Vidhya Chakrapani

Professor Chakrapani’s primary research focus is on semiconductor electrochemistry, especially the study of energy and charge transfer processes occurring at the semiconductor/electrolyte interface. These reactions play a vital role in several important technological processes, ranging from energy scavenging by photoelectrochemical solar cells to energy storage by Li-ion batteries. Improvements in device performance require understanding the physics of the semiconductor excitonic transitions and the chemistry of the interfacial processes. The work in her lab is highly interdisciplinary in nature, and spans fundamental studies of interfacial phenomena, spectroscopic techniques in ultrafast time scale—which probe excited state transitions, synthesis of nanomaterials, and fabrication of photoelectrochemical solar cells, energy efficient smart windows, and Li-ion batteries for energy storage.