Research Interest

It is amazing to see the amount of solar energy Earth receives every second. At the same time, it is frustrating to see how poorly we are converting such abundant energy source into chemical or electrical energy. The challenge lies in designing semiconductors to harness light, tailor its properties and control its excited state behaviour. Bulk of our research revolves around this direction. Such semiconductors find application in diverse fields, such as solar cells, photocatalysis, sensors and optoelectronics. In a nutshell, we focus on the following areas.

• Elucidate synthesis-structure-property-function correlation
• Time-resolved spectroscopy to probe exciton and charge carrier dynamics
• Tuning perovskites for optoelectronics and photocatalysis applications
• Cost-effective photocatalysts for solar fuel production at scale
• Electrocatalyst design for CO₂ conversion and biomass valorisation

Ultimately, our goal is to innovate efficient materials and reveal mechanistic insight into the interfacial processes, collectively contributing to enhance the energy conversion efficiency. In this pursuit, we use range of spectroscopy tools and complementary analytical techniques to understand why a given materials works good (or bad), focusing on the key questions such as "Why" and "How".

Research Infrastructure

Synthesis and deposition

• Chemical Vapor Deposition
• Ultrasonic spray pyrolysis
• DC magnetron sputtering
• Spin-coating unit
• Muffle furnace (max temperature:1200 ^oC)

Product Analysis

• Gas chromatography (H₂, O₂ and CO)

Electrochemical work-station

• Voltammetry
• Chrono-analysis
• Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS)
• Insitu spectroelectrochemical analysis

AM 1.5 G Solar simulator (Integrated with visible-light filters)

Photo(electro)catalytic reactors

• Air-tight in-house built reactors for water-splitting reaction

Chemisorption set-up for TPR, TPD and TPO

• To characterize various catalysts for CO₂ reduction reaction and sensor

Collaborations

International

• TU Wien, Austria
• University of Surrey, United Kingdom
• TU Delft, The Netherlands
• Lille University, France
• Inst. Of Electronics, Microelectronics & Nanotechnology, CNRS Lab, Lille, France
• Shinshu University, Japan
• Tokyo University, Japan
• National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science &Technology (AIST), Japan
• Tokushima University, Japan
• Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore

National

• Indo-Korean Science and Technology Centre, Bengaluru
• Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
• Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
• Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
• Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram
• CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad