Dr Kimal Wasalathilake
This person does not currently hold a position at QUT.
Biography
Dr. Kimal Wasalathilake is a Chemical Engineer. He received his Bachelor’s honours degree in Chemical & Process Engineering with a Minor in Environmental and Energy Engineering from University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka in 2014. As a Chemical Engineer, he has provided consulting services to improve process efficiency in various industries such as solar salt, tea, superabsorbent, and FMCG manufacturing. These work included process design and process optimization where he performed design calculations, plant and equipment design, and system validation using simulation software.He received his PhD from Queensland University of Technology, Australia in 2019. Under the supervision of Prof. Cheng Yan, Kimal investigated the role of modified graphene materials in energy storage devices, i.e. lithium-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries and sodium-ion batteries, and utilised first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations to assist in the interpretation of results. He is currently working as a postdoctoral research associate in Prof. Yan’s group.
He has over five years of experience in producing and functionalizing graphene and graphene-based materials to address topics in energy storage/conversion and composite applications. This includes both experimental methods and theoretical simulations to develop novel electrode materials, composites, and electrolytes tailored to specific applications such as next generation rechargeable batteries, hybrid solar cells and fuel cells. His experimental work focuses on producing high-performance nanomaterials, electrochemistry, battery manufacturing and in-situ and ex-situ instrumental analysis. He is specialized in characterizing and analysing nanomaterials using various techniques in the areas of microscopy, spectroscopy, and macroscopic techniques, physical and mechanical property testing and high temperature processing instruments. Furthermore, he performs DFT simulations to understand the interfacial properties of the electrodes.
Key research areas:
- Synthesis and characterization of carbon and graphene based composites, polymer, silicon and metal oxides based composites
- High performance electrode materials for rechargeable batteries
- Density functional theory (DFT) simulations
Publications:
https://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Wasalathilake,_Kimal.html
Personal details
Keywords
graphene and carbon based materials, energy storage, density functional theory, advanced materials, simulation and modelling
Discipline
Nanotechnology, Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Chemical Engineering
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (Queensland University of Technology)
Professional memberships and associations
Selected publications
- Hapuarachchi S, Zhao Y, Fernando J, Chen H, Nerkar J, Golberg D, Zhang S, Yan C, Wasalathilake K, (2020) Unveiling the Working Mechanism of Graphene Bubble Film/Silicon Composite Anodes in Li-Ion Batteries: From Experiment to Modeling, ACS Applied Energy Materials, 3 (1), pp. 521-531.
- Wasalathilake K, Li H, Xu L, Yan C, (2020) Recent advances in graphene based materials as anode materials in sodium-ion batteries, Journal of Energy Chemistry, 42, pp. 91-107.
- Sitinamaluwa H, Li H, Wasalathilake K, Wolff A, Tesfamichael T, Zhang S, Yan C, (2019) Nanoporous SiOx coated amorphous silicon anode material with robust mechanical behavior for high-performance rechargeable Li-ion batteries, Nano Materials Science, 1 (1), pp. 70-76.
- Wasalathilake K, Ayoko G, Yan C, (2018) Effects of heteroatom doping on the performance of graphene in sodium-ion batteries: A density functional theory investigation, Carbon, 140, pp. 276-285.
- Wasalathilake K, Galpayage Dona D, Ayoko G, Yan C, (2018) Understanding the structure-property relationships in hydrothermally reduced graphene oxide hydrogels, Carbon, 137, pp. 282-290.
- Wasalathilake K, Roknuzzaman M, Ostrikov K, Ayoko G, Yan C, (2018) Interaction between functionalized graphene and sulfur compounds in a lithium-sulfur battery - a density functional theory investigation, RSC Advances, 8 (5), pp. 2271-2279.
- Roknuzzaman M, Ostrikov K, Wasalathilake K, Yan C, Wang H, Tesfamichael T, (2018) Insight into lead-free organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites for photovoltaics and optoelectronics: A first-principles study, Organic Electronics, 59, pp. 99-106.
- Hapuarachchi S, Nerkar J, Wasalathilake K, Chen H, Zhang E, O'Mullane A, Yan C, (2018) Utilizing room temperature liquid metals for mechanically robust silicon anodes in lithium-ion batteries, Batteries and Supercaps, 1 (3), pp. 122-128.
- Li H, Xu Y, Sitinamaluwa H, Wasalathilake K, Galpayage Dona D, Yan C, (2017) Cu nanoparticles supported on graphitic carbon nitride as an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction, Chinese Journal of Catalysis, 38 (6), pp. 1006-1010.
- Li H, Zhu X, Sitinamaluwa H, Wasalathilake K, Xu L, Zhang S, Yan C, (2017) Graphene oxide wrapped Fe2O3 as a durable anode material for high-performance lithium-ion batteries, Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 714, pp. 425-432.
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Kimal, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).