Faculty members & staff
Faculty members in the Solar Research & Development Center (SRDC) are offering courses related to solar energy generation, utilization and storage; nanomaterials for energy devices, hydrogen generation and fuel cells. They are contributing to several Government funded and collaborative projects.
Head, Solar Research & Development Center
Prof. Dr. Indrajit Mukhopadhyay
With more than 25 years of research experience in the field of energy materials, he is founding faculty member of SRDC and faculty in-charge of 1MWp Solar Power Plant, and technical advisor of 45MWp Solar PV Module Manufacturing Line of PDEU. Research interest in interfacial electron transfer, thin film solar cells, next generation batteries & supercapacitors, modules & battery recycling.
Principal Investigator, Professor & Head, Department of Solar Energy
Prof. Dr. Abhijit Ray
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Post-doc & Visiting Professor, Department of Atomic Energy (India), Nagoya Institute of Technology (Japan).
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PhD Experimental Condensed Matter Physics, IIT-Kharagpur.
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Masters & Bachelors (Hons) in Physics, Kalyani & Calcutta.
Founding faculty member of SRDC in joint role. Research interests: Photo- & Electro-chemical Hydrogen Generation, new thin film solar cell materials and devices using earth-abundant materials and low cost cleaner processes.
Graduate students & research fellows
DST Women Scientist Awardee 2022
Dr. Naznin Shaikh
Dr. Naznin joined the group in 2020 as DST project JRF and obtained her PhD in 2024 supervision of Ray in the field of electrocatalytic hydrogen generation using transition metal alloys and their chalcogenides in the bi-functional forms and under wide pH range. She has been working as prestigeous woman scientist of DST (ANRF)-GoI.
Email: naaznin.shaikh7888@gmail.com
PhD Scholar & SHODH Graduate Fellow
Pratik
Mr. Pratik joined the group in July 2023. His research interest is the development of new chalcogenide based thin film solar cells and photodetectors.
Email: pratiksinhb2000@gmail.com
PhD Scholar & GUJCOST SRF
Bindiya
Ms. Bindiya joined the group in July 2023. Her research interest is multicomponent photocatalysts and their heterojunctions for environmental solutions. Her broader research goal is the exploration of sustainable energy solutions.
Email: bindiyapatel2000@gmail.com
University PhD Scholar
Nikita
Ms. Nikita joined the group in July 2023. Her research interest is the development of novel Van der Waals heterostructures of hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts. Her broad interest is in Green hydrogen generation.
Email: nkthakkar88@gmail.com
PhD Scholar & SRDC SRF
Dwiti
Ms. Dwiti joined the group in July 2024. Her research interest is the development of inorganic lead free halide perovskite and their photophysics.
Email: dwitis05@gmail.com
DST/ANRF Junior Research Fellow
Saurabh
Saurabh joined the group in August 2025. His current research focuses on developing novel electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution from seawater splitting. Previously, he has worked on halide double perovskites using density functional theory (DFT) to explore their potential in photovoltaic applications. His broad interest lies in functional materials for sustainable energy and green hydrogen generation.
Email: saurabhmishra.mrj@gmail.com
University Graduate Student
Kishan Panchal
Kishan, a Master of Technology (Energy Systems, focussed on Solar) gold medalist alumnus of Department of Solar, PDEU and currently Sr. Engineer of Cell Proces at Adani Solar (India) joined the group in January 2026. His research focus is the in-depth understanding of process parameters in TopCon Silicon-solar cell manfacturing line and optimization thereof.
Email: panchalkishan682@gmail.com
Masters alumni
M.Tech. Energy Systems - focused on Solar - Graduated 2023
Presently, Engineer at Reliance New Energies
Vardhan Shah
Vardhan was working on developing metal chalcogenide based solution-processed thin film solar cells. His core research interest in material science is exploring and developing alternate materials for solar cells while on an application basis is to apply an integrated approach of multidisciplinary fields to enhance the performance of present devices and optimize their manufacturing through smart control systems.
M.Tech. Energy Systems - focused on Solar - Graduated 2023
Presently, Engineer at Reliance New Energies
Jyotam Suthar
Jyotal was working on thin film synthesizing by using cheap and efficient deposition techniques. His topic of interests are synthesis of thin films by using low cost techniques, Characterization of thin films, and device fabrication. His future goal is to have job experience for few years and want to startup his own business in energy field.