Research
Our group research is centered on the development of new and inexpensive materials and devices for energy and environmental solutions with a performance at par with the benchmark
Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Generation
The Green hydrogen has emerged as one of the best alternative fuels according to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG). Its production relies on water electrolysers which generally operate at 1.8–2.0 V or even higher, which is larger than the theoretical value of 1.23 V due to the associated thermodynamically uphill reactions and associated system losses. An electrocatalyst assists in reducing the thermodynamic barrier to enable the hydrogen production at sufficiently low externally applied potential. Platinum is the benchmark in this aspect. Continuous efforts are being made globally to search for alternative materials with equitable performance. The group is actively searching for various cost effective alternatives, including transition metal di-chalcogenides, bi- and tri-metallic transition metal alloys and their chalcogenides and other materials.
Photoelectrochemical water splitting
A great variety of semiconducting materials are not just important for devices, but also they are suitable to harvest solar light and convert the energy into chemical forms, such as producing hydrogen and oxygen by splitting the water. Our group is working on developing various inexpensive compound semiconductors to split water in photoelectrochemical as well as photocatalytic modes.
Thin film photovoltaic
Our group has been working on fabrication of earth-abundant and eco-friendly thin films using inexpensive solution based techniques, such as spray pyrolysis, electrodeposition, spin coating etc. Various high quality thin film solar photovoltaic absorber layers have been developed so far, including CZTS, SnS, Cu2SnS3 etc. Transparent conducting electrodes for these thin film solar cells have also been developed using inexpensive Cu-nanowires.
Photocatalysis in environmental solutions
Prevalence of heavy metal ions, such as As(V), Hg(II), Pb(II), Cr(VI), Cu(II), Cd(II) etc in the ground water of industrial belts poseses greatest threat to humanity due to its high toxicity, carcinogenic nature and bio-accumulation. Engineered semiconductor photocatalysts have great potential in reducing such heavy metal under natural sunlight. Group's effort is focused on developing heterointerfaces of visible light sensitive semiconductor photocatalysts in the removal of such toxic heavy metals from drinking water.
Computational studies of energy materials
Computer modeling of electronic and optical properties of new opto-electronic materials, photo- and electro-catalysts and devices, their potential in energy and environmental solutions, and feasibility of fabrication are being evaluated with powerful computational tools such as first-principles Ab-initio and density functional methods. The Quantum ATK and VASP are some packages used in the computations.