Buddha Deka Boruah

University College London | UCL · Institute for Materials Discovery

Thin‐film rechargeable batteries have a wide range of applications due to their unique properties such as small size, thinness, and the ability to power smart devices, including portable electronic devices, medical devices, smart cards, RFID tags, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Processing thin‐film electrodes for these batteries generally re...

The imperative development of planar on‐chip micro‐batteries featuring high‐capacity electrodes and environmentally safer, cost‐effective, and stable systems is crucial for powering forthcoming miniaturized systems‐on‐chip smart devices. However, research in the area of high‐stability micro‐batteries is limited due to the complex fabrication proces...

Aqueous rechargeable zinc‐ion batteries (ZIBs) are increasingly recognized as promising energy storage systems for mini‐grid and mini‐off‐grid applications due to their advantageous characteristics such as high safety, affordability, and considerable theoretical capacity. However, the long‐term cycling performance of ZIBs is hampered by challenges...

The development of high‐performance planar micro‐batteries featuring safer, cost‐effective systems is crucial for powering smart devices such as medical implants, micro‐robots, micro‐sensors, and the Internet of Things (IoT). However, current on‐chip micro‐batteries suffer from limited energy density within constrained device footprints due to chal...

Aqueous rechargeable zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have garnered considerable attention due to their safety, cost-effectiveness, and eco-friendliness. There is a growing interest in finding suitable cathode materials for ZIBs. Layered vanadium oxide has emerged as a promising option due to its ability to store zinc ions with high capacity. However, the...

The downsizing of microscale energy storage devices is crucial for powering modern on-chip technologies by miniaturizing electronic components. Developing high-performance microscale energy devices, such as micro-supercapacitors, is essential through processing smart electrodes for on-chip structures. In this context, we introduce porous gold (Au)...

The downsizing of microscale energy storage devices plays a crucial role in powering modern emerging devices. Therefore, the scientific focus on developing high-performance microdevices, balancing energy density and power density, becomes essential. In this context, we explore an advanced Microplotter technique to fabricate hybrid planar Zn-ion mic...

Photoenhanced batteries, where light improves the electrochemical performance of batteries, have gained much interest. Recent reports suggest that light-to-heat conversion can also play an important role. In this work, we study Prussian blue analogues (PBAs), which are known to have a high photothermal heating efficiency and can be used as cathodes...

Metal halide perovskites have rapidly emerged as a revolutionary frontier in materials science, catalyzing breakthroughs in energy storage technology. Originating as transformative entities in the field of solar cells, these perovskites have surpassed conventional boundaries. This comprehensive review embarks on a journey through the intriguing pot...

Safe, accurate, and reliable analysis of urinary biomarkers is clinically important for the early detection and monitoring the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD), as it becomes one of the...

The high-performance miniaturized micro-supercapacitors exhibit great potential due to their inherent properties of high-power density, fast charge–discharge rates, long cycle life, and wide working temperature range. However, there is a need to further enhance the energy density of micro-supercapacitors. In this study, we investigate a hybrid elec...

Planar micro-capacitors, which are considered essential in the world of miniature energy storage, have recently garnered significant scientific attention. This heightened interest is primarily due to their potential applications in...

Photoelectrodes that combine light harvesting and energy storage within a single material represent an effective approach for developing standalone devices for solar energy capture and storage. However, achieving high-performance photoelectrodes...

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have gained attention for their intrinsic characteristics, driven by key advantages such as cost-effectiveness, widespread availability of zinc, and reduced environmental impact and make AZIBs a...

Zinc metal is a promising candidate for anodes in zinc‐ion batteries (ZIBs), but its widespread implementation is hindered by dendrite growth in aqueous electrolytes. Dendrites lead to undesirable side reactions, such as hydrogen evolution, passivation, and corrosion, causing reduced capacity during prolonged cycling. In this study, an approach is...

Solar power represents an abundant and readily available source of renewable energy. However, its intermittent nature necessitates external energy storage solutions, which can often be expensive, bulky, and associated with energy conversion losses. This study introduces the concept of a photo‐accelerated battery that seamlessly integrates energy ha...

Aqueous rechargeable zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have garnered considerable attention due to their safety, cost-effectiveness, and eco-friendliness. There is a growing interest in finding suitable cathode materials for ZIBs. Layered vanadium oxide has emerged as a promising option due to its ability to store zinc ions with high capacity. However, the...

Photobatteries, batteries with a light-sensitive electrode, have recently been proposed as a way of simultaneously capturing and storing solar energy in a single device. Despite reports of photocharging with multiple different electrode materials, the overall mechanism of operation remains poorly understood. Here, we use operando optical reflection...

Given the rapid progress and widespread adoption of advanced energy storage devices, there has been a growing interest in aqueous capacitors that offer non-flammable properties and high safety standards. Consequently, extensive research efforts have been dedicated to investigating zinc anodes and low-cost carbonaceous cathode materials. Despite the...

With the rapid and continuous advancement and deployment of advanced energy storage de-vices, there has been significant interest in aqueous capacitors that possess non-flammable properties and high safety features. Consequently, extensive research efforts have focused on investigating zinc anodes and low-cost carbonaceous cathode materials. Despit...

The development of photo-enhanced lithium-ion batteries, where exposing the electrodes to light results in higher capacities, higher rate performance or self-charging, has recently gained substantial traction. The challenge in these devices lies in the realisation of photo-electrodes with good optical and electrochemical properties. Herein, we prop...

The development of devices with dual solar energy-harvesting and storage functionalities has recently gained significant traction for off-grid power supply. In their most compact embodiment, these devices rely on the same electrode to harvest and store energy; however, in this approach, the development of energy-efficient photoelectrodes with intri...

Off‐grid power sources are becoming increasingly important for applications ranging from autonomous sensor networks to fighting energy poverty. Interactions of light with certain classes of battery and capacitor materials have recently gained attention to enhance the rate performance or to even charge energy storage devices directly with light. Int...

The development of high-performance solar cells combined with rechargeable batteries is crucial in achieving a sustainable and renewable-based energy future. Photo-Rechargeable batteries (PRBs) are emerging dual functionality devices, able to both harvest solar energy and store it in the form of electrochemical energy. Recently, efforts have been m...

Controlling redox activity of judiciously appended redox units on a photo‐sensitive molecular core is an effective strategy for visible light energy harvesting and storage. The first example of a photosensitizer ‐ electron donor coordination compound in which the photoinduced electron transfer step is used for light to electrical energy conversion...

Systems for harvesting and storing solar energy have found practical applications ranging from solar farms to autonomous smart devices. Generally, these energy solutions consist of solar cells for light harvesting and rechargeable batteries to match the solar energy supply to consumption demands. Rather than having a separate energy harvesting and...

The development of batteries that can be recharged directly by light, without the need for external solar cells or external power supplies, have recently gained interest for powering off-grid devices. Vanadium dioxide (VO2) has been studied as a promising photocathode for Zn-ion batteries because it can both store energy and harvest light. However,...

Due to their diversity in the composition, lattice structures and physical/chemical properties, and various oxidation states (2+, 3+, 4+, and 5+), (VxOy) nanomaterials have attached much attention for developing new rechargeable batteries, including lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs), sodium‐ion batteries (NIBs), zinc‐ion batteries (ZIBs), and magnesium‐...

Solar energy is one of the most actively pursued renewable energy sources, but like many other sustainable energy sources, its intermittent character means solar cells have to be connected to an energy storage system to balance production and demand. To improve the efficiency of this energy conversion and storage process, photobatteries have recent...

Photovoltaics are an important source of renewable energy, but due to the intermittent nature of insolation, solar cells usually need to be connected to rechargeable batteries, electrochemical capacitors or other energy storage devices, which adds to the complexity and cost of these systems. In this work, a cathode design for photo‐rechargeable zin...

Electrochemical energy storage devices that can harvest energy from the environment and store it are increasingly important to address both energy poverty in developing parts of the world, as well as powering off-grid autonomous devices. Currently, batteries or supercapacitors connected to solar cells are used for these applications, but these freq...

Off-grid energy storage devices are becoming increasingly important to power distributed applications such as internet of things and smart city ubiquitous sensor systems. To date, this has been achieved by combining an energy storage device e.g. battery or capacitor with an energy harvester e.g. solar cell. However, this approach inherently increas...

Batteries that can be directly recharged by light would offer a new approach to balancing the unpredictable energy surpluses and deficits associated with solar energy. Here, we present a new aqueous zinc-ion battery (photo-ZIB) that can directly harvest sunlight to recharge without the need for external solar cells. The light charging process is dr...

The development of on-chip and in-plane energy storage devices has drawn prospective research interest because of possible wide range of practical applications in forthcoming future. Primarily, the in-plane electrochemical capacitors (ECs) such as micro-supercapacitors, lithium ion micro-capacitors, sodium ion micro-capacitors, zinc ion micro-capac...

Currently, the development of ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors (PDs) have drawn potential impact in the research community because of a vest range of applications in the modern society. Variety of wide-band gap nanomaterials have been devoted for UV detection to achieve higher photosensitivity and specifically, zinc oxide nanomaterials have drawn po...

Optically driven, self-powered solid-state supercapacitor (SSC) is presented for direct utilization of optical energy for charge storage in a compact opto-electrochemical system. Optically and electrochemically active, energy efficient heterostructure nanomaterial of zinc cobalt oxide and zinc oxide (ZCZO) nanorods (NRs) were used as a SSC, where t...

On-chip micro-supercapacitor (MSC) pattern is obtained by layer-by-layer spray deposition of both manganese dioxide (MnO2) nanoparticles coated carbon nanotubes (MnO2-CNTs) and MnO2 nanosheets decorated reduced graphene oxide (MnO2-rGO) on mechanically robust, flexible polyethylene terephthalate. Layer-by-layer patterning of MSC electrode offers ra...

The architecture of a supercapacitor (SC) electrode plays a crucial role in defining the overall energy storage performance of the SC. Layer-by-layer assembly of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and vanadium oxide (V2O5) (rGO/V2O5) based heterostructure is patterned in interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) deposited directly on a flexible conducting current...

Pyro-phototronic effect can be used in pyroelectric semiconductor materials to significantly contribute in enhancing the self-powered photoresponse of photodetectors via modulation of photogenerated charge density. The pyro-phototronic effect in the zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) is exploited thoroughly by doping of halogen elements such as fluori...

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNT) are uniform distributed with piezoelectric microspheres that induces a large strain gradient due to induced capacitive response to provide 250% enhancement in electromechanical response as compared to pristine CNT. The fabricated large-area flexible thin film exhibits an excellent pressure sensitivity, which can e...

Asymmetric tandem supercapacitor (ATSC) is fabricated for the first time by using unique hybrid nanocomposites for outstanding performance. Reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-iron (III) oxide (Fe2O3) as negative and rGO-CNTs-ZnCo2O4 for positive electrodes. As-fabricated flexible solid-state internal ATSC displays much higher pote...

Abstract Novel heterostructure is fabricated by combining electrochemically and optically active materials for high supercapacitive response of 896 F/g at 5 A/g. Network of ZnCo2O4 nanorods (NRs) are directly grown on three dimensional matrix of H:ZnO NRs (ZnCo2O4/H:ZnO NRs) that offers synergistic advantages by providing an optimum ion/charge tra...

Unique photo-charge characteristics in chlorine-doped zinc oxide nanorods (Cl-ZnO NRs) are explored for the first time in self-powered ultraviolet (UV) photodetection that offers an outstanding self-powered photoresponse towards the low UV illumination signal. Self-powered Cl-ZnO NRs photodetector (PD) exhibits superior photon detection speed of th...

The nonlinear electrical characteristics of carbon nanodots (CNDs) has revealed important physical phenomena of charge trapping playing a dominant role in surface interactions. The various functional groups on the surface of the CNDs attract ambient water molecules which in turn act as charge traps and give rise to electrical hysteresis that plays...

Graphene oxide hydrogel with encapsulated water presents a unique structural characteristic similar to open cell foam. It is demonstrated that the encapsulated water plays a vital role in tailoring compressive behavior of graphene oxide hydrogel under varying thermal conditions. The present study is focused on systematically evaluating both the tem...

Radiation sensitive, binder-free, solid-state supercapacitor (SC) is fabricated based on spinel nickel cobaltite (NiCo2O4)/zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO NRs) as electrode material. The enhanced surface area of the electrochemical electrode not only provides a noteworthy enhancement in electrochemical activity but also the generated photo induced exciton...

Conjugation of highly dense colloidal zinc oxide quantum dots (ZnO QDs) on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (ZnO [email protected]) is achieved for high performance ultraviolet (UV) photodetection. Significant improvement in the photoresponse of the ZnO [email protected] photodetector (PD) is established as compared to a pristine ZnO QDs PD. The conjug...

Light absorption efficiency and doping induced charge carriers density play a vital role in self-powered optoelectronic devices. Unique vanadium-doped zinc oxide nanoflake array (VZnO NFs) is fabricated for self-powered ultraviolet (UV) photodetection. The light harvesting efficiency drastically improved from 84% in ZnO NRs to 98% in VZnO NFs. More...

A binder free novel three-dimensional assembly comprised of graphene, carbon nanoparticles and nickel hydroxide is presented as an electrode for supercapacitor. Combined effect of three-dimensional graphene for excellent charge conduction and nickel hydroxide coating on carbon nanoparticles for high surface area is exploited to attain excellent sup...

A heterostructure of graphene and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires (NWs) is fabricated by sandwiching an array of ZnO NWs between two graphene layers for an ultraviolet (UV) photodetector. This unique structure allows NWs to be in direct contact with the graphene layers, minimizing the effect of the substrate or metal electrodes. In this device, graphene...

Cobalt integrated zinc oxide nanorod (Co-ZnO NR) array is presented as novel heterostructure for UV photodetector (PD). Defect states in Co-ZnO NRs surface induces an enhancement in photocurrent as compared to pristine ZnO NRs PD. Presented Co-ZnO NRs PD are highly sensitive to external magnetic field that demonstrated 185.7% enhancement in respons...

Porous vanadium doped-zinc-nickel-cobalt ternary oxide (VZnNiCo) nanostructure is presented for high performance flexible supercapacitor (SC). The symmetric solid-state SC demonstrated a remarkable enhancement in capacitive response as compared to SCs based on its individual oxide constituents e.g. NiCo2O4//NiCo2O4 or ZnNiCo//ZnNiCo. A synergistic...

Heterostructures comprised of zinc oxide quantum dots (ZnO QDs) and graphene are presented for ultraviolet photodetectors (UV PD). Graphene-ZnO QDs-graphene (G-ZnO QDs-G) based PD demonstrated an excellent UV photoresponse with outstanding photoelastic characteristics when illuminated for several cycles with a periodicity 5 s. PD demonstrated faste...

A graphene and zinc oxide nanowires (G/ZnO NWs) based ultraviolet (UV) photodetector presents excellent responsivity and photocurrent gain with detectivity. Graphene due to higher charge carrier transport mobility induces faster response to UV illumination at the interface between ZnO and graphene with improved response and decay times as compared...

Growth the highly dense ZnO nanowires (ZnO NWs) is demonstrated on three-dimensional graphene foam (GF) using resistive thermal evaporation technique. Photoresponse of the as-grown hybrid-structure of ZnO NWs on GF (ZnO NWs/GF) is evaluated for ultraviolet (UV) detection. High photoresponse with excellent external quantum efficiency is demonstrated...