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IInvenTiv2026

Faculty details

Prof.Khantesh Agrawal

Designation: Assistant Professor

Department: Chemical Engineering

Email: khantesh[at]iitism[dot]ac[dot]in

Contact Number:

Office Number: +91-326-223-5053

Personal Page: Click Here

About Me: I joined as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad in June 2025. Prior to this, I was a Scientist at Honeywell, UOP and worked on CO2 electroreduction into value added chemicals. I completed my PhD FROM from IISc Bangalore and worked on an ONGC Energy Centre Trust (OECT) collaborated project in the domain of platinum-based electrocatalyst design for fuel cells as a Prime Minister's Research Fellow (PMRF - PhD scholar). I am interested in the application of electrochemistry in fuel cells, electrolyzers, batteries, molecule detection, and pollution control. I am also interested in nanotechnology for process development and water treatment. Please connect via email/LinkedIn if you are interested to discuss more.

Research Interest: I am interested in application of electrochemistry in fuel cells, electrolyzers, batteries, molecule detection, pollution control and nanotechnology for process development as well as water treatment.

Curriculum
Vitae
Publications

Teaching

I like teaching. I encourage my students to look beyond their coursework and embrace the interdisciplinary nature of the subjects they study. In addition to teaching and interdisciplinary projects, I generally plan to organize expert lectures from faculty/ industrial experts at various universities to support this objective. With the advent of huge online resources in the areas of educational technologies, students these days are now flooded with a wave of information on every concept, one or the other way they are subjected to confusion with different approaches and clutter. It is important to declutter the information and also their thoughts to provide clarity. I highly encourage regular feedback on my teaching, which helps me to improve my teaching. 

During my career, I have been associated with teaching the following course at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad. 

July-Dec 2026

1) Electrochemical Energy Science and Engineering (NCHD 511)

2) Heat Transfer Laboratory (CHC210)

 

Jan-April 2026

1) CHD418: Electrochemical Science and Engineering (3rd and 4th year UG elective)

2) NCHC209: Analytical Instrumental Laboratory (2nd year UG, Chemical Engg)

 

July-Dec 2025

1) NCHE101: Unit operation and Unit Processes (1st year UG, Enviro Engg)

2) CHC208: Chemical Process Technology (2nd year UG, Chemical Engg) 

3) CHC305: Mass Transfer Lab (3rd year UG, Chemical Engg)

 

Additionally, as a part of teaching commitment towards the prestigious Prime Minister's Research Fellowshp (PMRF) for PhD, I assisted in teaching the following courses. 

1)  Fluid Mechanics at MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology (MSRIT), Bangalore. (Jan'22 to May'22)  

2)  Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics (CHE F213) at BITS Pilani, Pilani campus (Aug'21 - Dec'21)

3)  Process Dynamics and Control (CHE F342) at BITS Pilani, Pilani campus (Jan’21-May’21)

4)  Thermodynamics (CH 204) at IISc Bangalore (Aug'20 - Dec'20)

Academics

PhD: Chemical Engineering from IISc Bangalore (2018-2024), CGPA - 8.9/10 (Distinction)

MTech: Chemical Engineering from IISc Bangalore (2016-2018), CGPA - 8.6/10 (Distinction) 

B.E (Hons): Chemical Engineering from BITS Pilani, Pilani campus (2012-2016), CGPA - 9.17/10 (Distinction)

Position

Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT ISM Dhanbad (June-2025 onwards)
Scientist, Honeywell UOP (Nov-2023 to June-2025)

Awards and Honors

  • 2nd prize in Oral presentation, Honeywell UOP annual TCO 2024
  • ECS student Travel Grant award to attend the 242nd ECS meeting in Fall-2022
  • Carl Storm International Diversity Award to attend the Gordon Research Conference Fuel Cells-2022
  • M.P. Chary memorial award by IIChE during SCHEMCON-2021
  • 1st Prize in Short Invited Lecture, International Online Conference on Energy Sciences (ICES 2021) 
  • Best paper award for oral presentaiotn during Electrochemical Society of India Research Scholars Meet (ECSIRM-2020)
  • Young Scholar award for outstanding performance in oral presentation, International Conference on electrochemistry for Industry, Health and Environment (EIHE 2020)
  • 1st prize, New Generation Ideation Contest-2019 (all India level) by HPCL R&D

  • 1st Prize, "HY CONTEST - 2019 on Modeling the Hydrogen Refueling Station for Heavy Duty Bus" by Hydrogen Association of India 

  • Prime Minister's Research Fellowship (Aug’19 PMRF selection round) for pursuing a PhD

  • IIChE Ambuja’s young researcher award (2018) for M.Tech thesis

  • All India Rank-12 (top 0.1%) in GATE Chemical Engineering– 2016 
  • Best all-rounder student -2013 Tresbian award in Chemical Engineering, BITS Pilani

 

 

Invited talks:

  • Invited speaker for the Faculty Development Program on Smart Devices & Energy Systems by the Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata, 13th July'26 - 17th July'26

  • Invited speaker at 4th edition of Short-Term Course– Electrochemistry Fundamentals & Applications (EFAE26) in Engineering at NIT Rourkela, 14th -18th April’26

  • Delivered an invited lecture at the International Online Conference on Energy Sciences, 10th -12th Dec’21

  • Invited panel member for discussion on "Life @ BITS and beyond", 5th Aug'17, at BITS Pilani, Pilani campus

Publications

List Of Research Publications (only in Peer-reviewed Journals)

  1. (In preparation) K. Agrawal and V. Santhanam, "Electrodeposition and durability performance of platinum overlayers on silver nanostructures"
  2. (In preparation) K. Agrawal and V. Santhanam, "Platinum overlayer deposition and their electrochemical durability study on gold, silver, and gold-silver alloy leaves" 
  3. (Under review in the journal of power sources), Anaswara Anil; Khantesh Agrawal; Syam Kumar S. U.; Liju Elias; Sumi V. S., "Tuning Amorphous-Crystalline Balance via Phosphorus Incorporation in NiFeCoP for Enhanced Alkaline HER"
  4. (Under review in Digital discovery journal) K. Garg, D. Kumar, K Agrawal, "When LLMs Ideate and Judge: Human–AI Alignment in Chemical Engineering Research Ideation"
  5. K. Agrawal and V. Santhanam, "Durable Platinum thin film on silver leaf, formed by Self-Terminating Electrodeposition", Electroanalysis 38(4), e70135 (2026)

  6. K. Agrawal and V. Santhanam, “Electrochemical cycling durability of platinum overlayers formed by self- terminating electrodeposition”, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 51, pp.722-73 (2024)

  7. K. Agrawal, A.A. Naik, S. Chaudhary, D. Parvatalu and V. Santhanam, "Prudent Practices in Ex-Situ Durability Analysis Using Cyclic Voltammetry for Platinum-based Electrocatalysts", Chem-Asian J 16(21), 3311- 3325 (2021)

  8. K. Agrawal, S. Chaudhary, D. Parvatalu, and V. Santhanam, "Durability of Platinum Overlayers formed By Self- Terminating Electrodeposition". ECS Transactions 2021., 104(8), p.379-386

 

Papers in conference abstract volumes / presented

1. 2nd International Conference on Materials for Humanity by MRS Singapore, 19th-21st Sept’22 (Oral presentation)

2. AIChE Annual Meeting 2021, 15th-19th Nov'21 (Oral presentation)

3. The 240th Electrochemical Society (ECS) meeting, 10th -14th Oct '21 (Sponsored registration by the US Office of Naval Research and Army Research Office) (Oral presentation)

Projects & Activities

Sponsored Research Projects (External Funded)

SPONSORED RESEARCH PROJECTS: 

1. (Submitted a pre-proposal as a Principal Investigator, under review) For Advanced Research Grant (ARG) by the ANRF "Surface-Termination-Guided Electrodeposition: Toward Predictive Design of Earth-Abundant Electrocatalysts for Green Hydrogen" 

2. (Submitted as a Co-Principal Investigator, under review) For Wadhwani Centre of Excellence at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad "Deployment of Critical Raw Materials (CRM) based Electro-catalyst for Green-Hydrogen Production for Driving Low-Carbon Mining Systems" (INR 60.0 lakhs)

3. (Submitted as a Principal Investigator, under review) For Wadhwani Centre of Excellence at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad "Self-Terminating Pulsed Electrodeposition for Critical Minerals recovery" (INR 39.5 lakhs)

4. (Submitted as a Principal Investigator, under review) Special Equipment Grant by IIT (ISM) Dhanbad (INR 30,00,000) 

5. Development of high-capacity solid-state batteries with long-term stability - Interdisciplinary collloborative research grant project no. (MISC_0278) by IIT (ISM) Dhanbad  (INR 79,89,326) - CO- Principal Investigator 

6. Nanostructured Thin Film (NSTF) Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Energy Application - Faculty Research Scheme (FRS) project no. MISC 0251 (INR 20,00,000) by IIT (ISM) Dhanbad - Principal Investigator

 

Ongoing Research Partnerships

1. Prof. Venugopal Santhanam, Associate Prof., Chemical Engg, IISc Bangalore

2. Adarsh Naik, PhD scholar, IISc Bangalore

3. Dr. Krishna Garg, PhD graduate (University of Illinois, Chicago (USA))

4. Prof. Dhruv Garg, Assistant Prof., Department of Computer Science, BITS Pilani, Pilani

5. Prof. Jay Pandey, Associate Pro., Department of Chemical Engineering, BITS Pilani

6. Prof. Rajasekhar Reddy Busigari, Assistant Prof., Department of Fuel, Minerals and Metallurgical Engineering, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad

7. Prof. Ananya Baanik, Assistant Prof., Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad 

 

 

 

Membership of Scientific Societies

1. Life Associate Member of IIChE

Other Academic and Administrative Activities

1. Departmental monthly and R&D (quarterly basis) newsletter coordinator of Chemical Engg. Dept, (Oct-2025 till now)

2. Standby DPAC member of Chemical Engineering department (May-2026 till now)

3. DUGC member (July-2026 till now)

Guidance

Our team currently includes BTech and MTech project students working on electrochemical energy systems. We welcome highly motivated students who wish to gain hands‑on research experience; interested candidates may contact me by email on khantesh@iitism.ac.in for project and PhD opportunities.

 

MTech project students (2026-2027)

1. Ritesh Kumar Pandey

2. Faisal Jamin

3. Annu Rai

 

BTech project students (2025-2026)

1. Ayush Sharma

2. Rahul Nagaura

3. Anupama Verma

 

We are seeking highly motivated PhD students to join the group. Those interested can send an inquiry to khantesh@iitism.ac.in. 

IIT (ISM) Dhanbad also gives summer internship (https://people.iitism.ac.in/~research/SRIP.php). Please reach out for more details. 

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