Slightly late update but we are excited to share two more recent publications from our group! 🎉

1. Palwe, A., Awasthi S., Shukla, S., Saxena, S. and Kang, S.
   Single‐Step Fabrication of Monolithic Flexible Capacitive Pressure Sensors With Enhanced Sensitivity via Femtosecond Laser Direct Writing and Microhole Structuring, Adv. Sensor Res., 4: e00068 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1002/adsr.202500068

   → This study reports a novel single-step femtosecond-laser direct writing method to fabricate monolithic flexible capacitive pressure sensors with enhanced sensitivity through engineered microhole structuring, advancing next-generation wearable sensing technologies.

2. Awasthi, S., Balaj, A., Ni, Z. and Kang, S.
   New framework for design and mechanical testing of 3D structures printed via digital light processing (DLP), Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-025-16923-8

   → This work presents a new experimental framework that enables systematic design and mechanical testing of digital light processing (DLP) 3D-printed structures by correlating printing parameters like layer thickness and tilt angle with mechanical performance, offering a reproducible workflow for advancing additive manufacturing characterization.

Congratulations to Md. Abdul Aziz, who has been awarded a Travel Grant to attend the 248th ECS Meeting (October 12–16, 2025, Chicago, IL).

He will be representing our group with both an oral presentation and a poster presentation. Come hear about his exciting research on piezo-electrochemical energy harvesting!

Presentation Details:

• Oral Presentation

  • Abstract #: A01-0015

  • Title: Enhancing Piezo-Electrochemical Energy Harvesting Via Deec-Tec: Impact of Multi-Deec Configurations, Laser-Patterned Electrodes, and Piezoelectric Separators

  • Authors: Md. Abdul Aziz

  • Date/Time: October 12, 2025, 14:40

  • Symposium: A01: New Approaches and Advances in Electrochemical Energy Systems

• Poster Presentation

  • Abstract #: A01-0074

  • Title: Mechano-Electrochemical Performance of Lithium-Ion Batteries for Piezo-Electrochemical Energy Harvesting

  • Authors: Md. Abdul Aziz

  • Date/Time: October 14, 2025, 18:00

  • Symposium: A01: New Approaches and Advances in Electrochemical Energy Systems

We are thrilled to share that Ahsan Khan has been awarded the Pratt & Whitney Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering (IASE) Fellowship for Fall 2025.

In addition, he has recently passed his qualifying exam and is now an official PhD candidate.
Please join us in giving him double congratulations! 🎉

We are excited to share two recent publications from our group! 🎉

1. Md. Abdul Aziz, S. Awasthi, and S. Kang
   Evaluating the Mechano-Electrochemical Performance of LCO and LFP Batteries for Low-Temperature Piezo-Electrochemical Energy Harvesting Applications, Electrochimica Acta, Article 178047 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2025.147047

   → This work explores the mechano-electrochemical behavior of lithium-ion batteries under low-temperature conditions, providing insights into advancing piezo-electrochemical energy harvesting technologies.

2. S. Awasthi and S. Kang
   Revolutionizing 3D Electronics: Single-Step Femtosecond Laser Fabrication of Conductive Embedded Structures and Circuitry, Materials Today Advances, Vol. 25, 100544 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtadv.2024.100544

   → This paper demonstrates a novel single-step femtosecond laser fabrication technique for building embedded conductive structures, paving the way for breakthroughs in 3D electronics and integrated circuitry.

ME 2234. Applied Thermodynamics
Thermodynamic first and second law analysis of vapor and gas cycles, property relations for simple pure substances, properties of ideal gas mixtures, psychrometry, fundamentals of combustion thermodynamics, application of thermodynamics in the design of thermal engineering systems.

Team “PECWEC,” consisting of PhD student Md. Abdul Aziz and ME professor SeungYeon Kang, has won Phase II of the American-Made Innovating Distributed Embedded Energy Prize (InDEEP) awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO). This achievement, which focuses on novel wave energy technology, builds on our success in winning Phase I of the challenge. The team will receive $80,000, in addition to the $15,000 from Phase I, to further develop their wave energy harvesting technology.

https://americanmadechallenges.org/challenges/indeep/results

ME 3295, ME5895 Special Topics in Mechanical Engineering : Additive Manufacturing Technologies

https://catalog.uconn.edu/directory-of-courses/course/ME/3295/

https://gradcatalog.uconn.edu/course-descriptions/course/ME/5895/

This course introduces 7 different types of additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing) technologies based on ASME (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers) standards; Powder bed Fusion, Binder Jetting, Directed Energy Deposition, Material Extrusion, Material, Jetting, Sheet Lamination, and Vat photopolymerization, along with the fundamental physics governing each method. When possible, students will gain hands-on experience and hear from industry experts on how additive manufacturing is used in their companies. Hybrid manufacturing is discussed along with literature review on current research. Students will obtain a deep understanding of the capabilities of each 3D printing method and learn how to think about designing and fabricating objects using this new technology.

We are actively recruiting PhD students!

Please reach out if you are or you know anyone who may be interested.

Looking for students with some background in lasers, optics, or multi-material 3D printing via light assisted methods.

Please send us (seung_yeon.kang@uconn.edu) your CV and transcript if interested. Thanks!

• Paper 12898-30: Single step DLW fabrication of electrically focus tunable (ETF) thin metallic lens in a dielectric medium
  30 January 2024,  11:20 AM – 11:40 AM PST | Moscone Center, Room 303 (Level 3 South)

• Paper 12872-10: 3D multi-material printing with light: advanced digital light processing and femtosecond laser stereolithography (Invited Paper)
  30 January 2024 , 8:30 AM – 9:00 AM PST | Moscone Center, Room 215 (Level 2 South)

Congratulations to our PhD student Md Abdul Aziz who’s working on the PEC energy harvesting technology!

Our team (PECWEC) won the First Round of Prize Focused on Novel Wave Energy Technologies.

https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/articles/doe-announces-winners-first-round-prize-focused-novel-wave-energy-technologies