Dr. Swapnil’s research in Rosenzweig’s group focuses on the synthesis and characterization of cadmium and lead-free non-toxic luminescent quantum dots for applications in super-resolution imaging of molecular targets in plants. Furthermore, he is also working on platforms to chemically synthesize 2D materials to investigate their potential as surface coatings and the effect of the exposure of various organisms on their monolayers.Swapnil was born in India in the year 1981 in a family of Chemical Engineers. He grew up in an environment surrounded by Chemical Engineering and further went on to obtain a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and M.Tech in Energy from the University of Pune in 2006 and 2009, respectively. Swapnil was motivated towards research at the very early stage of his undergraduate studies, and the curious young researcher in him inspired him to join the semiconductor research group led by his first mentor Dr. Rajaram S. Mane at his undergraduate institution. During the course of his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, Swapnil got an opportunity to work as a visiting research fellow in Prof. Sung-Hwan Han’s laboratory at Hanyang University, Seoul, where he got hands-on experience on the processing of semiconducting nanomaterials and fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells. In 2009, he joined Prof. Soo-Hyoung Lee‘s research group at Chonbuk National University, South Korea; where he received his Ph.D. in Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering degree in 2014. His thesis work focused on interfacial engineering of inorganic/organic solar cells. He continued working as a BK21 Plus Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the same group (until Feb 2017), to study on the development of organically-functionalized transparent electron transporting layers (ETLs) for inverted organic solar cells. In Spring 2017, Swapnil joined Prof. Tae-Hee Han’s research group at Hanyang University, Seoul as a Research Professor, where he worked on the synthesis, exfoliation and electrochemical investigations of MXenes, MXene-transition metal oxide, and MXene-transition metal dichalcogenide hybrids.
Outside laboratory, Swapnil is interested in science policy and served as a working member of the Asian Research Network Korea. Swapnil is a passionate cricketer and enjoys professional basketball. As a Stephen Curry and a lifetime Sachin Tendulkar fan, Swapnil supports the Golden State Warriors in NBA, and the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL).