Prashant Kumta is the Edward R. Weidlein Endowed Chair Professor in the Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, USA. The author/co-author of over 150 refereed journal publications, he is a recognized authority on advanced Li-ion batteries, and has given more 66 invited presentations. Aloysius F. Hepp is Chief Technologist at Nanotech Innovations and independent consultant based in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned a PhD in Inorganic Photochemistry in 1983 from MIT and retired in December 2016 from the Photovoltaic & Electrochemical Systems Branch of the NASA Glenn Research Center. He was a visiting fellow at Harvard University from 1992–3. He was awarded the NASA Exceptional Achievement medal in 1997. He has served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Albany and Cleveland State University. Dr. Hepp has co-authored nearly 200 publications (including six patents) focused on processing of thin film and nanomaterials for I–III–VI solar cells, Li-ion batteries, integrated power devices and flight experiments, and precursors and spray pyrolysis deposition of sulfides and carbon nanotubes. He has co-edited twelve books on advanced materials processing, energy conversion and electronics, biomimicry and aerospace technologies. He is Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing (MSSP) and is currently the chair of the International Advisory Board of MSSP, as well as serving on the Editorial Advisory Boards of Mater. Sci. and Engin. B and Heliyon. Moni K. Datta is an Assistant Professor at the Bioengineering Department of the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, USA. Oleg I. Velikokhatnyi is an Assistant Professor, Bioengineering Department, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.