Dr. Ir. Vivekananda Mahanta

Dr. Vivekananda Mahanta earned his M.Sc. in Chemistry from Dr. Harisingh Gour Central University, Sagar, India, followed by a Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India. His doctoral research focused on electrochemical energy storage, particularly aqueous redox flow batteries. He specialized in developing electrocatalysts, electrolyte materials, redox-active molecules, and bromine complexing agents for flow battery applications. Dr. Mahanta’s expertise lies in electrochemical characterizations and optimizing the performance of various electrochemical systems. In March 2024, he joined Prof. Prakash Venkatesan’s group in the 4MAT department at ULB, Belgium.

At the 4MAT department, Dr. Mahanta’s research is centered on electrochemical lithium recovery from wastewater as part of the European Union-funded “RELiEF” project. He has optimized the operational parameters of a LiFePO₄/FePO₄-based electrochemical lithium ion pumping setup, achieving nearly 100% Li⁺ to Na⁺ selectivity. Additionally, he engineered an electrode for this setup that demonstrated ~0% capacity decay even after 50 cycles of operation. His broader research interests include lithium-ion battery recycling, electrode engineering, and developing advanced electrochemical techniques for high-performance systems.



“RELiEF” Project, funded by the European Union