Organic Transformation
The development of green and sustainable processes for the synthesis of molecules of high significance is very much desired. Our aim is to rationally design and develop highly efficient, cost effective, heterogeneous catalysts for industrially relevant organic reactions at optimal reaction conditions. The catalysts are expected to possess good Green metrics parameters, such as high atom economy and low E-factor with excellent product yields.
Biomass Conversion
In the world, biomass is mostly present in the form of grasses, municipal waste, animal waste, agricultural residues, etc. Among these, lignocellulosic biomass is renewable, low cost and abundant in nature which has the potential to replace the non-renewable fossil fuels. In this regard, our motive is to prepare different heterogeneous catalysts which can be used for the synthesis of biodiesel precursors using green technology.
Pollutant Degradation
The rapid industrialization and population burst has increased the water pollution problem worldwide. The photocatalytic degradation of pollutants in wastewater is one of the attractive strategies for combating water pollution in comparison to conventional adsorption process. In this regard, we develop different photocatalytic materials for the degradation of diverse organic pollutants, including dyes, pharmaceuticals, fungicides, herbicides, endocrine disruptors, etc.
Hydrogen Evolution
The worldwide demand for energy security has made the researchers to speed up the efforts in finding alternative energy solutions to tackle the problem of depleting non-renewable energy resources. The production of H2 from water using sunlight (two naturally abundant resources) through photocatalysis is a holy grail in the energy sector. Our group focuses on the development of efficient semiconductor photocatalysts for H2 evolution by harvesting full solar spectrum.
Nitrogen Fixation
Earth’s atmosphere is enriched with nitrogen as dinitrogen (N2) gas (78%). Ammonia (NH3) is one of the important molecules, which sustains life and vegetation on our planet and is generally formed by the reaction of N2 with H2 in Haber-Bosch process, which consumes about 1-2% of annual world energy. Our aim is to synthesize NH3 through a sustainable photocatalysis route from N2 gas by using surface/ defect engineered photocatalysts.
Carbon dioxide Conversion