Varsha Sasikumar is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (Technological University of the Shannon) and in the Department of Physics (University of Limerick). She is supervised by Dr. Andrea Bourke (TUS) in collaboration with Dr. Robert Lynch (UL). Her research work involves investigation into the kinetics of the electrochemical reactions at carbon electrodes in mixed vanadium-iron flow batteries. Through this project, it is aimed to develop an energy storage system with improved electrode kinetics to enable cost-effective storage of renewable energy. She is a recipient of Government of Ireland Postgraduate (GOIPG) research scholarship from the Irish Research Council (IRC).

Prior to joining PhD, she completed her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and master’s degree in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in India, where she received the Prof A. Narayanasamy Endowment Gold Medal for achieving highest score.

2017-2019 Master's degree Nanoscience and Nanotechnology University of Madras, India / 2014 -2017 Bachelor's degree Chemistry Mahatma Gandhi College, India

Publications
  1. Varsha Sasikumar S. P. et al., Effect of Electrochemical Treatment and pH on VIV/VV Electrode Kinetics, ECS Trans.,109, 107 (2022).
  2. D. N. Buckley et al., Vanadium Flow Batteries: Electrodes, in Flow Batteries: From Fundamentals to Applications, Edited by. C. Roth et al., Wiley-VCH (2022).
  3. D. N. Buckley et al., Some Aspects of Electrode Kinetics and Electrolyte Stability in Vanadium Flow Batteries, ECS Trans., 109, 3 (2022).