Dr. Palwinder Kaur is a WISE-SCOPE Scientist at CSIR-CSIO, Chandigarh, with a Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences and over five years of research experience in gas sensor development, impedance spectroscopy, and machine learning-based environmental monitoring. Her work focuses on developing multivariable gas sensors for early detection of thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries and VOCs in environmental applications. She has published in high-impact journals such as ACS Sensors, Batteries, and Journal of Physical Chemistry C, and holds a US and an Indian patent application. As a Visiting Scholar at Purdue University under the SERB Overseas Fellowship, she contributed to battery safety diagnostics. Passionate about applied research, she aims to bridge science and society through scalable sensing solutions and science outreach.
EDUCATION
PhD (Engineering Sciences), 2017-2023, AcSIR, Ghaziabad, India
Title: On Impedance Characteristic Studies of Conducting Polymer-Based Gas Sensors
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Environmental Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
7
Scopus Publications
80
Scholar Citations
5
Scholar h-index
3
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Conducting porphyrin-based multivariate impedance platform for hexanal detection in lipid-rich foods Ambika Bhardwaj, Guda Ramakrishna, Palwinder Kaur, Sagar Rana, Anupma Sharma, Sudeshna Bagchi Talanta, 2026 Hexanal is a well-established early marker of lipid oxidation and can be used as an indicator to assess food freshness and quality. However, re-useable sensors that can be integrated into portable detectors for rapid and selective detection of hexanal in complex food matrices are still lacking. This study presents the design and development of an impedance-based multivariable sensing approach for detecting hexanal in various lipid-rich food samples. An impedimetric sensor was fabricated by electropolymerizing tetrakis(4-aminophenyl) porphyrin polymer (p-TAPP) on an interdigitated gold electrode (IDE), and its impedance spectrum, spanning a frequency range of 100 Hz to 8 MHz, was utilized for sensing studies. The developed sensor exhibits high sensitivity and selectivity towards hexanal, with rapid response (9 s) and recovery (21 s), over a practical concentration range of 1-100 ppm. Furthermore, the sensor was successfully tested on fat-rich food samples (solid, semi-solid, liquid and processed emulsified) at different hexanal concentrations, demonstrating its effectiveness in assessing lipid degradation. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed clear discrimination between safe and spoiled samples across different food matrices, with more than 97% variance, confirming the robustness of the sensor. The p-TAPP sensor, in conjunction with multivariate data analytics, offers a rapid, selective, sensitive, and matrix-independent analytical tool to monitor hexanal in diverse food systems and assess its quality in terms of oxidative degradation.
AI-IoT Enabled PEDOT: PSS VOC Sensor for Early Thermal Runaway Detection in Lithium-Ion Batteries Palwinder Kaur, Amol P. Bhondekar, Vilas G. Pol, Sudeshna Bagchi Apscon 2026 2026 IEEE Applied Sensing Conference Proceedings, 2025 Thermal runaway in batteries is most challenging and critical issue for ensuring safety and reliability of electric vehicles and energy storage devices. Traditional approaches of temperature and voltage monitoring may not reliably provide early warning. This paper presents a conceptual framework for a reported PEDOT: PSS based gas sensor capable of detecting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC) and methyl formate (MF), released during the early stages of battery venting, integrated with AI and IoT enabled architecture. The PEDOT: PSS based impedimetric sensor, operable at wide temperature range (RT-120°C) and using frequency (1 MHz to 1 Hz) dependent multi-variate response, is capable of detecting single digit ppm concentration of multiple VOCs and demonstrated response time (< 10 seconds). The paper outlines an AI and IoT based architecture for real-time, wireless safety monitoring using ESP32-S3 microcontroller. The concept shows that how data-driven algorithms and cloud-based analytics can achieve enhanced sensitivity, drift correction and early warning accuracy.
Impedimetric Early Sensing of Volatile Organic Compounds Released from Li-Ion Batteries at Elevated Temperatures Palwinder Kaur, Isaac K. Stier, Sudeshna Bagchi, Vilas G. Pol, Amol P. Bhondekar Batteries, 2023 Lithium-ion batteries prove to be a promising technology for achieving present and future goals regarding energy resources. However, a few cases of lithium-ion battery fires and failures caused by thermal runaway have been reported in various news articles; therefore, it is important to enhance the safety of the batteries and their end users. The early detection of thermal runaway by detecting gases/volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released at the initial stages of thermal runaway can be used as a warning to end users. An interdigitated platinum electrode spin-coated with a sub-micron thick layer of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT: PSS) showed sensitivity for two VOCs (ethyl-methyl carbonate and methyl formate) released from Li-ion batteries during thermal runaway, as well as their binary mixtures at elevated temperatures, which were measured using impedance spectroscopy over a frequency range of 1 MHz to 1 Hz. The sensor response was tested at three different high temperatures (40 °C, 55 °C, and 70 °C) for single analytes and binary mixtures of two VOCs at 5 ppm, 15 ppm, and 30 ppm concentrations. Equivalent electrical parameters were derived from impedance data. A machine learning approach was used to classify the sensor’s response. Classification algorithms classify the sensor’s response at elevated temperatures for different analytes with an accuracy greater than 70%. The success of the reported sensors will enhance battery safety via the early detection of thermal runaway.
Early Detection of Mixed Volatile Organic Compounds to Circumvent Calamitous Li-Ion Battery Thermal Runaway Palwinder Kaur, Sudeshna Bagchi, Vilas G. Pol, Amol P. Bhondekar Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2023 Energy-dense lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are susceptible to thermal runaway under abuse conditions yielding volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and gases below 100 °C; hence, early warning detection became very important. An impedance spectroscopy-based interdigitated platinum electrode with a submicron thick coating of poly(3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT–PSS) detected binary and ternary mixtures of VOCs. The impedance response of the sensor was recorded over the frequency range of 1 MHz to 1 Hz and analyzed for physical and chemical changes on interactions with binary and ternary VOCs. The single sensor was implemented to detect nine different binary mixtures and five different ternary mixtures chosen randomly of three VOCs, namely, ethyl methyl carbonate, methyl formate, and ethanol with 5, 15, and 30 ppm concentrations. Equivalent electrical parameters like charge transfer resistance and constant phase elements fitted with the goodness of fit value less than 10 –5, and the principal component analysis (PCA) method was used to distinguish responses into different classes. The application of multi-gas detecting sensors integrated with the battery management system (BMS) could facilitate cost-effective and efficient early warning before catastrophic thermal runaway events.
Impedimetric study of poly-butyl thiophenebased sensor for detection of VOCs and mixtures Palwinder Kaur, Sudeshna Bagchi, Amol P. Bhondekar Apscon 2023 IEEE Applied Sensing Conference Symposium Proceedings, 2023 This paper reports the detection of three Volatile Organic Compounds and their mixtures using a conducting polymer (poly-butyl thiophene) based sensor with the application of Impedance Spectroscopy. The sensor’s frequency response is studied in the frequency range of 100 Hz to 8 MHz and an equivalent electrical circuit is derived from the Nyquist plot. Further, multivariate data is analyzed for classification using principal component analysis and Support Vector Machine algorithm. A wrapper-based approach is used to obtain the best frequencies for classification.
Impedimetric Chemosensing of Volatile Organic Compounds Released from Li-Ion Batteries Palwinder Kaur, Sudeshna Bagchi, Daniel Gribble, Vilas G. Pol, Amol P. Bhondekar ACS Sensors, 2022 Detection of toxic and flammable gases and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from Li-ion batteries during thermal runaway can generate an early warning. A submicron (∼0.15 μm)-thick poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) sensor film is coated on a platinum electrode through a facile aqueous dispersion. The resulting sensor reliably detected different volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released during the early stages of thermal runaway of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) even at low concentrations. The single-electrode sensor utilizes impedance spectroscopy to measure ethyl methyl carbonate and methyl formate concentrations at 5, 15, and 30 ppm independently and in various combinations using ethanol as a reference. In contrast to DC resistance measurement, which provides a single parameter, impedance spectroscopy provides a wealth of information, including impedance and phase angle at multiple frequencies as well as fitted charge transfer resistance and constant-phase elements. Different analytes influence the measurement of different parameters to varying degrees, enabling distinction using a single sensing material. The response time for ethyl methyl carbonate was measured to be 6 s. Three principal components (PCs) preserve more than 95% of information and efficiently enable discrimination of different classes of analytes. Application of low-power PEDOT:PSS-based gas sensors will facilitate cost-effective early detection of VOCs and provide early warning to battery management systems (BMS), potentially mitigating catastrophic thermal runaway events.
Impedimetric Study of Polypyrrole Coated Zinc Oxide Fibers for Ammonia Detection Palwinder Kaur, Sudeshna Bagchi, Amol P. Bhondekar 2019 6th International Conference on Signal Processing and Integrated Networks Spin 2019, 2019 This paper reports the impedance spectroscopy of the ZnO-polypyrrole composite as a sensor used for the detection of ammonia. The frequency response of the sensor is studied using Nyquist plot in the frequency range of 100 mHz to 1 MHz. Sensitivity of the sensor is observed using DC measurement method. The impedance spectroscopy is performed for the ammonia vapors with the concentration ranging from 5 ppm to 115 ppm. The equivalent circuit is proposed based on the impedance response of the sensor. Based on the Nyquist plot observed, different elements contributing the changes in the overall impedance of the sensor are discussed.
RECENT SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
AI-IoT Enabled PEDOT: PSS VOC Sensor for Early Thermal Runaway Detection in Lithium-Ion Batteries P Kaur, AP Bhondekar, VG Pol, S Bagchi 2026 IEEE Applied Sensing Conference (APSCON), 1-4 , 2026 2026.0
Intra-Class Classification of Volatile Amines using Impedance Spectroscopy Platform P Kaur, AP Bhondekar, S Bagchi ChemRxiv 2025 (0919) , 2025 2025.0
Intra-class Classification of Amines using Impedance Spectroscopy with a SnO2-Ppy Composite based Sensor P Kaur, S Bagchi, AP Bhondekar 2025.0
SMART MONITORING SYSTEM FOR LIVESTOCK EMISSIONS S Bagachi, S Das, P Kaur IN Patent 452796-001 , 2025 2025.0
Early Sensing of Hazardous Volatile Organic Compounds to Avoid Disastrous Li-Ion Battery Thermal Runaway VG Pol, P Kaur, A Bhondekar, S Bagchi Electrochemical Society Meeting Abstracts prime2024, 4358-4358 , 2024 2024.0 Citations: 1
Impedimetric Sensing of Vented Volatile Organic Compounds before Thermal Runaway of Li-Ion Batteries V Pol, S Bagchi, A Bhondekar, P Kaur 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting , 2024 2024.0
Methods and apparatus for sensing volatile organic compounds and gases released from electrochemical cells VG Pol, P Kaur US Patent App. 18/107,115 , 2023 2023.0 Citations: 1
Impedimetric early sensing of volatile organic compounds released from Li-ion batteries at elevated temperatures P Kaur, IK Stier, S Bagchi, VG Pol, AP Bhondekar Batteries 9 (12), 562 , 2023 2023.0 Citations: 7
Early Detection of Mixed Volatile Organic Compounds to Circumvent Calamitous Li-Ion Battery Thermal Runaway P Kaur, S Bagchi, VG Pol, AP Bhondekar The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 127 (17), 8373-8382 , 2023 2023.0 Citations: 17
Impedimetric study of poly-butyl thiophenebased sensor for detection of VOCs and mixtures P Kaur, S Bagchi, AP Bhondekar 2023 IEEE Applied Sensing Conference (APSCON), 1-3 , 2023 2023.0 Citations: 3
Impedimetric chemosensing of volatile organic compounds released from Li-ion batteries P Kaur, S Bagchi, D Gribble, VG Pol, AP Bhondekar ACS sensors 7 (2), 674-683 , 2022 2022.0 Citations: 34
Impedimetric study of polypyrrole coated zinc oxide fibers for ammonia detection P Kaur, S Bagchi, AP Bhondekar 2019 6th International Conference on Signal Processing and Integrated … , 2019 2019.0 Citations: 7
Study of effect of environmental factors on organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays: A review P Kaur, V Karar, N Marriwala IOSR J. Electron. Commun. Eng 1 (01), 84-89 , 2016 2016.0 Citations: 10
Conducting Porphyrin-Based Multivariate Impedance Platform for Hexanal Detection in Lipid-Rich Foods A Bhardwaj, G Ramakrishna, P Kaur, S Rana, A Sharma, S Bagchi Available at SSRN 6172805 , 0
Pathway towards Smart and Digital India through Organic Light Emitting Diode Displays P Kaur, N Marriwala, RS Bhoria, V Karar
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Impedimetric chemosensing of volatile organic compounds released from Li-ion batteries P Kaur, S Bagchi, D Gribble, VG Pol, AP Bhondekar ACS sensors 7 (2), 674-683 , 2022 2022.0 Citations: 34
Early Detection of Mixed Volatile Organic Compounds to Circumvent Calamitous Li-Ion Battery Thermal Runaway P Kaur, S Bagchi, VG Pol, AP Bhondekar The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 127 (17), 8373-8382 , 2023 2023.0 Citations: 17
Study of effect of environmental factors on organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays: A review P Kaur, V Karar, N Marriwala IOSR J. Electron. Commun. Eng 1 (01), 84-89 , 2016 2016.0 Citations: 10
Impedimetric early sensing of volatile organic compounds released from Li-ion batteries at elevated temperatures P Kaur, IK Stier, S Bagchi, VG Pol, AP Bhondekar Batteries 9 (12), 562 , 2023 2023.0 Citations: 7
Impedimetric study of polypyrrole coated zinc oxide fibers for ammonia detection P Kaur, S Bagchi, AP Bhondekar 2019 6th International Conference on Signal Processing and Integrated … , 2019 2019.0 Citations: 7
Impedimetric study of poly-butyl thiophenebased sensor for detection of VOCs and mixtures P Kaur, S Bagchi, AP Bhondekar 2023 IEEE Applied Sensing Conference (APSCON), 1-3 , 2023 2023.0 Citations: 3
Early Sensing of Hazardous Volatile Organic Compounds to Avoid Disastrous Li-Ion Battery Thermal Runaway VG Pol, P Kaur, A Bhondekar, S Bagchi Electrochemical Society Meeting Abstracts prime2024, 4358-4358 , 2024 2024.0 Citations: 1
Methods and apparatus for sensing volatile organic compounds and gases released from electrochemical cells VG Pol, P Kaur US Patent App. 18/107,115 , 2023 2023.0 Citations: 1
AI-IoT Enabled PEDOT: PSS VOC Sensor for Early Thermal Runaway Detection in Lithium-Ion Batteries P Kaur, AP Bhondekar, VG Pol, S Bagchi 2026 IEEE Applied Sensing Conference (APSCON), 1-4 , 2026 2026.0
Intra-Class Classification of Volatile Amines using Impedance Spectroscopy Platform P Kaur, AP Bhondekar, S Bagchi ChemRxiv 2025 (0919) , 2025 2025.0
Intra-class Classification of Amines using Impedance Spectroscopy with a SnO2-Ppy Composite based Sensor P Kaur, S Bagchi, AP Bhondekar 2025.0
SMART MONITORING SYSTEM FOR LIVESTOCK EMISSIONS S Bagachi, S Das, P Kaur IN Patent 452796-001 , 2025 2025.0
Impedimetric Sensing of Vented Volatile Organic Compounds before Thermal Runaway of Li-Ion Batteries V Pol, S Bagchi, A Bhondekar, P Kaur 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting , 2024 2024.0
Conducting Porphyrin-Based Multivariate Impedance Platform for Hexanal Detection in Lipid-Rich Foods A Bhardwaj, G Ramakrishna, P Kaur, S Rana, A Sharma, S Bagchi Available at SSRN 6172805 , 0
Pathway towards Smart and Digital India through Organic Light Emitting Diode Displays P Kaur, N Marriwala, RS Bhoria, V Karar
