Exploring organometallic chemistry for catalysis, energy and materials
Organometallics & Smart Materials Laboratory
Current Areas of Study
1. Carbon-dioxide Capture & Utilization (CCU)
Reversible Hydrogen Storage & Delivery
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 pathways.​​
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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
2. Reversible Hydrogen Storage & Delivery
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 the 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
3. Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
The group's focus is on the development of an earth-abundant transition metal-based electrocatalyst for the 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
4. Organic Electronics & 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 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 a 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, the 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
5. Energy & Environmental
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​
