Dr.-Ing. Balakrishnan Munirathinam

Professional Experience

Since 2023
Head of research group “Electro-Organic Engineering (Electrosynthesis and Redox Flow Batteries)” at Institute of Energy and Process Systems Engineering, TU Braunschweig

2021-2023
Research Associate at Institute of Energy and Process Systems Engineering, TU Braunschweig

MOBILISE Project: Electrochemical conversion of bio-based resources

2017–2020

Post-Doctoral Researcher at Delft University of Technology, Netherlands

ADEM Project: Stability of bimetallic nanostructured catalysts for electrochemical conversion of CO2

NWO-TTW Project: Water and corrosive ion transport along interfaces of microelectronics packages

2013-2017

PhD at Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India

Thesis title: Tailoring the surface of Ti and its alloy by electrochemical processing

Research Fields

• Electrosynthesis of electrofuels and green chemicals 
• Electrocatalytic conversion of biomass derivatives with operando analysis 
• Electrochemical waste water recovery and conversion 
• Catalyst material development and material characterization                                                               
• Material degradation and corrosion analysis 

Publications

• Rabet, Sahar; Tobaschus, Willi; Chung, Gaseng; Gimpel, Thomas; Raabe, Gabriele; Schröder, Daniel; Munirathinam, Balakrishnan (2024): Exploring Impurity Effects and Catalyst Surface Features in Furfural Electroreduction for Jet Fuel Precursor Production: Experimental and Molecular Dynamics Insights. In ChemElectroChem 11 (15), Article e202400336. DOI: 10.1002/celc.202400336.
• Munirathinam, Balakrishnan; Schlüter, Nicolas; Schröder, Daniel (2023): Recent Advances in Metallic Catalyst Materials for Electrochemical Upgrading of Furfurals to Drop‐in Biofuels: A Mini Review. In: Energy Tech, Artikel 2300307. DOI: 10.1002/ente.202300307.
• Munirathinam, Balakrishnan; Lerch, Lukas; Hüne, Dorian; Lentz, Lukas; Lenk, Thorben; Görke, Marion et al. (2022): Enhanced Performance of Laser‐Structured Copper Electrodes Towards Electrocatalytic Hydrogenation of Furfural. In: ChemElectroChem 9 (22). DOI: 10.1002/celc.202200885.
• Kubannek, Fabian; Block, Jonathan; Munirathinam, Balakrishnan; Krull, Rainer (2022): Reaction kinetics of anodic biofilms under changing substrate concentrations: Uncovering shifts in Nernst-Monod curves via substrate pulses. In: Engineering in life sciences 22 (3-4), S. 152–164. DOI: 10.1002/elsc.202100088.

further publications