Principal investigator
Prof. Leela Mohana Reddy Arava
Distinguished Professor, Mechanical Engineering; Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies
Department of Mechanical Engineering · Wayne State University
About the principal investigator
From physics to batteries: Prof. Arava’s journey
Leela Mohana Reddy Arava trained as a physicist in India, earning his B.Sc. (1999) and M.Sc. (2001) in Physics at Sri Venkateswara University and his Ph.D. in Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (2007), where his early work on carbon nanotubes and nanostructured materials led to several Indian patent applications.
He then trained as a postdoctoral researcher in chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh (2007–2008) and in mechanical engineering and materials science at Rice University (2008–2012), where he worked on nanomaterials for energy storage, flexible and three-dimensional micro-batteries and high-temperature batteries, before spending a year as a Research Scientist at Rice (2012–2013).
In fall 2013 he joined Wayne State University as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and founded the Arava Research Group. The group focuses on the fundamentals of electrochemistry applied to energy storage, batteries, supercapacitors and fuel cells. In 2015 he launched the Mobile Energy Lab, which brings hands-on energy science to Detroit Public Schools students.
Early support from the Advanced Energy Consortium, the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (Doctoral New Investigator award) and the National Science Foundation grew into an NSF CAREER award in 2018, the year he was promoted to Associate Professor. He was promoted to full Professor in 2022, and on February 12, 2023 he was appointed Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Engineering, which became the James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering in 2025. In August 2026 he was named a Distinguished Professor, the highest faculty rank Wayne State University awards.
Today the group’s work spans high-temperature and non-flammable Li-ion batteries, nickel- and cobalt-free cathodes, lithium–sulfur and solid-state batteries, and in situ electrochemical imaging, with support from NSF, the U.S. Department of Energy and the State of Michigan, and industry partners.
Career timeline
- B.Sc., Physics, Sri Venkateswara University, India
- M.Sc., Physics, Sri Venkateswara University, India
- Ph.D., Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India
- Postdoctoral researcher, Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh
- Postdoctoral researcher, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Rice University
- Research Scientist, Rice University
- Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Wayne State University; Arava Research Group founded
- Founded the Mobile Energy Lab outreach program for Detroit Public Schools students
- NSF CAREER award; promoted to Associate Professor
- Career Development Chair, Wayne State University
- Graduate Program Director, Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Promoted to Professor
- Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, College of Engineering (James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering since 2025)
- Leads a Wayne State project within the DOE / State of Michigan award with Nel Hydrogen
- Named Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Wayne State University (effective August 18, 2026; approved by the Board of Governors on October 2, 2026)
Research funding
22external grants and contracts
13external awards as sole PI
8internal Wayne State awards
2national and regional competition awards
External research funding
Federal agencies, national laboratories, foundations and industry, newest first.
National and regional competitions
| Competition | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Erie Hack, Cleveland Water Alliance (grand prize) Microbattery-powered nano-sensors to detect contaminants in water | 2017 | Presented by his Ph.D. students; awarded to MicroBuoy, Inc., the start-up formed after the win |
| “Internet of H2O” national competition, Sandusky, OH (Technology Innovation Award) Microbattery-powered nano-sensors to detect contaminants in water | 2017 | Organized by Cleveland Water Alliance, DigitalC and US Ignite; awarded to MicroBuoy, Inc. |
Internal Wayne State funding
Competitive university awards supporting seed research, postdoctoral fellows and graduate research assistants.
| Award and program | Period | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Rapid COVID-19 sensor for closed spaces Barber Interdisciplinary Research Program | May – Aug 2021 | PI, 50% (Co-PI: Dr. Auner, School of Medicine) |
| Real-time water quality monitoring using ultra-sensitive nanomaterials Barber Interdisciplinary Research Program | May – Aug 2020 | PI, 50% (Co-PI: Dr. Zhou, Physics) |
| Competitive Graduate Research Assistantship award WSU Graduate School | 2020 – 2021 | PI |
| Faculty competition for postdoctoral fellows WSU Office of the Vice President for Research | Apr 2019 – Mar 2021 | PI, 100% |
| Career Development Chair award Wayne State University | 2019 – 2020 | Awardee |
| Competitive Graduate Research Assistantship award WSU Graduate School | 2019 – 2020 | PI |
| Technology Development Incubator WSU Office of the Vice President for Research | Feb 2016 – Apr 2017 | Sole PI |
| Faculty competition for postdoctoral fellows WSU Office of the Vice President for Research | Jun 2014 – May 2017 | PI, 50% (Co-PI: Dr. Ng) |
Graduate students mentored
Ph.D. graduates
- Sundeep Varma Gottumukkala · Ph.D. August 2026
Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs) for Semiconductor and Electrochemical Applications (Electrical Engineering; advisor Prof. Ivan Avrutsky, co-advised by Prof. Arava) - Sudhan Nagarajan · Ph.D. 2025
Fundamental Understanding and Designing of Nickel and Cobalt Free Cathodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries ↗ - Sathish Rajendran · Ph.D. 2023
Designing Interfaces for All-Solid-State Batteries with Garnet-Type Solid Electrolytes ↗ - Maher A. Almohammedali · Ph.D. 2022
Assessment of Small-Scale Mechanical Damage on Safety Performance of Lithium-Ion Batteries (co-advised with Prof. Golam Newaz) ↗ - Kiran Mahankali · Ph.D. April 2021
Nanoscale Level Insights into Lithium-Sulfur Redox System Using In Situ Atomic Force Microscopy-Based Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy and Raman Spectroscopy (In Situ AFM-SECM-Raman) - Deepesh Gopalakrishnan · Ph.D. August 2020
Advanced Electrodes and Electrolytes for Long-Lived and High-Performance Lithium-Sulfur Batteries ↗ - Nirul Masurkar · Ph.D. August 2019
2D Suspended FET Technology: Overcoming Scattering Effect for Ultrasensitive Reliable Biosensors (co-advised with Prof. Gregory Auner) ↗ - Khalid Ababtain · Ph.D. December 2016
Design and Optimization of Lithium Ion Battery for High Temperature Applications ↗ - Hesham Al Salem · Ph.D. January 2016
Electrocatalysis in Li-S Batteries ↗
M.S. theses directed
- Devang Marvania · M.S. thesis, 2021
- Sathish Rajendran · M.S. thesis, 2020
- Kiran Mahankali · M.S. thesis, 2019
- Bassam Bitar · M.S. thesis, August 2018
- Chalicheemalapalli J. Deviprasad · M.S. thesis, December 2015
Research interests
- Lithium-ion, lithium–sulfur and lithium–air chemistries using novel electrolytes
- Growth and applications of 2D and 3D nanostructures
- Lightweight nanocomposite materials
- Flexible integrated energy devices
- Smart coatings
Education
- Ph.D., PhysicsIndian Institute of Technology Madras, India · 2007
- M.Sc., PhysicsSri Venkateswara University, India · 2001
- B.Sc., PhysicsSri Venkateswara University, India · 1999
Honors and awards
- Distinguished Professor, Wayne State University, 2026
- NSF CAREER Award, 2018
- Wayne State Academy of Scholars Junior Faculty Award, 2018
- College of Engineering Research Excellence Award, 2018
- College of Engineering Excellence in Teaching Award, 2018
- Emerging Investigators Award, Materials Research Express, 2017
- ACS Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Award, 2016
- Career Development Chair, Wayne State University, 2019
- ErieHack grand prize and Internet of H2O Technology Innovation Award (with his students), 2017
Editorial roles
- Associate Editor, ASME Journal of Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage (2018 – present)
- Editorial Board Member, Energies, MDPI (2020 – present)
- Editorial Board Member, Actuators, MDPI (2018 – present)
- Editorial Board Member, Journal of Graphene, American Scientific Publishers (2012 – present)
- Guest Editor, Molecules (MDPI) special issue “Lithium-Ion, Lithium-Sulfur, and Lithium-Air Chemistry Using Novel Electrolytes” (2021 – 2022)
- Guest Editor, JoVE focus issue “Multi-modal Analytics in Energy Storage” (2018 – 2019)
- Guest Editor, Catalysts (MDPI) special issue “Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion and Storage-Related Reactions” (2018)
- Guest Editor, Actuators (MDPI) special issue “Electrochemical and Electromechanical Actuators” (2017 – 2018)
- Guest Editor, JOM special issue “Mesoscale Interplay in Lithium-ion Batteries and Beyond” (2016 – 2017)
- Editor, MRS Advances, IMRC 2016 proceedings “Nanostructured Materials and Nanotechnology”
- Guest Editor, Journal of Nanomaterials (Hindawi) special issue “Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage” (2011 – 2012)
Professional service and conference leadership
- Symposium co-organizer, “Advanced Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage,” TMS Annual Meetings 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022
- Symposium co-organizer, “Advanced Materials for Energy and the Environment,” 256th ACS National Meeting, Boston (2018)
- Co-organizer, Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology symposium, MRS International Materials Research Congress (IMRC), Cancún (2016, 2019)
- Session chair, TMS 2017, 2018 and 2022; 233rd ECS Meeting, Seattle (2018); 256th ACS National Meeting (2018); IMRC 2016 and 2019
- Keynote speaker, 1st International Congress on Materials with Low Dimensionality (ICMLD-2016), Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Mexico (2016)
- Energy Conversion and Storage Committee member, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) (2017 – present)
- International advisory committee, ICN:3I-2017 and EMN Meeting 2016
- Graduate Program Director, Department of Mechanical Engineering (from 2021);Chair, College of Engineering Faculty Assembly Executive Committee (2020 – 2022); Academic Senate (2017 – 2023)
- Member: Electrochemical Society (ECS), Materials Research Society (MRS), American Chemical Society (ACS), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Recent teaching
- Fall 2026ME 5995 Special Topics in Mechanical Engineering I; EGR 5000 Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- Winter 2026EGR 5000 Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- Fall 2025ME 5995; EGR 3995 College-to-Career Seminar
- Fall 2024EGR 5990 Competition Team; ME 5995
- Winter 2024ME 7260 Heat and Mass Transfer
Contact
larava@wayne.edu
Phone 313-577-1986
5050 Anthony Wayne Dr., Detroit, MI 48202
Research impact
127+journal articles
18,161+citations
59+h-index
22+patents and applications
Publications with Prof. Arava (26)
- 2025Sudhan Nagarajan, Sooyeon Hwang, Cherno Jaye, Conan Weiland, Debora Motta Meira, Mahalingam Balasubramanian, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Investigation of electrode-electrolyte interfaces to enable non-flammable Li-ion batteries operating up to 125°C with liquid electrolyte. Cell Reports Physical Science, 6(5), 102597 (2025). Link ↗
- 2025Veka Sri Ganesan, Sudhan Nagarajan, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. A Boron-Based Anion-Receptor Additive for High-Loading Lithium–Sulfur Batteries under Lean Electrolyte Conditions. ACS Applied Energy Materials, 8(5), 2810–2818 (2025). Link ↗
- 2024Sudhan Nagarajan, Subhayan Roychoudhury, Conan Weiland, Debora Motta Meira, Mahalingam Balasubramanian, David Prendergast, Sooyeon Hwang, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Unleashing the Potential of Fast Charging Batteries: Leveraging Anion Redox Chemistry in Ni- and Co-Free Cathodes. Chemistry of Materials, 36(18), 8623–8638 (2024). Link ↗
- 2024Sathish Rajendran, Veka Sri Ganesan, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Electrochemical instability of room-temperature ionic liquids with LiTFSI at elevated temperature and its consequences in Li/Li-ion based half-cells and full-cells. Electrochimica Acta, 498, 144599 (2024). Link ↗
- 2023Sathish Rajendran, Antony George, Zian Tang, Christof Neumann, Andrey Turchanin, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Regulating Li‐Ion Transport through Ultrathin Molecular Membrane to Enable High‐Performance All‐Solid‐State–Battery. Small, 19(44), 2303625 (2023). Link ↗
- 2022Naresh Kumar Thangavel, Kiran Mahankali, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Nanoscale Visualization of Reversible Redox Pathways in Lithium-Sulfur Battery Using In Situ AFM-SECM. Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 169(6), 060501 (2022). Link ↗
- 2022Kiran Mahankali, Sundeep Varma Gottumukkala, Nirul Masurkar, Naresh Kumar Thangavel, Rahul Jayan, Abdulrazzag Sawas, Sudhan Nagarajan, Md Mahbubul Islam, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Unveiling the Electrocatalytic Activity of 1T′-MoSe2 on Lithium-Polysulfide Conversion Reactions. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 14(21), 24486–24496 (2022). Link ↗
- 2022Sudhan Nagarajan, Conan Weiland, Sooyeon Hwang, Mahalingam Balasubramanian, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Depth-Dependent Understanding of Cathode Electrolyte Interphase (CEI) on the Layered Li-Ion Cathodes Operated at Extreme High Temperature. Chemistry of Materials, 34(10), 4587–4601 (2022). Link ↗
- 2021Sathish Rajendran, Aparna Pilli, Olatomide Omolere, Jeffry Kelber, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. An All-Solid-State Battery with a Tailored Electrode–Electrolyte Interface Using Surface Chemistry and Interlayer-Based Approaches. Chemistry of Materials, 33(9), 3401–3412 (2021). Link ↗
- 2021A. George, M. V. Fistul, M. Gruenewald, D. Kaiser, T. Lehnert, R. Mupparapu, C. Neumann, U. Hübner, M. Schaal, N. Masurkar, L. M. R. Arava, I. Staude, U. Kaiser, T. Fritz, and A. Turchanin. Giant persistent photoconductivity in monolayer MoS2 field-effect transistors. npj 2D Materials and Applications, 5(1), 15 (2021). Link ↗
- 2021Deepesh Gopalakrishnan, Samia Alkatie, Andrew Cannon, Sathish Rajendran, Naresh Kumar Thangavel, Neha Bhagirath, Emily M. Ryan, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Anisotropic mass transport using ionic liquid crystalline electrolytes to suppress lithium dendrite growth. Sustainable Energy & Fuels, 5(5), 1488–1497 (2021). Link ↗
- 2021Keiko Kato, Anand B. Puthirath, Ali Mojibpour, Mikhail Miroshnikov, Sitakanta Satapathy, Naresh Kumar Thangavel, Kiran Mahankali, Liangliang Dong, Leela Mohana Reddy Arava, George John, Palash Bharadwaj, Ganguli Babu, and Pulickel M. Ajayan. Light-Assisted Rechargeable Lithium Batteries: Organic Molecules for Simultaneous Energy Harvesting and Storage. Nano Letters, 21(2), 907–913 (2021). Link ↗
- 2021Nirul Masurkar, Naresh Kumar Thangavel, Sally Yurgelevic, Sundeep Varma, Gregory W. Auner, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Reliable and highly sensitive biosensor from suspended MoS2 atomic layer on nano-gap electrodes. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 172, 112724 (2021). Link ↗
- 2021Sudhan Nagarajan, Sooyeon Hwang, Mahalingam Balasubramanian, Naresh Kumar Thangavel, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Mixed Cationic and Anionic Redox in Ni and Co Free Chalcogen-Based Cathode Chemistry for Li-Ion Batteries. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 143(38), 15732–15744 (2021). Link ↗
- 2021Sathish Rajendran, Zian Tang, Antony George, Andrew Cannon, Christof Neumann, Abdulrazzag Sawas, Emily Ryan, Andrey Turchanin, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Inhibition of Lithium Dendrite Formation in Lithium Metal Batteries via Regulated Cation Transport through Ultrathin Sub‐Nanometer Porous Carbon Nanomembranes. Advanced Energy Materials, 11(29), 2100666 (2021). Link ↗
- 2021Sathish Rajendran, Naresh Kumar Thangavel, Samia Alkatie, Yi Ding, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Y, Gd, and Pr tri-doped perovskite-type proton conducting electrolytes with improved sinterability and chemical stability. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 870, 159431 (2021). Link ↗
- 2020Jessica C. Jones, Sathish Rajendran, Aparna Pilli, Veronica Lee, Natasha Chugh, Leela Mohana Reddy Arava, and Jeffry A. Kelber. In situ x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study of lithium carbonate removal from garnet-type solid-state electrolyte using ultra high vacuum techniques. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, 38(2), 023201 (2020). Link ↗
- 2020Kiran Mahankali, Sudhan Nagarajan, Naresh Kumar Thangavel, Sathish Rajendran, Munaiah Yeddala, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Metal-Based Electrocatalysts for High-Performance Lithium-Sulfur Batteries: A Review. Catalysts, 10(10), 1137 (2020). Link ↗
- 2020Kiran Mahankali, Naresh Kumar Thangavel, Daryna Gopchenko, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Atomically Engineered Transition Metal Dichalcogenides for Liquid Polysulfide Adsorption and Their Effective Conversion in Li-S Batteries. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 12(24), 27112–27121 (2020). Link ↗
- 2020Nirul Masurkar, Sundeep Varma, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Supported and Suspended 2D Material-Based FET Biosensors. Electrochem, 1(3), 260–277 (2020). Link ↗
- 2020Naresh Kumar Thangavel, Sanket Mundhe, Md Mahbubul Islam, Golam Newaz, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Probing of Internal Short Circuit in Lithium-Ion Pouch Cells by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy under Mechanical Abusive Conditions. Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 167(16), 160553 (2020). Link ↗
- 2020Mikhail Miroshnikov, Kiran Mahankali, Naresh Kumar Thangavel, Sitakanta Satapathy, Leela Mohana Reddy Arava, Pulickel M. Ajayan, and George John. Bioderived Molecular Electrodes for Next‐Generation Energy‐Storage Materials. ChemSusChem, 13(9), 2186–2204 (2020). Link ↗
- 2020Mikhail Miroshnikov, Hsin Wang, Naresh Kumar Thangavel, Kiran Mahankali, Sitakanta Satapathy, Keiko Kato, Ganguli Babu, Kizhmuri P. Divya, Leela Mohana Reddy Arava, Pulickel M. Ajayan, and George John. Nature-Inspired Purpurin Polymer for Li-Ion Batteries: Mechanistic Insights into Energy Storage via Solid-State NMR and Computational Studies. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 124(33), 17939–17948 (2020). Link ↗
- 2020Golam Newaz, Sanket Mundhe, Leela Arava, Min Zhu, Omar Faruque, and Saeed Barbat. Direct Assessment of Separator Strain in Li-Ion Batteries at the Onset of Mechanically Induced Short Circuit. Energies, 13(3), 669 (2020). Link ↗
- 2020Sathish Rajendran, Naresh Kumar Thangavel, Hanping Ding, Yi Ding, Dong Ding, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Tri-Doped BaCeO3–BaZrO3 as a Chemically Stable Electrolyte with High Proton-Conductivity for Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells (SOECs). ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 12(34), 38275–38284 (2020). Link ↗
- 2020Sathish Rajendran, Naresh Kumar Thangavel, Kiran Mahankali, and Leela Mohana Reddy Arava. Toward Moisture-Stable and Dendrite-Free Garnet-Type Solid-State Electrolytes. ACS Applied Energy Materials, 3(7), 6775–6784 (2020). Link ↗