Dr. Jitendra Kumar is a joint faculty member in the Department of Physics and the Department of Materials Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur. He holds a B.Tech. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Uttar Pradesh Technical University, Lucknow (2009), an M.Tech. in Nanotechnology from IIT Roorkee (2011), and a Ph.D. from IIT Kanpur (2019), where his research focused on thin film solar cells.

Following his Ph.D., Dr. Kumar served as an Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at IIT Delhi until 2020, working on inorganic perovskite nanocubes for solar cell applications. From 2020 to 2023, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, focusing on solar cells. He then held an INSPIRE Faculty position at IIT Dhanbad (2023-2025), leading research on BaZrS3 solar cells. Dr. Kumar has been a visiting researcher at renowned institutions, including INL Portugal (2025), Martin Luther University, Germany (2015-2016), and the Centre for Nanoscience and Engineering at IISc Bangalore (2014).

His work has earned several prestigious honors, including the Marie Curie Fellowship (2024), Marie Curie Seal of Excellence (2023), and the INSPIRE Faculty Fellowship (2023). He also received international travel grants from EPFL, Switzerland, and DST India.

Dr. Kumar’s research group focuses on advanced materials for energy applications, particularly inorganic thin film solar cells, aiming to contribute to a sustainable and energy-efficient future.

Key Publications:

• Jitendra Kumar, Omer Vana, Subila Balakrishnan, Eran Edri, Benign solution-processed (BixSb1-x)2Se3 compound for short wavelength infrared mesoporous solar cells, Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 2022, 10, 11220 - 11231.
• Jitendra Kumar, Yaniv Dror, Eran Edri (BixSb1-x)2Se3 thin films for short-wavelength infrared region solar cells, Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 2022, 10, 8702-8710.
• Jitendra Kumar, Sarang Ingole, Tailoring the surface morphology of Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films for photovoltaic application, Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing, 2019, 93, 173-181.
• Jitendra Kumar, Sarang Ingole, Evolution of the microstructural, electrical, and optical characteristics of sol-gel derived Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films during Sulfurization, Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing, 2019, 91, 31-40.
• Jitendra Kumar, Sarang Ingole, Scalable Fabrication and Electrical Contact formation Process for Vertically Oriented Silicon Nanopillars in Trenches, Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing, 2021, 122, 105470.

Ongoing Projects:

• Research Initiation Grant, 2025, Amount: 25 Lakhs, PI: Dr. Jitendra Kumar,  Energy Materials & Devices, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, India
• Research Grant, 2025-2028, Amount: 67.18 Lakhs, PI: Dr. Jitendra Kumar SPIE-OPE (Sb2S3 Photovoltaic Device: Pioneering Interface Engineering and Optoelectronic Properties Enhancement)
• Prime Minister Early Career Research Grant, Anusandhan National Research Foundation
• Research Grant, 2023-2028, Amount: 35 Lakhs, PI: Dr. Jitendra Kumar Chal-PV: Chalcogenide-Perovskite (BaZrS3) based Photovoltaic Devices, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India.