Sonal Kumar

ScientistA*STAR IMRESingapore

Building batteries beyond lithium.

I’m Sonal Kumar, a scientist at A*STAR’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering. I work on batteries made from abundant elements — aluminium, zinc, magnesium and sodium — and on the machine-learning tools that help us find better ones, faster.

Explore my research Publications
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Portrait of Sonal Kumar
3Li+Lithium 11Na+Sodium 12Mg2+Magnesium 13Al3+Aluminium 30Zn2+Zinc
CurrentlySodium solid-state batteries & AI for the lab
  • 2,396Citations
  • 21h-index
  • 25i10-index
  • 28Publications
  • 8First-author papers

Citation metrics: Google Scholar, Oct 2026

§01 Research

Three directions, one goal: energy storage the world can afford.

Lithium-ion batteries changed the world, but they depend on scarce materials and flammable liquids. My research asks what comes next — chemistries built from abundant metals, safer solid electrolytes, and data-driven methods that speed up discovery.

01

Multivalent metal batteries

Zinc, magnesium and aluminium ions carry two or three charges each, so an anode made of these metals stores far more charge per volume than lithium — and the metals are cheap, abundant and easier to handle safely.

The hard part is the interface between metal and electrolyte, where dendrites, passivation films and side reactions limit cycle life. I engineer that interface — with artificial interphases, electrolyte additives, eutectic electrolytes and alloy anodes — in both aqueous and non-aqueous systems.

  • Metal anodes
  • Artificial interphases
  • Electrolyte design
  • Aqueous batteries
  • Cathode hosts
Why multivalent?Theoretical volumetric capacity of metal anodes, mAh cm⁻³
Al8,046
Zn5,855
Mg3,833
Li2,061
Na1,128

Theoretical values: metal density × gravimetric capacity.

02

Current focus

Sodium solid-state batteries

Sodium is roughly a thousand times more abundant than lithium in Earth’s crust, and replacing the flammable liquid electrolyte with a solid one makes a battery inherently safer. My current work focuses on solid electrolytes and the sodium-metal interfaces they form — the place where most solid-state cells fail.

The aim is a cell that is safe, long-lived and made from materials that can be produced at scale.

  • Solid electrolytes
  • Sodium metal anodes
  • Interfacial stability
  • Scalable processing
03

Building now

AI & machine learning for batteries

A battery lab produces more data — cycling curves, spectra, microscopy — than anyone can read by hand. I build machine-learning models and software that turn raw measurements into decisions: which formulation to try next, which cell is about to fail, which result deserves a closer look.

Paired with lab automation, the goal is a shorter loop between idea, experiment and insight.

  • Machine learning
  • Data pipelines
  • Lab automation
  • Web dashboards
Explore lab & tools →

§02 Publications

Selected publications

28 peer-reviewed papers on battery chemistry, from first-author studies of aluminium anodes to a 2025 review in Science. A few highlights are below; the full list is searchable.

  1. 2026

    Electrolytes for rechargeable magnesium batteries

    D. Chinnadurai, G. Yang, Z. Li, S. Pinto-Bautista, S. Kumar, M. Weil, M. Fichtner, Z.W. Seh

    Nature Reviews Clean TechnologyMgReview

    15 cites
  2. 2026

    Aluminum-magnesium alloys: A better alternative to using high purity Al for reversible non-aqueous aluminum electrodeposition

    S. Kumar, D. Chinnadurai, A.D. Handoko, M.F. Ng, G. Wu, H. Wang, +7 more, Z.W. Seh

    Energy Storage MaterialsAlMgFirst author

    0 cites
  3. 2025

    The contrast between monovalent and multivalent metal battery anodes

    Y. Li, S. Kumar, G. Yang, J.B. Lu, Y.L. Yao, K. Kang, Z.W. Seh

    ScienceAlZnMgReview

    165 cites
  4. 2024

    A Bi-based artificial interphase to achieve ultra-long cycling life of Al-metal anode in non-aqueous electrolyte

    S. Kumar, P. Rama, W.Y. Lieu, C. Zhang, W. Busayaporn, D. Chinnadurai, +5 more, Z.W. Seh

    Energy Storage MaterialsAlFirst author

    15 cites
  5. 2022

    Additive-Driven Interfacial Engineering of Aluminum Metal Anode for Ultralong Cycling Life

    S. Kumar, P. Rama, G. Yang, W.Y. Lieu, D. Chinnadurai, Z.W. Seh

    Nano-Micro LettersAlFirst author

    44 cites
  6. 2021

    Undesired Reactions in Aqueous Rechargeable Zinc Ion Batteries

    V. Verma, S. Kumar, W.W. Manalastas, M. Srinivasan

    ACS Energy LettersZnReview

    324 cites
  7. 2019

    Investigating FeVO₄ as a cathode material for aqueous aluminum-ion battery

    S. Kumar, R. Satish, V. Verma, H. Ren, P. Kidkhunthod, W.W. Manalastas, M. Srinivasan

    Journal of Power SourcesAlFirst author

    105 cites

§03 Lab automation & tools

Software is becoming lab equipment.

Automated experiments, machine-learning analysis and structured data — the tools I’m building to make battery research faster and more reproducible. Interactive dashboards will live here.

Visit the lab page

§04 About

A materials scientist drawn to unconventional batteries.

I explore unconventional battery chemistries with one aim: energy storage that is both economically and environmentally sustainable.

I’m a Scientist at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), A*STAR, in Singapore. I did my PhD at Nanyang Technological University with Prof. Madhavi Srinivasan, where I was among the first doctoral researchers to focus on rechargeable aqueous aluminium-ion batteries — engineering both the cathode and the anode of a low-cost, non-flammable cell.

At IMRE I’ve extended that work to aluminium, zinc and magnesium metal anodes in non-aqueous electrolytes, co-authored a 2025 review in Science contrasting monovalent and multivalent metal anodes, and I’m now working on sodium solid-state batteries and AI tools for the lab.

Research interests

  • Electrochemistry
  • Multivalent batteries
  • Solid-state batteries
  • Characterization
  • Machine learning
  • Interdisciplinary science
  1. Now
    ScientistInstitute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), A*STAR, SingaporeSodium solid-state batteries · multivalent metal anodes · AI & ML for batteries
  2. 2021
    PhD, Materials Science & EngineeringNanyang Technological University, SingaporeThesis: Engineering cathode and anode for rechargeable aluminium-ion aqueous battery · Advisor: Prof. Madhavi Srinivasan
  3. 2017
    ResearchIndian Institute of Technology Bombay, IndiaInteractions between curved graphene sheets in water (PCCP, 2017)

§05 Off the bench

The person behind the papers.

Hobbies

What I do when the cells are cycling on their own.

Read more →

Places

A map of where I’ve lived, worked and wandered.

See the map →

Books & links

Books, websites and tools I keep recommending.

Browse →

§06 Contact

Let’s build what comes next.

I’m open to collaborations with industry and academia on next-generation energy storage, and always happy to talk with students interested in battery research.

contact@kumarsonal.com
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