Nagaland University scholar wins Norwegian-backed fellowship for battery innovation

Nagaland University PhD scholar Dipankar Hazarika has been awarded the prestigious Energy Innovation Fellowship Grant for his breakthrough in sustainable battery technology—an achievement that places him among only 13 innovators selected nationwide.

His work focuses on developing advanced biopolymer-based hydrogel electrolytes for solid-state energy storage systems, a technology that could enable the next generation of flexible, wearable, and environmentally sustainable electronics. The research has already reached laboratory validation and a patent has been filed to protect the innovation.

“This innovation could play a critical role in enabling flexible, wearable, and sustainable electronic devices and support India's goal for clean and safe energy storage technologies,” stated a release from Nagaland University.

Under the guidance of Dr Nurul Alam Choudhury, Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry, Hazarika’s project aims to address critical gaps in energy storage using renewable and biodegradable materials like chitosan, gelatin, and cellulose. His prototype has demonstrated a cycle life of 51,500 cycles at 2 mAcm-2 in an all-solid-state supercapacitor—figures that indicate strong potential for long-term commercial use.

The award is supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in New Delhi and implemented in partnership with Innovation Norway, NITI Aayog, TERI, and Atal Incubation Centres. For the North East region, AIC-SMUTBI (Sikkim Manipal University Technology Business Incubation) serves as the local host.

Prof Tej Chingtham, CEO of AIC-SMUTBI, highlighted the importance of such initiatives: “This collaboration empowers local start-ups working on clean energy solutions, and we look forward to continued cooperation in driving sustainable impact together.”

Hazarika is one of just two innovators selected from the North East region out of more than 100 national applicants. His awarded project, titled Sustainable Biopolymer-based Hydrogel Electrolytes for Next-generation Solid-state Energy Storage, was recognised for its community-level impact and environmental focus.

“Such indigenous innovative solutions that directly empower local communities in battery and energy technologies are vital for India to achieve its commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2070,” the university statement read.

The research has also earned international attention with publication in the high-impact Journal of Power Sources (Impact Factor 8.1). The paper, titled An ionically cross-linked chitosan hydrogel membrane electrolyte for long-lived electrical double layer capacitors, was co-authored by Duangailung Kamei, Nuphizo Shijoh, and Dr Choudhury.

“This Fellowship will significantly strengthen my research by providing access to expert mentorship and opportunities for industry linkage,” said Hazarika. “Going forward, we are going to conduct performance testing under real-world conditions and seek industry collaborations for scaling up the product and taking it to the market so that the country can benefit from this technology.”

The Fellowship also offers tailored support from national mentors, including Dr Nikhil Tambe, CEO of The Energy Consortium at IIT Madras, who is guiding fellows in scaling up technologies for real-world deployment.

Nagaland University Vice-Chancellor Prof Jagadish K Patnaik praised the scholar’s achievement: “This milestone reflects the growing research excellence at Nagaland University and inspires others to pursue impactful science.”