Shalini Divya is an Indian chemist and entrepreneur working in New Zealand, specialising in developing aluminium-ion battery technology as a commercial alternative to lithium-ion batteries. She is the co-founder of battery technology company TasmanIon. Divya was awarded a KiwiNet Breakthrough Innovator award in 2021.
Career
Divya was born and raised in India, and gained a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Delhi University and a master's degree in chemistry at the Birla Institute of Technology in Mesra, India.[1][2] She moved to New Zealand to undertake doctoral research, completing a PhD at the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology at Victoria University of Wellington in 2021, under the supervision of Thomas Nann (University of Newcastle, Australia) and Jim Johnston.[3] Divya worked on selecting a suitable cathode element for non-aqueous aluminium-ion batteries.[3][4] Divya co-founded company TasmanIon, of which she is also chief executive, with Thomas Nann in 2022.[5][4] The company aims to commercialise the aluminium-ion battery technology developed by Divya. The batteries are intended to be more sustainable than lithium batteries as the components are more abundant, and are also easier to recycle.[6][7][8][9] Aluminium ion batteries also do not need cobalt, avoiding the ethical problems of cobalt mining, and are safer as there is no risk of explosion.[3][10][11][12][13]
In 2021 Divya was awarded a KiwiNet Breakthrough Innovator award.[14][15] TasmanIon was shortlisted for the inaugural Le Zero Innovation Award.[16] TasmanIon was also selected as one of three participants in Wellington City Council-supported Creative HQ Climate Response Accelerator programme.[4]
