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Indian Institute of Science emblemLEISLaboratory for Electrochemistry and In situ Spectroscopy

Research

What we work on

We study industrially relevant electrochemical reactions in electrolysers and fuel cells using operando set-ups we design and build ourselves, combining electrochemistry with Raman spectroscopy, optical microscopy, impedance and online mass spectrometry, backed by first-principles calculations.

01

High-temperature CO2 electrolysis

Solid oxide electrolysis cells convert CO2 (and steam) into CO and syngas at 700–850 °C, a route to synthetic fuels. We study the electrodes under operating conditions to understand their activity, selectivity and degradation.

Papers

CO2 reduction on doped-ceria electrodes: controlling CO selectivity and coking with applied bias

Vipin Kamboj, Soham Raychowdhury, Shivam, Chinmoy Ranjan*

J. Mater. Chem. A, 14, 8400–8411 (2026) · doi:10.1039/D5TA09656A

Unusual redox behavior of doped ceria systems in H2: consequences for CO2 electrolysis

Vipin Kamboj, Soham Raychowdhury, Chinmoy Ranjan*

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 18 (2), 3872–3879 (2026) · doi:10.1021/acsami.5c21705

Operando studies on solid oxide ceria electrodes during CO2 electroreduction

Vipin Kamboj, Soham Raychowdhury, Chinmoy Ranjan*

Appl. Catal. B Environ. Energy, 365, 124880 (2025) · doi:10.1016/j.apcatb.2024.124880

Enabling pure CO2 reduction on Ni{Cu}x-YSZ electrode via an oxide-mediated mechanism Best Paper Award, ICCCU 2024

Vipin Kamboj, Soham Raychowdhury, Chinmoy Ranjan*

Appl. Catal. B Environ. Energy, 344, 123631 (2024) · doi:10.1016/j.apcatb.2023.123631

Cu infiltrated Ni-YSZ cathode in CO2 (+H2) stream: reverse water gas shift vs. CO2 electrolysis

Vipin Kamboj, Chinmoy Ranjan*

J. Power Sources, 614, 234985 (2024) · doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2024.234985

02

Strained oxide cathodes for oxygen reduction

Fuel cells need cathodes that reduce oxygen completely to water without precious metals. We design earth-abundant mixed metal oxide catalysts and follow them with operando Raman spectroscopy.

Papers

Suppressing H2O2 formation in oxygen reduction reaction using Co-doped Cu electrodes

Sekhar Kumar Biswal, Chinmoy Ranjan*

J. Mater. Chem. A, 10, 22042–22057 (2022) · doi:10.1039/D2TA04349A

Ni-doped Cu oxide catalysts for ORR: suppressing H2O2 formation by engineering chemical strain

Sekhar Kumar Biswal, Chinmoy Ranjan*

ACS Appl. Energy Mater., 7 (18), 7974–7981 (2024) · doi:10.1021/acsaem.4c01535

H2O2 suppression during oxygen reduction using mixed metal oxides Review Concept article

Sekhar Kumar Biswal, Chinmoy Ranjan*

ChemCatChem, 17, e00886 (2025) · doi:10.1002/cctc.202500886

03

Electrodes for water electrolysers

The oxygen evolution reaction limits the efficiency of water electrolysis. We develop oxide anodes and study them with in situ Raman spectroscopy, optical imaging and isotope labelling, and build electrolyser cells and test stations.

Papers

Promotion of electrochemical water oxidation activity of Au supported cobalt oxide upon addition of Cr: insights using in situ Raman spectroscopy

Abhinaba Das, Bapuji Mohapatra, Vipin Kamboj, Chinmoy Ranjan*

ChemCatChem, 13 (8), 2053–2063 (2021) · doi:10.1002/cctc.202001889

05

Ion transport in solid and polymer electrolytes

We measure oxide-ion and proton conduction in solid electrolytes and ion transport in polymer membranes such as Nafion, using impedance, multi- electrode methods, Raman spectroscopy and DFT.

Multimodal operando diagnostics at 800 °C

We designed and built a two-chamber operando cell that records four diagnostics at the same time at 800 °C and 1 atm, while simulating the real operating environment. Raman spectroscopy gives a molecular fingerprint of the electrode surface; optical microscopy films phase changes and heterogeneity; impedance spectroscopy, analysed by the distribution of relaxation times, separates resistances at different timescales; and online mass spectrometry tracks products and transients. Precise three-electrode geometries make electrode comparisons meaningful.

01Electrochemistry and EISActivity, charge-transfer and series resistances, DRT
02Operando RamanSurface oxides, intermediates, coking carbon
03Online mass spectrometryCO production rate and transients
04Optical microscopyActive boundaries, phase changes, delamination

See the instruments and setups →

What comes next

We plan to use our operando data to speed up electrochemical devices from TRL 3 to TRL 7, and to combine time-resolved spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and impedance data with machine learning to build physically grounded AI models.

Funding

YearsProjectFunding agencyRole
2026–2029First-principles and data-driven multiscale modelling to design catalysts and processes for CO2 electroreductionANRF Core Research GrantCo-PI
2025–2027A compact electrolyser for methane generation for space applications via in situ resource utilisationISRO Space Technology CellPI
2024–2027Development of solid oxide electrodes for CO2 electrolysis: operando studiesANRF Core Research GrantPI
2020–2023Development of oxide electrodes for water electrolysisDST–SERBPI
2019–2023Carbon dioxide to synthetic fuels using solid oxide technologyMission Innovation (IC5), DSTPI
2019–2022Catalysts for oxygen reduction reactions using oxide electrodesISRO Space Technology CellPI
2014–2015Liquid organic hydrogen carriersBavarian Hydrogen Center, GermanyCo-PI
2012–2016EKOLYSER: anode catalysts for PEM electrolysers, with Forschungszentrum Jülich and industry partnersGerman Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi)PI, catalyst development

Socially relevant projects