Balakrishna obtained his BSc degree from the Osmania University, Hyderabad, India in 2006. He completed his MSc Physics from the Kakatiya University; Warangal, India in 2008, and gained his MTech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India in 2011. He obtained his PhD degree in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India in 2016, where he worked on the “Cu₂ZnSnS₄ Nanoparticulate Thin Films and Their solar cell characteristics”. In 2016 he worked as a post-doctoral fellow in the Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, India, where he worked on the “Topological Insulators”.

He is currently working as a post-doctoral research associate in Prof Robert Dryfe’s group, and the 2D-Health project, based in both the National Graphene Institute and the School of Chemistry at the University of Manchester. He is currently working on graphene electrochemistry and functionalization for next-generation health-care technology.