Research areas
My group works across the whole chain — perovskite synthesis, thin-film fabrication, electromechanical characterisation and circuit-level integration — so a crystallographic idea can be tested as a working device in the same lab. Each panel below is an interactive schematic of the physics; drag the controls.
Piezoelectric response in halide perovskites
A perovskite generates charge under pressure only if its unit cell lacks a centre of symmetry. My work treats that asymmetry as a design variable: swapping the halogen atom, exploiting Jahn–Teller distortion, and using lone-pair-induced tilting to push the B-site cation off centre and raise the piezoelectric coefficient.
The second half of the problem is the composite. High-permittivity filler in a low-permittivity polymer normally strands the field in the matrix — the dielectric dilemma. Functionalising the perovskite surface with polymer brushes closes that gap and lets a flexible film deliver large current density rather than only high voltage.
Illustrative model of the mechanism — not measured data
Self-powered sensor nodes
A structural health monitor buried in an aircraft panel or a bridge joint cannot have its battery changed. The harvester and the sensor are therefore the same device: ambient vibration is rectified into a storage capacitor, and the same waveform that charges it is the signal to be classified.
With triboelectric and piezoelectric front-ends we capture vibration and acoustic events, then run machine-learning classification on the recovered signal — live sound monitoring, captioning and environmental event detection, all from harvested energy.
Illustrative model of the signal chain — not measured data
Zero-bias photodetection
Layered Ruddlesden–Popper perovskites and MoS₂ heterostructures separate photogenerated carriers on their own built-in field, so a photodetector can run at zero applied bias. Photoconductive gain then lifts the external quantum efficiency well past what the absorbed photon count alone would allow.
These detectors are fabricated in-house — photolithography, sputtering, PECVD, RIE — and read out inside optofluidic platforms, where they detect fluorescently activated biomarkers for point-of-care testing.
Illustrative model of the mechanism — not measured data
Laboratory and facilities
MLAB gives undergraduate researchers an unusual thing: the chance to carry one idea from powder to packaged device. Students synthesise the perovskite, fabricate the film, measure the ferroelectric loop and build the read-out electronics themselves — the same workflow that produced the record below.
Fabrication
- Sputtering
- PECVD
- Photolithography
- RIE & wet etch
- KLayout
- 3D printing
- Perovskite synthesis
Characterisation
- SEM-EDX
- AFM
- PFM
- KPFM
- XRD
- FTIR
- Ferroelectric P–E loop tester
- Keithley SMU
Modelling & instrumentation
- COMSOL Multiphysics
- TCAD
- MATLAB
- Python
- LabVIEW
- C / C++
- Sensor & SoC integration
Education and appointments
KUET
BSc, Electrical & Electronic Engineering. Thesis on gate leakage in HEMTs.
Khulna, BangladeshBAU
Lecturer. First teaching appointment — machinery, rural electrification.
Mymensingh, BangladeshWaterloo
PhD then Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Dayan Ban. Vanier Scholar; led an 18-person group's energy-harvesting subgroup.
Waterloo, CanadaWilkes
Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering. Founded MLAB.
Wilkes-Barre, USAPublication output
Every figure below is computed live from the publication list further down this page, so the charts and the record can never disagree.
Output by year and type
Journal articles, conference papers, patents and book chapters, stacked by year of record.
Cumulative body of work
Total entries on the record, accumulating year by year.
Most frequent venues
Co-authorship network
A co-authorship network built from every author list on this page. Every collaborator with three or more joint papers, placed on one of four rings by how often we have published together — eleven or more at the centre, then six to ten, four to five, and three. Within each ring, names run clockwise by the year the collaboration began. Hover to isolate someone; click to filter the publication list to our joint work.
Hover a collaborator
Rings = joint publications · clockwise by year collaboration began
Research vision
How can crystal chemistry, device interfaces and local computation be designed together, so that a sensor makes reliable decisions within the energy available from its environment?
The Internet of Things, powered by trillions of sensors, would require trillions of distributed power sources — unrealistic given the lifespan, maintenance burden and materials of batteries. My program works toward the alternative: sensing nodes that run on the energy in their own surroundings. That means advancing three connected fronts together — the reliability of piezoelectric materials under real operating conditions, the intelligence a node can carry on the power it harvests, and the integration of harvesting, storage and communication onto a single flexible platform. I am glad to discuss the program in more detail with prospective students, collaborators and industry partners.
News and updates
Selected milestones, talks and press coverage — newest first.
Publications
31 peer-reviewed journal articles, 9 conference papers, 6 US patents and 2 book chapters. My own authorship is underlined throughout; first-author and equal-contribution papers are flagged.
Teaching
Teaching has been central since 2016 — instructing and mentoring undergraduates in Bangladesh, Canada and the United States across the core of electrical and computer engineering. Every course below is one I have led as instructor of record, and almost all of them carry a paired laboratory, because the bench is where the subject becomes real.
Honors & funding
Honors and funding
Service & mentorship
Service and mentorship
Independent journal reviewer
Leading a group
Chaired Prof. Dayan Ban's laboratory at the University of Waterloo, coordinating weekly group and subgroup meetings for a team of 18. Founded and led the energy-harvesting subgroup, which grew into a multimillion-dollar research initiative, and contributed to research concepts, patent filings and competitive grant proposals — including $225,000 from NSERC in partnership with Shimco North America Inc.
Building shared infrastructure
Helped establish an advanced electromechanical device characterisation facility at the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, which has since supported over 15 peer-reviewed publications and three international patent filings, and sustained collaborations with Prof. Ted Sargent, Prof. Zhong Lin Wang and Shimco North America.
Inclusive research practice
Equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility are built into the program at each stage, from team formation and training through project execution and dissemination — inclusive mentorship, accessible laboratory training, and equitable participation for students and trainees of differing backgrounds and levels of preparation. Clear experimental protocols, regular individual meetings and shared review of unsuccessful results help students with different preparation develop independence.
Mentorship
Supervised doctoral and master's students whose dissertation work reached ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces and Nano Energy; mentored postdoctoral fellows, PhD candidates and undergraduate researchers; instructor for the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology Summer School (2023–2024); and served on faculty hiring and search committees at both Waterloo and Wilkes.