data-Driven Design of Colloidal Superionic Electrolytes & Interphases for Safe, Scalable Battery Innovation

Colloidal Nanocrystals • Solid Electrolytes • Synchrotron x-ray Techniques • In-situ TEM • Battery Performance• Machine Learning

The PBEnergyLab pioneers Autonomous Discovery Pipelines to bridge the gap between fundamental condensed matter physics and scalable energy materials using synthetic colloidal nanochemistry. By integrating closed-loop robotics with advanced electron microscopy and electrochemistry pipelines, we accelerate the synthetic discovery of superionic conductors and solid-state electrolytes-often in metastable phases. Our mission is to move from Edisonian trial-and-error to a physics-informed, machine-learning-enabled discovery paradigm.

Thrust 1: Nanoscale Ionics & Defect Engineering

We design and synthesize colloidal nanocrystals and nanoclusters of complex chalcogenides with tunable composition, morphology, and vacancy density. By leveraging phase-mapping workflows, our lab uncovers how grain size, symmetry breaking, and defect structures govern superionic phase transitions. We move beyond traditional synthesis to establish fundamental rules for ionic conductivity in next-generation solid-state materials.

Thrust 2: Engineering Interfaces for Macro-scale Ion Transport

We utilize surface and interface chemistry strategies to tailor interparticle coupling and build solution-processable superionic films and inks. This thrust bridges the gap between nanoscale defect engineering and macroscopic electrolyte performance, enabling the translation of fundamental discovery into high-performance interfaces for all-solid-state batteries, fuel cells, and hybrid catalytic systems.

Thrust 3: Data-Driven Discovery & Autonomous Pipelines

We integrate atomic-resolution TEM/4D-STEM and automated Rietveld refinement with physics-informed machine learning (ML) workflows to identify structure–property correlations across large synthetic libraries. By building autonomous discovery pipelines, we accelerate the identification of optimal compositions, shortening the material discovery cycle from years to months and establishing a new paradigm for high-throughput materials chemistry.

Research Foundations & Selected Legacy Projects from formative period (combining PI Progna Banerjee’s physics & nanochemistry pedigree (UIUC/IIT) with electron microscopy/xray expertise (Argonne/Berkeley) and computational expertise (UT Austin/Argonne/UIUC))

MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY ENABLED THROUGH HIGH-THROUGHPUT AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS (Argonne)	This work at Argonne established the foundational protocols for my current AI-driven closed-loop discovery pipelines. Material discovery is an arduous process which requires years worth of hard work and thousands of experiments to barely scratch the parameter space for a chosen combination of materials and operating conditions. Using nanoscale transformations and microfluidic technologies, we are striving to create a self-operating lab platform starting with colloidal sample handling, mixing, reactors, followed by in-built characterization tools for quality assessment and measurements of crucial physicochemical properties.
MECHANISTIC INSIGHTS INTO CATION EXCHANGE AND COMPRESSIBILITY OF MESTABLE PHASES WITH CHEMICALLY TUNED SUPERIONIC PROPERTIES (Argonne)	By utilizing a surfactant-encoded cation exchange pathway in 2D atomically thin CdSe nanoplatelets, my lead projects while at Argonne achieved near-complete monovalent copper substitution at room temperature, revealing that oxygen facilitates redox-mediated transformation while precursor valency dictates the preservation of metastable 2D morphologies Furthermore, high-pressure synchrotron studies on these chemically tuned copper selenides using APS beamlines identified a novel, previously unreported CsCl-type B2 phase emerging above 4 GPa, demonstrating that interfacial defects and sintering stabilize unique high-pressure crystalline structures regardless of the initial host symmetry. Chemistry of Materials, 35, 21, 8872-8882, 2023 Nano Letters, 24, 23, 6981–6989, 2024
SUPERIONIC SOLID STATE ELECTROLYTES THROUGH NANOCRYSTAL QUANTUM-DOT SEEDED DISCOVERY (UIUC)	Superionic conductors (top left of embedded figure) are realized with several orders of degrees of higher ionic conductivities where the cationic sublattice “melts” above a phase transition temperature (top right cartoon, Cu ions shown as a blue sea around the red Se anionic sublattice) driving the free movement of cations in the lattice. Nature Communications, 14514, 2017 Angewandte Chemie, 130, 30, 2018 Nature Communications, 10, 1505, 2019
BIOINSPIRED MATERIALS (UT Austin)	Bio-inspired Nanostructures & Light-Matter Interactions: Studied hierarchical inorganic architectures as part of a DoD MURI project. Focused on leading a project with researchers from UT Austin, Northwestern, and UIUC using computational approaches for disseminating the mechanism of anti-reflective origins in insect-derived micro/nanostructures (brochosomes/leafhoppers) through precise morphological control. Advanced Photonics Research, 2200343, 2023
DISSEMINATION OF PLASMONIC MODES USING EELS DATA IN NANOCRYSTAL ARRAYS USING FINITE-ELEMENT SIMULATIONS (UT Austin/ORNL)	There has been a continual push for new experimental methodologies that can provide comprehensive information about a complex system at the nanoscale, while concurrently being time efficient and resulting in high fidelity data. Here, through the use of my computational expertise I contributed alongside the Oak Ridge National Lab ORNL team on disseminating the plasmonic modes resulting from the surface, bulk, edge etc. of a single plasmonic nanomaterial. The Journal of Chemical Physics, 154, 1, 2021
PLASMONIC NEAR-FIELD INTERACTIONS IN NANOPARTICLES UPON SYMMTERY BREAKING VISUALIZED USING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY AND SIMULATIONS (UIUC/UT Austin/U Michigan)	Light-matter interactions in patchy triangular nanoparticles upon symmetry breaking Together with team from UIUC, UT Austin and U. Michigan Nature Communications, 13, 1, 2022
TOPOLOGICAL INSULATING PROPERTIES INDUCED IN NANOCRYSTALS VIA SYMMETRY BREAKING (UIUC)	Topological insulating (TI) properties with conducting surface states but bulk insulating behavior are observed in a few classes of chalcogenides such as Sb-doped Bi2Se3, (Sb, V)2Te3, HgTe and Bi2Se3 etc in single crystals and films. However, in the case of HgSe which exists as a zinc blende crystal structure with semi-metallic properties and a zero band gap, TI properties are not expected. Using cation exchange under ambient conditions, we show the symmetry of the crystal structure can be reduced effectively opening up a non-negligible band gap with current studies using STM-STS techniques underway to confirm the TI behavior in these nanomaterials.  Chemistry of Materials, 29, 15, 2017