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Prof. Manohar Kakunuri

PhD (IIT HYDERABAD)

Assistant Professor Gr-I

Department of Chemical Engineering

Room No: 304   +91-870-2462627
manohar@nitw.ac.in Edit Profile Bio Sketch

Research Areas

 Electrospinning, Nanofibers & Oil/water separation  

 Energy Storage devices (Li,Na,Al-ion Batteries & Capacitors) 

 Hard & Graphitic Carbon & Catalytic graphitisation 

  • Courses Handled
  • Research IDs
  • Selected Publications
  • Project/Consultancy
  • Current PhD Students
  • Awards and Accolades
  • Additional Responsibilities
  • Fluid and Particle Mechanics Laboratory(CH1211)
  • Fluid and Particle Mechanics(CH1201)
  • Chemical Processing Laboratory(CH206)
  • Mechanical Operations(CH203)
  • Electrochemical Energy Storage Systems Laboratory(CH26004)
  • Analytical Techniques for Chemical Engineers(CH367)
  • Chemical Engineering Research Laboratory(CH5104)
  • Energy Storage Lab(CH5353)
  • ORC ID: 0000-0002-5825-0729
  • Google Scholar ID: z-yc910AAAAJ


  • Candle soot/MXene incorporated robust superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic nanofibrous membrane for effective oil-in-water emulsion mixture separation, By Kamala Thota, Manigandhan Sabapathi, Manohar Kakunuri, Elsevier, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, vol.275, pp.137570, 2025
  • Novel superhydrophobic nanofibrous membrane grafted with silica nanoparticles for efficient oil/water emulsion separation , By Kamala Thota, Ramya Araga, Ramsagar Vooradi, Manohar Kakunuri, Spinger, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol.13, pp.1-11, 2025
  • Hierarchically structured carbon nanofibers with embedded MXene and coated with cobalt oxide as a high-performance electrode for supercapacitor, By K Donthula, R Araga, N Thota, S Sundarrajan, S Ramakrishna, Manohar kakunuri, Elsewhere, Journal of Energy Storage , vol.83, pp.110686, 2024
  • Polystyrene Nanofibrous Membrane Infused with TiO2 Nanoparticles by a One-Step Electrospinning Process for Effective Oil–Water Separation, By K Thota, R Araga, M Sabapathy, Manohar Kakunuri, ACS, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, vol.63, pp.14249-14258, 2024
  • Flexible Polyaniline/MXene/CNF Composite Nanofibrous Mats as High-performance Supercapacitor Electrodes, By Kiran Donthula, Usha M, Ramya Araga, Manohar Kakunuri, Wiley, Polymer composites , vol.44, pp.7571-7584 , 2023
  • Candle soot nanoparticle embedded nanofibrous membrane for separation of miscible and immiscible oil/water mixtures, By Kamala Thota, Kiran Donthula, Chandra Shekhar, Ramsagar Vooradi, Manigandan Sabapathy, Manohar Kakunuri, Wiley, Polymer composites 2023. (I. F. 5.2), vol.44, pp.4243-4251, 2023
  • Binder-free Ruthenium Oxide/MXene/Carbon Nanofiber Ternary Composite Electrode for Supercapacitors, By K Donthula, R Vooradi, VS Patnaikuni, Manohar Kakunuri, IOP Science, Journal of The Electrochemical Society, vol.170, pp.30508, 2023
  • Catalytic graphitization of resorcinol-formaldehyde xerogel and its effect on lithium ion intercalation, By Manohar Kakunuri, Suresh Kali, Chandra S Sharma, Elsevier, Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, vol.117, pp.317-324, 2016
  • Candle soot derived fractal-like carbon nanoparticles network as high-rate lithium ion battery anode material, By Manohar Kakunuri, Chandra S Sharma, Elsevier, Electrochimica Acta, vol.180, pp.353-359, 2015
  • Fabrication of Bio-inspired Hydrophobic Self-Assembled Electrospun Nanofiber Based Hierarchical Structures, By Manohar Kakunuri, Chandra S. Sharma, Mudrika Khandelwal, Stephen J. Eichhorn , Elsewhere, Materials Letters, vol.196, pp.339-342, 2017

Development of Hard Carbon with Tailored Physicochemical Properties from Tire Waste for Sodium-Ion Battery Applications

  • Role Principal Investigator
  • Type Research
  • Sponsor ANRF (MAHA EV)
  • Duration 60 Months
  • Project Cost (INR) 7042360
  • Status Ongoing

Design and development of ethanol based chemical looping water splitting configuration for green hydrogen production

  • Role Co-Principal Investigator
  • Type Research
  • Sponsor SERB-CRG
  • Duration 36 Months
  • Project Cost (INR) 2800000
  • Status Ongoing

Design and Development of 100 AH prismatic Al-ion cells.

  • Role Principal Investigator
  • Type Research
  • Sponsor HBL Power Systems Ltd.
  • Duration 36 Months
  • Project Cost (INR) 6900000
  • Status Ongoing

Design and operation of chemical looping combustion of coal and biomass for clean energy production with CO2 capture

  • Role Co-Principal Investigator
  • Type Research
  • Sponsor DST-CRG
  • Duration 36 Months
  • Project Cost (INR) 3000000
  • Status Ongoing

Development of low-cost indigenous oxygen carriers with high red-ox cyclic stability for Chemical Looping Combustion of high ash Indian Coals

  • Role Co-Principal Investigator
  • Type Research
  • Sponsor DST SPARC
  • Duration 24 Months
  • Project Cost (INR) 4000000
  • Status Completed

Design and Development of indigenous membrane-less water electrolysis system

  • Role Co-Principal Investigator
  • Type Research
  • Sponsor Kellton Tech Solutions Ltd, Hyderabad
  • Duration 12 Months
  • Project Cost (INR) 1188000
  • Status Completed

Development of High-performance Electrolytes

  • Role Principal Investigator
  • Type Consultancy
  • Sponsor Tatva Chintan Pharma Chem Limited
  • Duration 12 Months
  • Project Cost (INR) 1200000
  • Status Completed

Design and development of hybrid capacitor

  • Role Principal Investigator
  • Type Research
  • Sponsor Kellton Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd
  • Duration 24 Months
  • Project Cost (INR) 1100000
  • Status Completed

Fabrication of carbon soot based reusable and robust nanofiber membranes for effective oil-water separation

  • Role Principal Investigator
  • Type Research
  • Sponsor SERB-SRG
  • Duration 24 Months
  • Project Cost (INR) 2700000
  • Status Completed

Engineered carbon nanomaterials as high-performance active electrode materials for supercapacitor and sodium ion battery application

  • Role Principal Investigator
  • Type Research
  • Sponsor SERB
  • Duration 24 Months
  • Project Cost (INR) 2000000
  • Status Completed

Activated graphene/carbon composite nanofiber as high performance anode material for sodium ion battery

  • Role Principal Investigator
  • Type Research
  • Sponsor SERB
  • Duration 12 Months
  • Project Cost (INR) 2600000
  • Status Completed


Kamal Thota

  • Area of Research: Oil/Water separation

Priyanka Jagnade

  • Area of Research: Hybrid Capacitor

Vikas Mahendra Sharma

  • Area of Research: Al-ion Battery
  • Electrochemical society travel grant award
  • Executive Council Member
  • National Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • Overs Seas Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • Research Excellence Award
  • PIC: Industry Advisory Board (Continuing from March, 2024)
  • Convener-Department purchase committee (Continuing from September, 2023)
  • PIC-Energy Storage Lab (Continuing from July, 2023)
  • Coordinator: Center of Excellence on Batteries. (Continuing from July, 2023)
  • Convener: Class room Infrastructure and Maintenance (Continuing from December, 2022)
  • PIC-Chemical Engineering Research lab (Continuing from July, 2022)
  • Coordinator: UG Projects (August, 2021 - July, 2023)
  • Coordinator: Colloquium (August, 2020 - July, 2022)
  • PIC: Biometric attendance (August, 2020 - September, 2021)
  • PIC Website (August, 2020 - July, 2023)
  • Faculty Advisor: II Year (July, 2018 - August, 2020)
  • PIC Annual Reports (July, 2018 - September, 2021)