While a tremendous amount of research is being undertaken in Fuel Cell Technologies, there is still a long way to go before its commercialisation for mainstream usage !

Rajesh Bashyam, CTO at pH Matter (Columbus, Ohio), leads product-oriented innovation to reduce the cost of fuel cells for wider commercial acceptance. 

Rajesh talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about his career path in Electrochemistry, initially as a Research Scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and then transitioning to the industry through his work at Ballard Systems (Canada).

For students, get your fundamentals stronger and go deeper; this will make you to be a ‘go to person’. Mostly ‘go to person’ is hard to replace.

Rajesh,  what were your growing up years like?

I was born and grew up in Chennai, and pretty much completed everything in Chennai, from my schooling (PS.Higher Secondary Grade 6-10), Gill Adarsh (Grade 11-12), Loyola College (BSc, and MSc) to PhD (IIT, Madras).

My father worked for ‘The Hindu’ and mother is a housewife. I thank my parents, for they did not force anything on me, they allowed me to pursue what I liked.

I played cricket at school/community, but my passion was in Tennis and I still play Tennis as a hobby in Canada. Maybe I would have put my effort into Tennis if the environment around me was conducive. But, tennis was a bit out of reach for the middle class in the 80’s and 90’s.

My interest in Chemistry evolved from Grade 11-12, thanks to my good chemistry teachers.

I decided to go for Chemistry for my Bachelor without any second thought, and those were the days when engineering was a craze. If you are not into engineering, society has a different opinion on you. 

I will say, this is very important for students, go for something that you have genuine interest in and passion for. You can potentially excel and shine in any field if you put smart and hard work with passion.

I am not saying that everyone should decide by Grade 12, but for most of the general population, this is an important stage in their career decision making.

What did you do for graduation/post graduation?

As I said earlier, I did my BSc & MSc in Chemistry from Loyola College and PhD in Chemistry (IIT Madras).

Continuing from where we left, my interest in chemistry was further reinforced, thanks to amazing lecturers from Loyola college ( to name a few Mr. Santhanam, Mr. Govindarajan, Dr. D.P. Sankaran, Dr. J.N. Reddy and Mr.George Johnson). 

What were some of the influences that led you to a DeepTech, Research intensive career in Fuel Cells

During my masters, I developed interest especially in materials and electrochemistry, and did my Masters research project at Central Electrochemical Research Institute, Madras. This is one of the major turning points in my career. My masters research advisor Mr. Ramamurthy from CECRI, was another important person who shaped my career. 

I did my masters project at CECRI, Madras unit. The project was on the development of novel alloy complex precursors for electrodeposition, more specifically on Copper and Zinc complexes and optimized for suitable electrodeposition conditions, including parametric sensitivities, for stable corrosion/oxidation resistant brass deposits. Even today, those fundamental studies are helping me in my field.

He (Mr. Ramamurthy ) identified my strengths, and said, Rajesh, “Do your PhD and don’t go for a job”. He did not say, if possible do your PhD, he was so assertive and it was like an order, this was in 1994 and I still remember that. After masters, I got admitted into a PhD program at IIT Madras under Prof.Dr. B.Viswanathan. 

I will say, Prof. BV (that is how he is addressed). Today, I can say I grew to a stage as CTO of an American company mainly because of him.

The knowledge, dedication, discipline, passion and wisdom he transferred to me (and many people like me) is unbelievable. Prof BV’s students hold top level positions in India and abroad.

I did my PhD under his guidance by crafting the research topic by combining materials and electrochemistry for applied science and engineering. 

We are talking about Hydrogen today, but 3 decades back Prof BV had the vision and said H2 and Fuel Cells will be key for energy security and mobility.

Can you tell us about your career path in Electrochemistry?

My thought process was simple, I analyzed my strengths and weaknesses and acted upon them.

I got my PhD from IIT Madras, and I had my first break when the research I was doing at IITM helped me to carry out part of my PhD in EPFL Switzerland for 4 months, which helped me to accelerate my PhD.

My PhD was on the development of nano structured materials for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells, in particular, materials for electro-oxidation of methanol,. As methanol oxidation kinetics is slower, nano-structured alloy materials (eg: Pt-Ru) are needed for effective oxidation of methanol. This was the time after carbon nanotube was discovered (1991). My research on synthesizing and utilizing carbon nanotube as catalyst support was done during my PhD, and I did not stop. I did my electro-oxidation work using these catalysts I synthesized. I went further to utillize polymer and composites in nano-structured form as catalyst support. These polymers were electronically conductive. As catalyst supports, electronic conductivity is one of the most important properties. I did the polymer work at EPFL, and evaluated DMFC anodes. I published a few papers on it (you can refer those in google scholar).

All these things helped me to graduate with the Best Thesis award at IITM. My research topic was on materials development for electrochemical technology (Fuel Cells).

After graduation, I went for my first postdoc at EPFL, Switzerland. I carried out research on Photovoltaics (Solar Cells) and Fuel Cells. Thanks to Dr. Ravindranathan Thampi from EPFL, he gave me a lot of freedom to innovate.

I did part of my PhD work at EPFL and continued some of it during my first post-doctoral research at EPFL.

In addition to that, I also conducted research on visible light photocatalysis. Normally, photocatalysis require UV light to activate the catalyst for efficient reaction, but in certain materials if you tune the electronic properties of the catalyst, you can activate it in visible light which gives economic benefits compared to UV activated processes. I did a applied project with one of the Swiss companies to develop a visible light activated catalyst for self cleaning paints (eg: these catalytic materials can be mixed with paint to disinfect hospitals and places where frequent cleaning is required)

This is the period when I was also looking for opportunities in the US and especially National Labs. Los Alamos National Laboratory was doing fantastic applied work on fuel cell materials including for the ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy) program (eg: DMFC for military applications). This was a very important stage of my career. 

I have to say this, I did not have US education nor had I worked in the US before. Moreover, entering into a National Lab was a significant challenge even for people who did their education in the US. 

I was reaching out to people and was coming up with a few proposals on my own. I owe a big thanks to (my future Postdoc advisor) Dr. Piotr Zelenay from Los Alamos. He was impressed with my proposal, and we arranged for a meeting in Paris. I was in Switzerland, and he came for a conference to Paris. So, I travelled to Paris from Switzerland and had some fantastic technical conversation with him. The insights from our meeting helped advance my proposal further . Eventually, we both wrote an application for Director’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, which was extremely competitive and fortunately I was awarded Director’s Postdoctoral Fellowship to conduct research on Non-precious catalyst materials for fuel cells.

My research at Los Alamos helped to publish our work in 2006 in a peer reviewed journal called ‘Nature’. Nature is a prestigious journal.

Some key points that helped me were, I followed my passion and took effort to achieve those objectives. This is what I am talking about in the early 2000s, and now global connectivity is no longer a problem. Put effort to reach out to people, have mentors and approach them and take guidance.

After my stint at Los Alamos, I started my industrial career at Ballard systems. I will say, one of my best and longest career experience was at Ballard. It was a dream come true for me. I used to know about Ballard during my PhD days during the 90’s. Ballard is a pioneer in fuel cells and the first company to develop fuel cells for stationary and mobility applications. I started my career as Research Scientist developing and innovating core fuel cell components for fuel cells. I was fortunate enough to patent a lot of ideas and most importantly, some of my inventions were in the actual product itself. I developed very strong skills at different levels at Ballard. I gradually moved from Research Scientist to Principal Research Scientist over 11 years.

The reason I moved out of Ballard was to explore new opportunities and leverage my skills. Around 2016, opportunities started coming from China, as China started their National Fuel Cell and H2 mission, and they were looking for experts around the globe. I decided (in 2019) to take it, and for a short time, I was employed at one of the famous OEM companies, Great Wall Matters (GWM), as Director. I also worked at another fuel cell company in Shanghai as a leading International Scientist and Engineer. Here, I led MEA technology and manufacturing, a core component for fuel cells (heart of fuel cells). It was a short but good first hand experience in China.

Pandemic was one the reason to move back to North America.

How did you get your first break?

I don’t think, it was that difficult, especially these days it might be way easier to atleast to reach out to people. If we have genuine interest and passion and good ideas, there are always wonderful people to welcome and mentor you.

As mentioned, Los Alamos was my first break. My second break was entering into industry, which I will highlight below.

I went through a very critical period. I was on a J exchange visitor visa and after I finished my postdoc, I was looking for corporate experience and as I mentioned earlier, my love for Ballard was reinforced after my postdoc at Los Alamos. So, I applied for an open position from Los Alamos, and to be honest, that was the only one company I applied to, and fortunately all interviews went well, and my research at Los Alamos was in perfect alignment with the work at Ballard at that time, and so I got the offer immediately. Though I got the offer, it took quite a long time to get the labor market opinion passed for me to officially enter Canada. I am so grateful to Ballard, as they waited for me for over 7 months to join.

What were some of the challenges you faced? How did you address them?

I was mentioning about some of the challenges I faced and how did I mitigate them.

Challenge 1: I faced some dilemma at some point in my career, one of them was I could have continued at Los Alamos National Lab. While there could have been the possibility of becoming a full time employee, I was also thinking at that point, how can I get into the industry to leverage my skills in product development. I was exploring employment in the US and Canada. I applied to a company called Ballard Power Systems, Canada (western part of Canada). Ballard was the pioneer and the first company globally that made fuel cell engines for stationary and mobility applications. I was interviewed and got selected and I will say Ballard was my dream as well during my PhD days. I will say that both Los Alamos and Ballard were my dream companies, and I went for it and by god’s grace, my efforts were rewarded. I spent close to 12 years at Ballard, my longest in my career so far.

Where do you work now? What problems do you solve?

I currently work in a company called pH Matter LLC as Chief Technical Officer (CTO) located in Columbus, Ohio. I work on Materials Development, Manufacturing and Commercialisation for Fuel Cells and Electrolyzers.

I am also a technical and strategic advisor to P2H2 (Power to Hydrogen), a spin off of pH Matter.

pH Matter fits early in the supply chain, as we develop catalysts for fuel cells, which is used in the MEA. The Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) is the core component of a fuel cell that helps produce the electrochemical reaction needed to separate electrons.

Regarding customers, I will say, they are mostly MEA manufacturers, fuel cell stack manufacturers. As these are confidential, I cannot go into details of customers. Our USP is catalyst performance and extraordinary durability.

P2H2 is an AEM (Anion Exchange Membrane) electrolyzer company that produces Green H2 and one of the important technologies to mitigate some of the challenges with the existing electrolyzer technology. There is a lot of room still available for advancing and scaling the technology.

What skills are needed for your role? How did you acquire the skills?

I will say skill sets depend upon the role. As I moved from Research Scientist to Chief Technology Officer role over 3 decades, I had to acquire different skills for different roles. In general, I will say one would require technical skills for research/engineering. 

Skills that will add value are PYTHON/FEA/COMSOL/ANSYS/StarCCM+ and Manufacturing related certifications such as Six Sigma and skills that can help in automation (including AI)

What’s a typical day like?

My typical day involves Technology and Production Planning and Implementation, Business Development, Customer Acquisition, Exploring appropriate funding opportunities both domestic and International, as well as mentoring.

What is it you love about this job? 

Never get bored, new challenges/problems to solve which give opportunities to innovate

How does your work benefit society? 

We work on technologies that provide a cleaner environment for future generations

Tell us an example of a specific memorable work you did that is very close to you!

There are so many works at different stages that are memorable. 

I will highlight few of them:

1. The work I did at Los Alamos, which helped to publish in ‘Nature’ was so memorable, because an important work reduces precious metal content in fuel cells.

2. I contributed to innovation and patents at Ballard, Canada which helped to increase the robustness of fuel cell engines. 

3. At ‘Hyzon Motors’ USA. I had the privilege to lead, develop and manufacture core components of fuel cells called MEA (Membrane Electrode Assembly), which we call the heart of fuel cells.

4. Leadership experience in China and US were so memorable.

5. The work I am currently doing, at pH Matter, commercializes core fuel cell materials.

Your advice to students based on your experience?

Be open, but don’t lose focus.

Acquire knowledge on different subjects

Acquire good communication skills. Clear articulation is important

Practice the habit of taking notes.

Find out your interest and passion and go towards that. Fields can be different but core may be similar, so your skills can fit when market dynamics change.

Get your fundamentals stronger and go deeper and this will make you to be a ‘go to person’. 

Mostly ‘go to person’ is hard to replace.

Future Plans?

Be a key person to further advance electrolysers and fuel cells and bring these to India, and into the mainstream market for a cleaner and sustainable future.

Continue to innovate and mentor the younger generation and transfer the knowledge.