Dr Aruna Ivaturi

Senior Lecturer

Pure and Applied Chemistry

Personal statement

I am EPSRC Fellow, Chancellor’s Fellow and Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) leading the Smart Materials Research and Device Technology (SMaRDT) Group at Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde. I am Strathclyde's Energy Sub-Theme (Photovoltaics) coordinator. I am one of the founding PI of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Sustainable Practices of Research in Energy (C-INSPRE) , a new and innovative interdisciplinary Strathclyde Centre for Doctoral Training (SCDT) that links all four faculties of the University of Strathclyde. C-INSPRE is Strathclyde's first 'Energy CDT'.

I have made important scientific and technological contributions – for example, switchable coatings for energy saving windows, materials and devices for sensing technologies, solar energy conversion, solar photocatalyst and dye-sensitised electrochromic devices. Over the last years my main research focus has been in the development of novel materials and devices for solar energy conversion especially the emerging new PV technologies (Spectral conversion, Dye sensitised and Perovskite solar cells). I was awarded the EPSRC Fellowship (funding of ~ £1.1 Million) to develop the challenging field of Elastic Perovskite PV research in the UK.

The principal research interests of my (SMaRDT) group lie in development of sustainable (nano)materials and devices to address global challenges in energy, environment and healthcare sectors. In the energy sector, the focus is on development of ultra-light weight mechanically resilient solar cells for harvesting indoor light and upcycling waste (biomass and plastic) for printable flexible and stretchable Supercapacitors and Photocapacitors (& Photosupercapacitors) towards Net Zero future. In the environment sector the focus is on developing electrochemical sensors for heavy metal detection and visible light active photocatalysts for water remediation. In the health care sector the focus has been on developing electrochemical glucose sensors and biodegradable piezoelectric sensors.

If you are an outstanding and enthusiastic individual interested in PhD/Post-doc or in short term (e.g ERASMUS, Commonwealth etc) projects in the SMaRDT group to contribute to the challenging sectors mentioned under the Research Areas (or any other related areas) then please send in your CV.

Expertise

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Prize And Awards

Editorial Advisory Board member - APL Electronic Devices, AIP Publishing: Recipient; 9/2024
Guest Editor RSC Energy Advances: Recipient; 2024
LEAF Sustainable Lab Award: Recipient; 2023
Guest Editor Frontiers in Carbon: Recipient; 2023
WiLN 'Sustainability Award' Nominee 2023: Recipient; 2023
'Sustainable Impact by Design' Team, Strathclyde Medal: Recipient; 2023

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Publications

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Publications

Role of the electron transport layer in dictating the nanoscale heterogeneity in all-inorganic perovskite absorbers – correlating the optoelectronic and crystallographic properties: Nicholson Stefan, Bruckbauer Jochen, Edwards Paul R, Trager-Cowan Carol, Martin Robert W, Ivaturi Aruna; Journal of Materials Chemistry A Vol 13, pp. 11003-11014 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1039/D4TA07152B
Editorial: Women in Carbon Science and Technology-“The Many Shades of Carbon”: Kuljanishvili Irma, Pantano Maria F, Borin Barin Gabriela, Striccoli Marinella, Goulart Silva Glaura, Ivaturi Aruna; Frontiers in Carbon Vol 3 (2024); https://doi.org/10.3389/frcrb.2024.1521817
Unravelling the chloride dopant induced film improvement in all-inorganic perovskite absorbers: Nicholson Stefan, Bruckbauer Jochen, Edwards Paul R, Trager-Cowan Carol, Martin Robert W, Ivaturi Aruna; Journal of Materials Chemistry A Vol 12, pp. 25131-25139 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1039/D4TA01259C
Corn husk derived activated carbon/siloxene composite electrodes based symmetric supercapacitor with high Energy density and wide temperature tolerance: Reddygunta Kiran Kumar Reddy, Šiller Lidija, Ivaturi Aruna; ChemElectroChem Vol 11 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1002/celc.202400230
Indoor light harvesting perovskite solar cells on conducting oxide-free ultrathin deformable substrates: Valluvar Oli Arivazhagan, Ivaturi Aruna; ACS Applied Energy Materials Vol 7, pp. 6096-6104 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.3c02581
Sheet-like ZnCo2O4 microspheres and pomelo peel waste-derived activated carbon for high performance solid state asymmetric supercapacitors: Reddygunta Kiran Kumar Reddy, Šiller Lidija, Ivaturi Aruna; Sustainable Energy and Fuels Vol 8, pp. 2751-2761 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SE00182F

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Research

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Research Interests

Smart Materials Research and Device Technology (SMaRDT) Group is presently working on multidisciplinary projects in the following sectors:

a) Energy (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, EPSRC funded project): Elastic Perovskite Solar Cells, in collaborations with industry (Shadow Robots, G24 Power, NSG Pilkington and Dupont Teijin Films) and academia [University of Edinburgh, Oxford University and Johannes Kepler University]

b) Environment (UK-India Education and Research Initiative, UKIERI funded project): Biosorbants and Photocatalysts for Waste Water Remediation in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, India and Waste Water Treatment Plant IIT Guwahati.

c) Healthcare (Royal Academy of Engineering, RAE funded project): Wearable Glucose Sensors in collaboration with Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Science Malaysia and University of Namibia and University Hospital at University of Sciences Malaysia.

If you are an outstanding and enthusiastic individual interested in PhD/Post-doc in the SMaRDT group to contribute to these challenging sectors (and Research Areas mentioned) then please send in your CV and publications.

Dr. Aruna Ivaturi has strong track record of getting funding via fellowships. If you are interested in applying for a fellowship (doctoral/postdoctoral) to work in SMaRDT group, then please drop an email. Information about the various postdoc fellowship opportunities can be found via following links: