Prantik Saha is a postdoctoral researcher in NREL's Chemistry and Nanoscience Center. His primary research project involves advanced electrochemical diagnostics for electrodes in CO₂ electrochemical reduction systems. These novel devices can electrochemically reduce CO₂ from exhaust gases in thermal power plants, steel manufacturing factories, etc., to different carbon products that can be used in other industries. These devices are similar to polymer electrolyte fuel cells and electrolyzers in design. As a result, the diagnostic techniques from these two fields can also be applied to CO₂ electrochemical reduction devices with some clever modifications. Working with NREL's industrial partners, Prantik is setting up quick and accurate electrochemical diagnostic methods for these systems. 
 
During his doctoral studies, Prantik worked on fundamental aspects of the electric double layer at electrocatalyst-electrolyte interfaces. By combining electrochemical and electrokinetic techniques, he developed a novel method for studying electrode charging and ionic conductivity in the double layer. The method he developed is general and powerful enough that it has numerous applications in several electrochemical devices, most prominently in water desalination systems.          

For additional information, see Prantik Saha’s LinkedIn profile. 

Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed on LinkedIn are the author’s own, made in the author's individual capacity, and do not necessarily reflect the views of NREL. 

Research Interests

Application of advanced electrochemical techniques to devices such as fuel cells, electrolyzers, and CO₂ electrolyzers

Grid-scale energy storage 

Education

Ph.D., Chemical, Applied, and Materials Physics, University of California Irvine 

M.S., Physics, Tufts University 

B.S., Physics, University of Calcutta

Professional Experience

Vice President, Association of Energy Engineers - UC Irvine Student Chapter (2018–2021) 

Featured Work

Electrokinetic Streaming Current Method To Probe Polycrystalline Gold Electrode-Electrolyte Interface Under Applied Potentials, Journal of the Electrochemical Society (2021) 
 
Electrokinetic Streaming-Current Methods To Probe the Electrode–Electrolyte Interface Under Applied Potentials, Journal of Physical Chemistry C (2019)
 
Measurement of Contact Angles at Carbon Fiber–Water–Air Triple-Phase Boundaries Inside Gas Diffusion Layers Using X-Ray Computed Tomography, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2021)