
Bairav Sabarish Vishnugopi
Research Assistant Professor
Associate Director
About Me
I am a passionate researcher in the field of energy storage and conversion, focusing on how materials, interfaces, and electrode architectures evolve under coupled electrochemical, thermal, and mechanical environments. My work aims to understand the mechanistic origins of transport phenomena, chemo-mechanical behavior, and thermo-electrochemical interactions that govern the performance and safety of next-generation energy systems. I am particularly interested in evaluating and advancing the practical viability of emerging battery chemistries such as lithium metal, solid-state, and sodium-ion batteries for applications including electric vehicles, electric aviation, and grid-scale energy storage.
My approach brings together physics-informed modeling with controlled experimental insights to construct data-driven frameworks that can improve the manufacturing, design, and performance of energy storage systems. Building on this, I am eager to explore how recent advances in artificial intelligence and digital twin methodologies can accelerate their development, deployment, and long-term operational reliability. For instance, I am applying this approach to enable more accurate degradation–safety diagnostics and identify chemistry-specific design guidelines across lithium-ion and emerging battery systems.
I am excited to be working at the intersection of energy science, digital twins, and artificial intelligence to help build scalable and reliable energy technologies for the future.
Education
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, 2023 🔗 Thesis
Purdue University
B.E. in Mechanical Engineering, 2018
Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani
Awards
IE&EE Division H. H. Dow Memorial Student Achievement Award 🔗
By The Electrochemical Society
Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award
By the College of Engineering, Purdue University
R. H. Kohr Graduate Student Fellowship
By the School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University
Research Interests

Energy storage
Mechanistic interactions in electrode architectures and interfaces for emerging energy storage chemistries

System-level safety
Linking material-scale understanding to application-specific metrics of performance, reliability, and safety

Digital twin
Digital twin methodologies for modeling cell manufacturing, design, and operational behavior

ML & AI
ML/AI approaches for diagnostics and prognostics of cell degradation, thermal runaway, and recyclability