People

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Eon Soo Lee, PhD

Associate Professor (Tenured), Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Director and Principal Investigator (PI), Advanced Energy Systems and Microdevices Laboratory

New Jersey Institute of Technology, University Heights, Newark, NJ 07102-1982
(Office) 1-973-596-3318
(Fax) 1-973-642-4282
(Email) eonsoo.lee@njit.edu

Research Interests:
Electrochemical Energy Materials and Systems: graphene-based nanomaterials, nitrogen-doped graphene nanomaterials, nitrogen-transition metal-doped graphene nanomaterials, carbon nanotube-based nanomaterials; Polymer electrolyte membrane-based electrochemical cells, Ceramic electrolyte membrane-based electrochemical cells, batteries, proton exchange membrane fuel cells, solid oxide fuel cells, ultra capacitors, thermo electric generation systems, solar power systems; electrochemical and catalytic property characterizations; metal-based water reforming technology, hydrogen generation and fuel reforming technology.

Electrochemical sensing-based, microfluidic self-separation integrated, biomedical diagnostic microdevices applications: Electrochemical sensing application with carbon nano materials including graphene and carbon nanotubes, Microfluidic mechanism-based blood flow self-separation, Disease biomarker detections including antigens, antibodies, micro RNA, and other nano bioparticles, based on electrochemical property characterizations.

Flow Dynamics and Thermal Transport Analysis: Microscale two-phase flow, heat transfer, micro-porous media flow, microfluidics, temperature control and thermal managements, micro sensors, optical imaging and visualization.

GROUP MEMBERS

Niladri Talukder (PHD student. Sep. 2020 – )

nt22@njit.edu

– PHD. NJIT-Mechanical Engineering, NJ, USA, ongoing
– MS. Andong National University, South Korea, 2017
– BS. Khulna University of Engineering & Technology, Bangladesh, 2013

Research: Nitrogen-doped Graphene and Metal-organic Framework integrated heterogeneous catalyst analysis and development for electrochemical systems.

He has been working on a new set of electrochemical catalyst synthesis and characterizations since his join in Fall 2020 with experimental techniques of in-house nano-scale high energy wet ball milling methods for synthesis which was developed in the lab, and of RRDE test for electrochemical characterizations. He’s investigating the physical, chemical, and structural properties of the newly synthesized graphene-based electrochemical nanomaterials with various experimental approaches including electron microscopy, IR, and X-ray spectroscopy methods like SEM, TEM, EDX, XRD, XPS, Raman, and FTIR.

He also works on carbon-based nano-materials supported Phase Change Materials (PCMs) to improve thermal properties (thermal conductivity, latent heat of fusion, specific heat capacity), operational durability, and eutectic properties of composite PCMs.

Yudong Wang (PHD student. Sep 2020 – )

yw35@njit.edu

– PHD. NJIT-Mechanical Engineering, NJ, USA, ongoing
– MS. New York Institute of Technology, NY, USA 2019
– BS. Southwest Jiaotong University, China 2016

Research: Self-separation of Complex Biofluid in Micro- Biochip for Disease Biomarker Detection

He’s been working in the micro biochip research from Fall 2020 with interdisciplinary activities including microfluidics, cells and protein characteristics, microchannel fabrication and biosensing sciences. His primary research interests are placed on the investigation and the understanding of the passive self-separation mechanism and the implementation to lab-on-a-chip disease biosensors.

Brecht Boonman, Undergraduate (Summer 2023 – present)

bmb42@njit.edu

– BS. New Jersey Institute of Technology, NJ, USA, 2024 (expected)

Research: Solar PV and heat pump integrated thermal and power system.

 

He’s working on thermodynamic, heat transfer, and power efficiency analysis of an integrated system of solar PV, heat pipe, and heat pump system to improve household energy efficiency.

Kyuhyuk Cha, Undergraduate (January 2024 – present)

kc586@njit.edu

– BS. New Jersey Institute of Technology, NJ, USA, 2024 (expected)

Research: Thermal Simulation and Analysis of Three-phase Interleaved Bi-directional DC V2V Charger.

He’s studying the thermal characteristics and management strategies of a three-phase interleaved buck-boost converter circuit in bi-directional EV V2V charging systems, incorporating methods of circuit analysis and thermal simulation.

Alumni / Former Members (Graduates)

Bharath Babu Nunna, Ph.D. (Defense – June 2018)

bn63@njit.edu  or

bnunna@bwh.harvard.edu

– PHD. NJIT-Mechanical Engineering, USA, 2018
– MS. University of Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA 2007
– BS. Nagarjuna University, INDIA 2004

Research: Micro- Biochip for Cancer Biomarker Detection

He has been working in the micro biochip research from Fall 2014. The micro biochip research is an interdisciplinary research including microfluidics, cancer immunology, nano fabrication and biosensing sciences. His primary research interests are biosensing, lab-on-the-chip, cancer diagnosis and nano fabrication.

He joined Weber State University in Utah as a new faculty (Tenure-Track Assistant Professor) in Fall 2021 after a Postdoc at Harvard University in 2019-2021 and research and teaching at NJIT as an adjunct faculty.

Shiqiang “Simon” Zhuang, PhD ( Defense- Dec. 2017)

sz86@njit.edu or

sqzhuang@jnu.edu.cn

– PHD. NJIT-Mechanical Engineering, USA, 2017
– MS. NJIT Mechanical Engineering, 2013
– BS. University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), 2008

Research: Graphene-based non-PGM catalyst development for electrochemical systems

He has been working on new electrochemical catalyst development since his join in Spring 2014 using a experimental techniques of thermal pyrolysis for synthesis and of RRDE test for electrochemical characterizations. He’s also investigating the newly synthesized graphene-based samples with optical and electron spectroscopy methods.

He is now at Jinan University in China as a new faculty (Tenure-Track Associate Professor) since 2019 after his postdoc and teaching at NJIT as an adjunct faculty.

Harsimranjit Singh, Ph.D. Student (Jan 2018 ~ May 2019)

hs523@njit.edu

– M.S NJIT Mechanical Engineering, 2017

– B.S PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh, 2016

Research: Electrochemical performance Augmentation of Non-PGM Catalysts

His research is primarily focused on the synthesis and characterization of Non-precious Metal (Graphene) catalysts for electrochemical applications, and the physical, chemical and electrochemical characterizations primarily using XPS, Raman, Zetasizer, SEM, TEM, and RRDE.

Ernst Etienne, M.S. student (Spring – Summer 2021)

eee9@njit.edu

– MS. New Jersey Institute of Technology, NJ, USA, ongoing
– BS. Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, NY, USA 2012

Research: COVID-19 Nano- Biochip for Disease Biomarker Detection

The active full-time New York City MTA professional engineer is now pursuing another challenge in his professional career as an academic scientist. He’s been working in the micro biochip research to tackle the global challenge of the COVID-19 virus pandemic since joining Jan 2021. He’s developing and investigating the nano biochip sensing mechanism and implement the nanotechnology developed in the lab to detect the coronavirus in the simply accessible biochip. His research includes interdisciplinary activities including antibody-antigen interactions, cells and protein characteristics, nano electrode fabrications and biosensing mechanism under microfluidics conditions.

Benjamin Ingis, M.S. Student (Sep 2018 ~ Dec 2019. Thesis Defense)

bi24@njit.edu 

– M.S. NJIT Mechanical Engineering, 2019

– B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Cedarville University, USA, 2016

Research: Point-of-Care Nano Biochip and Separation

His research is focused on the development of PDMS microchannel arrays to filter blood plasma from whole blood, using microtexturing of the channel surfaces and interfaces to achieve relatively high speed and high volume separations. He will also explore the integration of the separation channels with bio-sensors, and attempt to characterize the change in sensitivity between whole blood and filtered plasma.

He is now working as an engineer at US Picatinny Arsenal in NJ.

Lakshmi Narayanan Venkatesan, MS student

lv92@njit.edu

– MS. Mechanical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA, 2019
– BS.  Mechanical Engineering, Anna University, India, 2013

Research: His research is focused on the experimental analysis of self-separation phenomenon in complex blood flow in PDMS microchannels with plasma coating for surface modification, which will help in developing a simple and inexpensive Biochip integrated with nanosensors and microchannels for disease detection.

Debdyuti Mandal, MS (Thesis Defense- Dec 2017)

dm478@njit.edu

– MS. Mechanical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA, 2017
– BS.  Mechanical Engineering, ITM University, India, 2015

Research: His primary research is Biomarker Detection using Nanostructured electrodes and Nanoparticles-based sensing. The device incorporates microfluidic channel on top of a nano-biosensor platform for the Cancer antigens diagnostics at early stages. His primary focus is on developing highly sensitive, precise, tiny and inexpensive biochip platform for real-time analysis.

Fuxin Lin, MS student

fl225@njit.edu

– MS. NJIT Mechanical Engineering (2018 expected)
– BS. Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Aerospace Engineering, 2012

His research is on the synthesis and characterization of graphene-based catalysts working with Shiqiang Zhuang, and currently pursuing his master’s thesis on this topic.

Abhinav Mehrotra, MS student (2017)

am2335@njit.edu

– MS. NJIT Mechanical Engineering (2018 expected)
– BS. Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Aerospace Engineering, 2012

His research was on the characterization of PDMS materials, and the surface of PDMS microchannels. His work also included the experimental setup of contact angle measurement of the PDMS surface.

Juan Javier, MS student (2016)

jej7@njit.edu

– MS. NJIT Mechanical Engineering (2017)
– BS. NJIT Mechanical Engineering (2015)

His research was on the the molecular imprinted polymers (MIP)-based biosensor development for disease biomarker detection, and studied antibody-antigen binding mechanism for detection.

Lin Lei, MS student (MS Thesis Defense May 2016)

ll333@njit.edu

– MS. NJIT Mechanical Engineering (2016)
– BS. Hunan University (Changsha, China), 2013

Her MS Thesis title is “Effects Of Experimental Conditions On Characteristics Of Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Synthesized By High Energy Wet Ball Milling”, which studied the synthesis and characterization of graphene-based catalysts.

She joined Rutgers University-New Brunswick to pursue a PHD degree.

Marco Viola, Visiting MS student (MS thesis 2015)

mv97@njit.edu

– MS. NJIT Mechanical Engineering (2015, Exchange)
– MS. Politecnico di Milano, Italy, Energy Engineering (2015)
– BS. Politecnico di Milano, Italy, Energy Engineering (2012)

His thesis is titled as “Performance and Economic Analysis of the Cogeneration Combined Cycle under Gas Turbine Inlet Air Chiller Operation”, working on power plant cogeneration gas turbine cycle analysis.

He joined Siemens as an engineer after the study.

Xuan Shi, MS student (2014)

xs57@njit.edu

– MS. NJIT Mechanical Engineering (2015)
– BS. Tianjin University of Technology, Electrical Engineering, 2013

His research was on the the synthesis and characterization of graphene-based catalysts working with Shiqiang Zhuang, and currently pursuing his master’s thesis on this topic.

Xi Xi, MS student (2014)

xx52@njit.edu

– MS. NJIT Mechanical Engineering (2014)
– BS.  Shanghai Maritime University, (Shanghai, China), 2012

She studied small scale (~ micro) thermal characterization of porous gas diffusion layer on proton exchange membrane fuel cells. She designed and constructed the experimental setup with a team of graduate students of Bo Zhang and Yue Gao.

Yue Gao, MS student (2014)

yg92@njit.edu

– MS. NJIT Mechanical Engineering (2014)
– BS.  Wuhan University of Technology, (Wuhan, China), 2012

He studied small scale (~ micro) thermal characterization of porous gas diffusion layer on proton exchange membrane fuel cells. He designed and constructed the experimental setup with a team of graduate students of Bo Zhang and Xi Xi.

H M Zulqar Nain (PHD student. Spring 2024)

hn277@njit.edu

– PHD. Student at NJIT, NJ, USA.
– MS. University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. 2017
– BS. Khulna University of Engineering & Technology, Bangladesh, 2013

Research: N-doped Graphene and Metal-organic Framework integrated noble Phase Change Materials (PCM).

He conducted research on N-doped Graphene (N-G)-based functional materials in Spring 2024 with different activities including material synthesis, characteristics. His research also includes the investigation of noble Phase Change Materials (PCM) integrated with N-G and MOF to enhance their performance in diverse applications.

Bo Zhang, PhD student (Independent Study 2014)

– PhD. NJIT Mechanical Engineering (2015)

He worked on a microscale two-phase porous layer flow and heat transfer characteristics in fuel cell applications using experimental approaches in the porous two-phase flow structure for his doctoral independent study in 2014.

Ramin Zakeri, PhD student (2013)

– PhD. NJIT Mechanical Engineering (2013 admitted)
– MS. Sharif University of Technology, 2010
– BS. Sharif University of Technology, 2007

He worked remotely on computational simulation of a microscale two-phase porous layer flow and heat transfer characteristics in fuel cell applications using Lattice-Boltzmann method for the numerical approaches in the porous two-phase flow structure, and produced three conference papers.

Alumni / Former Members (Undergraduates)

Jinhyeok Bae, Undergraduate (Spring 2022 – present)

jb728@njit.edu

– BS. New Jersey Institute of Technology, NJ, USA, 2023 (expected)

Research: Investigation of Contact Angles on PDMS and PMMA surface and Capillary Blood Flow Dynamics in PMMA and PDMS Microchannels.

He joined the lab in January 2022 after his performance in the heat transfer class with Prof Lee, and later he won the NJIT’s Provost URI Summer Research Fellowships in 2022.  He has been working on the contact angle measurements of a wide range of hematocrit percentages of biofluids on PMMA surfaces with various hydrophilic treatments. Also, he’s working on the biofluid dynamics over a range of hematocrit percentages in PMMA microchannels with different hydrophilicity.

Siddhant Jadhav, Undergraduate (Summer 2022. NSF REU at NJIT)

sjadhav4@illinois.edu

– BS. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA, 2021-2025 (expected)

Research: Determination of the Threshold of Residue Hematocrit in Separated Blood Plasma Using Capacitance Measurements with Interdigitated Electrodes for Robust Biomarker Detection.

He is a returning student as an NSF REU Program student at NJIT since his high school summer internship at NJIT in 2019. He’s working on the capacitance measurements of variable hematocrit percentages on interdigitated nano electrodes to investigate the effect of the hematocrits on the nano electrode measurements.

Alexandros Paliouras, Undergraduate (Summer 2022. NSF REU at NJIT)

paliouras.a@northeastern.edu

– BS. Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA, 2021-2025 (expected)

Research: Removal of Impurities From Nitrogen-Doped/metal Organic Framework Graphene (N-G/MOF) Electrocatalyst for Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage Systems

He joined the lab as an NSF REU Program student at NJIT in Summer 2022. He’s been working on the synthesis of nitrogen-doped graphene catalysts with a mentoring senior lab member and investigating the post-process for the removal of impurities from the synthesized catalysts, including the centrifuge approach, physical method and chemical methods.  He also tested two different types of grinding balls to investigate the impurity effect of grinding media on the synthesized catalysts.

Nikesh Shrestha, Undergraduate (NSF REU at NJIT 2021)

sthan18@terpmail.umd.edu

– BS. University of Maryland – Mechanical Engineering (2022)

He joined the lab as an NSF REU program fellowship student at NJIT in 2021 summer, and studied a Visualization and Characterization of Fluid Drop on a surface-treated PDMS material, and flow dynamics in PDMS microchannel. He’s going to join as Microelectronics Engineer at Northrop Grumman.

Perry Andanar, Undergraduate (Summer 2021)

pva9@njit.edu

– BS. New Jersey Institute of Technology – Mechanical Eng, 2022

He joined the lab as a summer research student at NJIT in 2021, and studied heat transfer analysis and cooling projects in a broad range of mechanical engineering applications.

Arijit Dutta, Undergrad student (NSF REU at NJIT 2019)

arad11@pitt.edu

– BS. University of Pittsburgh – Bioengineering (2022. est)

He joined the lab as NSF REU program at NJIT in 2019 summer, and studied a Visualization and Characterization of Etched-Based On-Chip Plasma Self-Separation for the understanding and development of plasma flow behavior and enhancement of the plasma separation in biochip project with a graduate mentor of Benjamin Ingis, through the optical microscopy measurements. He fabricated microchannels using PDMS and used glass wafer for the etched surface area, and analyzed the images using MATLAB code.

Nuree Ha- Undergraduate Student (2015-2016)

nh76@njit.edu

BS- Chemical Engineering, NJIT, 2016

She studied on the biochip research. Her primary research activities include image analysis of the fluid dlow in microchannel, contact angle measurement and biosensing.

She joined Englewood Lab in NJ as a chemist after studying at NJIT.

Stephen Harris, Undergrad student (Provost Summer Research Awardee 2014)

sh355@njit.edu

– BS. NJIT Mechanical Engineering (2015)

He studied an air-breathing PEM fuel cells through experimental techniques. He designed and manufactured a air-breathing fuel cell and characterizes the cell performance and operational factors to the performance using a fuel cell test station equipped with electrochemical probes and reactant flow control systems.

He joined US Picatinny Arsenal in NJ to work as a mechanical engineer after the study at NJIT.

Melissa Schwartz, Undergrad student (2014)

– BS. NJIT Mechanical Engineering (2015)

She studied an air-breathing PEM fuel cells through experimental techniques for the undergraduate summer research experiences in the lab in 2014. She helped the design and manufacturing of an air-breathing fuel cell using CAD tools and studied characterization of the cell performance and operational factors.

Malave Ivette- Undergraduate Student (2015)

iam5@njit.edu

BS- Mechanical Engineering, NJIT (Spring 2018)

She studied on the biochip research. Her primary research activities include micro channel fabrication, micro-scale flow measurements and flow analysis.

High School Interns

Joo Un Lee, Provost Summer Research High School Intern (2017 ~ 2019 )

– Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ, 2016 ~ 2020

He works on biochip research project with Graduate mentors, Deb Mandal and Bharath Nunna, supervised by PI in the lab, since Summer 2017. His work involves CNT-based sensor for biomarker detections and gold nano particles-based biosensor for multiple biomarker detections.

He joined Yale College and pursues a BS degree in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University.

Siddhant Jadhav, High School Interns (Provost Summer Research 2019)

jasiddh@gmail.com

– Union County Magnet High school, Scotch Plains, NJ (2017-2021)

He joined the lab as NJIT Provost Summer Research High School Intern Program 2019, and studied the capacitive sensing mechanism of the biochip sensor developed in the lab. He was actively involved in and contributed to the construction and analysis of a simplified measurement circuit for nanosensors using Arduino chips and electric components for the circuit, under the graduate mentor of Benjamin Ingis.

He got into UIUC and studies Materials Science and Engineering.

Abhishek Agarwal, Provost Summer Research High School Intern (2017 )

– Academy for Information Technology, Scotch Plains, NJ, 2015 ~ 2019

He worked on biochip research project with Graduate mentors, Bharath Nunna and Deb Mandal, supervised by PI in the lab, during Summer 2017. His work involves surface characterization of PDMS surface and microchannels through the contact angle measurements.

He joined Carnegie Mellon University and studies Electrical and Computer Engineering with minors in Machine Learning and Computational Finance.

Avani Budoo, Provost Summer Research High School Intern (2016 )

– Hanover Park High School, East Hanover, NJ, 2014 ~ 2018

She worked on biochip research project with Graduate mentors, Deb Mandal and Juan Javier, supervised by PI in the lab, during Summer 2016. Her work involves biomarker characterization and the antigen/antibody binding mechanism for biosensor detections.

She joined NJIT to pursue a BS in Mechanical Engineering.