researcharea

Research Area

                                                                        Figure: Formation of hollow nanoparticles through a templated method.

(b) Environmental application of doped nanoparticles:

Figure: Sulfur doped hollow TiO2 nanocatalyst for photo degradation

2. Self Assembly of colloidal or nanoparticles

Self-assembly of colloidal or nanoparticles on solid surfaces during evaporation of drops.

Figure: Self-assembled structure using colloidal sulfur

3. Interfacial behavior of surfactant solutions

Wetting of solid surfaces, mixed micellar behavior, Adsorption, Solubilization in micellar solution etc.

Figure: Mixed micelle formation in the presence of electrolytes

4. Environmental application of surfactants (Soil and Groundwater Remediation)

 Contaminated soil and groundwater due to petroleum hydrocarbon and organic solvents have become major environmental issue because of the growing concern about their impact on health and safety, practically for people living close to the affected areas. Since most of the countries used groundwater as a cheap source of drinking water, soil and groundwater pollution is a major environmental issue now-a-days. Recently, among the in situ treatment approaches, surfactant flushing has been recognized as one of the promising technologies. In the surfactant enhanced remediation process understanding of surfactant adsorption on soil and solubilization of organics in the micellar system are very important parameters. Fundamental studies on surfactant adsorption on solid-water interface and solubilization of organics in micellar systems are also useful in many other applications, surfactant enhanced oil recovery, mineral flotation, and detergency and so on. The study will be mainly concentrated on new class of Gemini, natural, and Biosurfactants.

5. Slurry Rheology

Rheological behavior slurry in the presence of surfactants.

Sophisticated Instruments available in our Research Lab

Nanoparticle size, Zetapotential and Molecular weight analyzer (Malvern, Nano ZS); Micro particle size analyzer (Malvern, Mastersizer 2000); HPLC (Jasco); Whilmey plate and Dunoy ring surface tensiometer (Data Physics, DCAT-11EC); Optical Microscope (Hund); Probe type Sonicator (Sonics); Ultrapure water system; Viscometer (Malvern, Visco-88); TOC analyzer (Shimadzu); Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM from Maxtek); UV-Vis-NIR Spectrophotometer (Shimadzu, UV-3600); Fluorescence Spectrometer (Hitachi, F-7000), Video based optical contact angle meter (Dataphysics, OCA-30) etc.