Research Interests

The core theme of the group is to work on renewable energy related problems due to global energy crisis while keeping the focus also on fundamental chemistry. The topics are mentioned below.

Our Approach: We synthesize new nanomaterials and characterize the materials by several spectroscopic, microscopic techniques before testing the materials for electrochemical applications

Spectroscopy: Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Raman, Infra-red (IR), UV-Vis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Dynamic light scattering (DLS) etc.

Microscopy: Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) etc.

Other Techniques: BET (for surface area and pore size distribution), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Thermal Gravimmetric Analysis (TGA), Elemental analysis, Electrical Conductivity etc.

Electrochemical: Cyclic voltammetry (CV), Galvanostatic Charge-Discharge, Electrochemical Impedance spectroscopy (EIS), Amperometry, Rotating Ring-Disk (RRDE), Spectroelectrochemistry (combination of UV-Vis and electrochemical techniques) etc.

For a brief understanding, follow these links [pdf1], [pdf2]

Research Topics

Electro-organic Synthesis: We are synthesizing natural products using electrochemistry as a tool which makes the synthesis process clean and green. We are further applying out materials science concepts to improve yield of the synthesis. We are extremely excited while exploring this brand new field in the group. Publications will appear soon.

Electrochemical Supercapacitor: We are working on electrochemical supercapacitors based on carbon based materials (graphene, graphene-metal oxide), metal-organic framewrorks (MOFs), covalent-organic frameworks (COFs). The target of the group is to incorporate fundamental chemistry such as electron transfer, proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) in this research field. See our recent publications in this field (i) J. Mater. Chem. C 2015, 3, 1610. (ii) J. Phys. Chem. C 2015, 119, 11382, (iii) J. Mater. Chem. A 2015, 3, 18557.

Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation: We are working on water oxidation for hydrogen and oxygen production using molecular catalysts, metal oxides, mesoporous materials. The focus is also to understand the mechanism of electrocatalytic process. Our recent publications in this field. (i) J. Mater. Chem. A2016, 4, 3655-3660.

Electrochemical Methodology Development: We will pursue electrochemical methodology development time to time through which general chemistry community can be heavily benefited. Since the problems will be challenging and novel, hence analytical mindset and critical thinking will be crucial. Our recent publication in this area Analyst, 2014, 136, 5747.

Sensor and Battery: We wish to quickly move to these two fields in near future.