Dipankar Hazarika, a researcher at Nagaland University (NU), has been awarded the prestigious Energy Innovation Fellowship Grant supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in New Delhi, TOI reported. His work in advanced battery technologies aims to support India’s clean energy goals while enabling community-based, sustainable energy storage solutions.
Working under the mentorship of Dr Nurul Alam Choudhury at the Department of Chemistry, Hazarika’s research focuses on developing next-generation solid-state energy storage systems using biopolymer-based hydrogel electrolytes. His project, titled ”Sustainable Biopolymer-based Hydrogel Electrolytes for Next-generation Solid-state Energy Storage,” is one of 13 selected nationwide from over 100 proposals, and one of only two from the North East region.
Hazarika’s lab-developed prototype has shown promising results, including high-rate capability, strong areal capacitance, and a long cycle life of 51,500 cycles at 2 mAcm{ ² in an all-solid-state supercapacitor. His work has been published in the Journal of Power Sources (Impact Factor: 8.1), in a paper co-authored with Duangailung Kamei, Nuphizo Shijoh, and Dr. Choudhury, titled ”An ionically cross-linked chitosan hydrogel membrane electrolyte for long-lived electrical double layer capacitors.”
“The Fellowship will strengthen my research by providing expert mentorship and opportunities for industry collaboration,” Hazarika said. “We are preparing for real-world performance testing and aim to scale up this product to benefit rural communities and support India’s clean energy transition.”
The initiative is supported by Innovation Norway, NITI Aayog, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), and Atal Incubation Centres. The AIC-SMUTBI in Sikkim, led by Prof. Tej Chingtham, serves as the regional host for the North East.
Nagaland University Vice-Chancellor, Prof Jagadish K. Patnaik, congratulated Hazarika, stating, “This milestone reflects the growing research excellence at Nagaland University and inspires others to pursue impactful science.”
Dr Choudhury emphasized the relevance of the research, noting the potential of biopolymers like chitosan, gelatin, starch, and cellulose as sustainable alternatives to petroleum-derived materials. He also underlined the challenges in developing stable and safe electrolyte materials, which often receive less attention compared to electrode research.
The team’s chitosan-based hydrogel membrane electrolyte is leak-proof, non-flammable, biodegradable, and achieves an ionic conductivity of 7.89 mScm{ ¹ with electrochemical stability up to 2.32V, offering a safer alternative to conventional liquid electrolytes.
The Fellowship includes mentorship from experts like Dr Nikhil Tambe, CEO of The Energy Consortium at IIT Madras, focusing on scaling and deployment.