Skip to content

Department of Chemistry · Deccan Institute of Science

raolab@example.edu+91 20 5555 0142
Prof. Ananya Rao

Principal Investigator

Prof. Ananya Rao

FASc, FNA

Professor of Chemistry

Department of Chemistry, Deccan Institute of Science

Swarnajayanti Fellow

Chair, Clean Energy Materials Programme

2022 – present
Professor of Chemistry, Deccan Institute of Science
2015 – 2022
Associate Professor, Deccan Institute of Science
2012 – 2015
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Cambridge

Ananya leads the lab. She loves a good cyclic voltammogram and a better cup of chai.

Ananya Rao is Professor of Chemistry at the Deccan Institute of Science, where she leads a group of twenty researchers working on electrochemical energy storage.

Her group discovered the first layered sodium oxide cathode to keep more than 90% of its capacity after 2,000 cycles, and built an operando X-ray cell now used in labs on four continents. Before starting her lab she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge, and she received her PhD from the Indian Institute of Science.

Academic portfolio

Professional & Research Experience

  • Professor of Chemistry, Deccan Institute of Science

    2022 – present
  • Associate Professor, Deccan Institute of Science

    2015 – 2022
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Cambridge

    2012 – 2015

Education

  • PhD in Solid State Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science

    Thesis: Ion transport in layered transition-metal oxides

    2012
  • MSc in Chemistry, University of Hyderabad

    2007

Awards & Honours

  • Swarnajayanti Fellowship, National Research Foundation

    2026
  • Fellow, Academy of Sciences

    2024
  • Young Scientist Medal, National Science Academy

    2018

Service & Leadership

  • Associate Editor, Journal of Energy Materials

    2023 – present
  • Chair, Clean Energy Materials Programme, Deccan Institute of Science

    2024 – present

Invited Talks

  • Sodium batteries for the grid, Gordon Research Conference on Batteries

    2026
  • Watching batteries work, Materials Research Society Fall Meeting

    2025