Research
I. CO2 Capture and Utilization (CCU)
Developing New Generation Smart Catalysts for Energy Storage and Delivery
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The group has been engaged to address some important energy-related problems of high global focus, e.g., conversion of biomass, CO2, H2O etc. In this area, currently the research is focused on developing new generation catalysts which can not only tune reactivity but also perform reversible energy-storage and delivery through organometallic reaction pathway.
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Selected papers: ChemCatChem 2012, 4, 609-611; Organometallics 2014, 33, 7118-7124; ACS Catal. 2016, 6, 2424-2428; Catal. Sci. Technol. 2018, 8, 6137-6142; ACS Catal. 2019, 9, 2164-2168;
II. Reversible Hydrogen Storage and Delivery
I. CO2 Capture and Utilization (CCU)
Reversible Hydrogen Storage and Delivery
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The group is addressing some important energy-related problems, e.g., reversible hydrogen storage and delivery. In this area, currently, the research is focused on developing new generation switchable catalysts for storage of hydrogen in liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC) which has numerous advantages over conventional hydrogen storage systems.
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Selected papers: Organometallics 2014, 33, 7118-7124; ACS Catal. 2016, 6, 2424-2428;
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 5556-5560; Catal. Sci. Technol. 2018, 8, 6137-6142, Organometallics 2018, 37, 4720–4725; Chem. Commun. 2019, 55, 4574-4577
III. Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
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The group's focus is on development of earth-abundant transition metal-based electrocatalyst for utilization of CO2 as a carbon feedstock for fuel generation and commodity chemicals.
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Selected papers: Chem. Asian J. 2020, 15, 904-909 and upcoming
IV. Organic Electronics and N-doped Nanographene
Organic Electronics and N-doped Nanographene
N-Heterocyclic Carbene (NHC) ligands are usually known as strong supporting ligands used successfully in many modern-day catalytic applications. But, we have developed a new and unprecedented chemistry of metal-NHC backbone which does not act as a mere spectator in catalysis. The M-NHC backbone directs C-H activation of aromatic/heteroaromatic/vinylic/similar motifs and ultimately participates in bond-forming reductive elimination reaction, furnishing a new class of highly conjugated, cationic, annulated organic molecules, organometallic/organic materials which exhibit desirable properties for sensing of important analytes such as O2 in environmental as well as biological media. Moreover, application of new Organometallic and Organic molecules toward devising OLED materials is an active research area of the group.
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Selected papers: Chem. Commun. 2014, 50, 15159-15162; ACS Catal. 2015, 5, 2692-2696; Organometallics 2015, 34, 1890-1897; ACS Catal. 2016, 6, 709-713; ACS Catal. 2016, 6, 5132-5137; Organometallics 2016, 35, 3007-3013; Chem. Eur. J. 2017, 23, 15529-15533; Chem. Commun. 2019, 55, 854-857; Chem. Commun. 2019, 55, 6791-6794; ACS Catal. 2019, 9, 10674-10679.
V. Energy and Environmental
Developing Surface-Confined Molecular Assemblies for Smart Materials
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The group is engaged actively in developing stimuli-responsive molecular assembly on solid surfaces for practical applications in molecular information processing and storage, and in nanoarchitectonics. The utilization of molecular assembly in waste water treatment is a prospective research area.
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Selected papers: Chem. Commun. 2020, 56, 559-562; J. Hazard. Mater. 2020, XX, 124242
VI. Heterogeneous C-H Functionalization
Developing Robust Oxidative Catalysts using NHC Ligands
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The group is dedicated to a long-term research goal of developing organometallic catalysts for direct oxidative conversion of alkanes and arenes via C-H activation reactions considering (a) the global significance of "hydrocarbon conversion" to liquid fuels addressing the challenges related to limited petroleum feedstocks, as well as (b) the industrial importance of functionalized aromatics.
Towards the above challenges, our research programme has been designed to utilize NHC ligand-based metal complexes which can perform difficult oxidative conversion of sp3 and sp2 C-H bonds of raw organic molecules into value-added derivatives.
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Selected papers: Organometallics 2015, 34, 2731-2736; Chem. Commun. 2016, 52, 3384-3387; Organometallics 2016, 35, 2462-2466; J. Mol.Catal. A 2017, 426, 451-457;
Chem. Commun. 2017, 53, 3185-3188; ChemCatChem 2017, 9, 1979-1984; J. Chem. Sci. 2018, 130, 1-6; Chem. Asian J. 2019, 14, 4774-4779