Sunilkumar Khandavalli is a postdoctoral researcher at NREL in the process science group under the Materials and Chemical Science & Technology Directorate. He has strong experience in areas of rheology of complex fluids and roll-to-roll processing. At NREL, he has been involved in various R&D projects related to the manufacturing of catalyst layers for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells and water elecotrolyzers. His research primarily focuses on understanding the microstructure of catalyst ink formulations and the composition interactions using combination of rheology and X-ray scattering techniques. Prior to NREL, his graduate research focused on the rheology of colloidal dispersions and the processing behavior of non-Newtonian fluids in roll-to-roll printing and coating processes.

For additional information, see Sunilkumar Khandavalli's LinkedIn profile. 

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Research Interests

Microstructure of fuel and electrolyzer catalyst inks

Rheology of complex fluids

Non-Newtonian fluid dynamics in roll-to-roll processes

Education

Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst

B.S., Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras

Featured Work

Rheological Investigation on the Microstructure of Fuel Cell Catalyst Inks, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2018)

Investigation of the Microstructure and Rheology of Iridium Oxide Catalyst Inks for Low-Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Water Electrolyzers, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2019)

Roll-to-Roll Fabrication of Hierarchical Superhydrophobic Surfaces, Applied Physical Letters (2018)

Ink Transfer of Non-Newtonian Fluids in Gravure Printing: The Effect of Shear and Extensional Deformation, Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics (2017)

A Comparison of Linear and Branched Wormlike Micelles using Large Amplitude Oscillatory Shear and Orthogonal Superposition Rheology, Journal of Rheology (2016)

The Effect of Shear Thickening on the Stability of Slot-Die Coating, AIChE Journal (2016)

Large Amplitude Oscillatory Shear Rheology of Three Different Shear-Thickening Dispersions, Rheologica Acta (2015)

The Effect of Shear Thickening Behavior on Liquid Transfer Behavior in Gravure Printing, Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics (2015)

Extensional Rheology of Shear-Thickening Fumed Silica Nanoparticles Dispersed in an Aqueous Polyethylene Oxide Solution, Journal of Rheology (2014)