Member Profile
Rakesh Agrawal
Novel nanocrystal ink based method for Copperzinctin sulfide (CZTS) based Solar Cells
NSF Solar Economy IGERT researchers have successfully produced a copperzinctin sulfide (CZTS) based thin film solar cell with total area power conversion efficiency of 7.2%. This is the second highest efficiency... More »
About Me
Rakesh Agrawal is Winthrop E. Stone Distinguished Professor, School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University. Previously, he was an Air Products Fellow at Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., where he worked until 2004.
A major thrust of his research is related to energy issues and includes novel processes for fabrication of low-cost solar cells, biomass and liquid fuel conversion, and energy systems analysis. His research further includes synthesis of muticomponent separation configurations including distillation, membrane and adsorption based processes, basic and applied research in gas separations, process development, gas liquefaction processes and cryogenics. He is a member of the NRC Board on Energy and Environmental Systems (BEES). He was a member of the AIChE’s Board of Directors and also its Energy Commission. He has authored 81 technical papers and holds 115 U.S. and more than 500 foreign patents. These patents are used in over one hundred chemical plants with total capital expenditure in multibillion dollars.
He has received several awards including, J & E Hall Gold Medal from the Institute of Refrigeration (UK), Presidential Citation for Outstanding Achievement from the University of Delaware, Industrial Research Institute (IRI) Achievement Award and from the AIChE: the Gerhold, Excellence in Industrial Gases Technology, Institute Lecture, Chemical Engineering Practice, and Fuels and Petrochemicals Division awards. He is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering.
Dr. Agrawal received a B. Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology, in Kanpur, India; a M.Ch.E. from the University of Delaware, and an Sc.D. in chemical engineering from the MIT.
