Semiconductor Design for Energy and Optoelectronics

Deepu has been awarded a highly competitive and prestigious Ernst Mach Grant-worldwide from OeAD Austria. She will be visiting TU Leoben for some cool in situ experiments in early 2027.

Simon has submitted his PhD thesis for evaluation, marking the final step toward the award of his doctoral degree.

Simon and team published "Demystifying the interplay between extended π-conjugation and nitrogen vacancies on photocatalytic H₂ evolution in copolymerized carbon nitride" in Materials Chemistry Frontiers.

Simon and team published "Revealing the Distinctive Roles of Nitrogen Vacancies in Generating H₂ and H₂O₂ in Carbon Nitride Photocatalysts" in ACS Applied Energy Materials.

Murthy delivered an invited talk during the 5^th CO₂India meeting at IIT Ropar, India on 26^th May 2026

Murthy delivered an invited seminar at the Department of Chemical Sciences at IISER Mohali, India on 25^th May 2026

Congratulations to Dr. Sujana Chandrappa on successfully defending her thesis and earning her well deserved doctoral degree.

Murthy delivered an invited lecture at the Dept. of Physical Chemistry, TU Leoben, Leoben, Austria on January 28^th 2026

As a part of India-Austria bilateral grant visit, Murthy delivered an invited seminar at the Institute of Materials Chemistry, TU Wien, Austria on January 19^th 2026

Starting the New Year with a bang. Simon’s paper in Polymer Chemistry on the polymerization mechanism is accepted for the back cover.

Our group wishes you all a very happy, healthy and productive 2026. The light always returns (quote from Avatar: Fire and Ash movie).

Simon and team published "Tuning the optoelectronic properties and nanostructure of silicon photoelectrodes for enhancing solar fuel production" in Communication Materials.

Simon travelled to TU Wien under Ernst Mach Grant-worldwide funded by OeAD-GmbH – Austria’s Agency for Education and Internationalization, Mobility and Cooperation.

Murthy actively participated in 13^th Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry Conference held at Kochi in October 2025.

Sujana and team published "Facile Tuning of the Iridium Valence State Augments Visible Light-Induced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting in Iridium-Doped BaTiO₃" in ACS Applied Energy Materials.

Simon and team published "Precursor-dependent distinctive polymerization process controls optoelectronic properties in graphitic carbon nitride photocatalyst" in RSC Polymer Chemistry.

Reha and team published "The origin of annealing atmosphere-dependent defect formation and photocathodic behaviour in BiFeO₃ thin films" in RSC Materials Advances.

Murthy participated in the first green hydrogen conference at New Delhi, India organized by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Govt. of India.

Murthy actively participated and presented his ideas during the national workshop on future-ready energy education: Opportunities and Challenges at IIT Delhi.

Reha is awarded INSPIRE Fellowship from Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India.

Sujana secured Best Poster Award at the 12^th International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technology (ICMAT) 2025, Singapore organized by MRS Singapore.

Sujana is awarded Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) International Travel Support to present her poster titled “Role of Iridium-Doping in Barium Titanate and Tuning Optoelectronic Properties to Realize Visible Light-driven Hydrogen Evolution” at the 12^th International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technology (ICMAT) 2025, Singapore organized by MRS Singapore.

Murthy is awarded an India-Austria bilateral research grant from The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India and Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (OeAD). This grant will allow exchange of researchers from TU Wien and our research group.

Simon visited Surrey Ion Beam Centre, Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey, United Kingdom as Research Intern from 19^th February 2025 to April 20^th 2025. This visit was a part of the MoU between University of Surrey, UK and Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, India. He worked on the synthesis of 2D materials for hydrogen generation.

Murthy is awarded a Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India research grant on developing next-generation optical sensor materials that detect real-time and ppm-level hydrogen leaks. Project duration: 3 years.