Research | Mysite

Artificial Photosynthesis

Polyoxometalate Based Hybrid Nanostructure for photochemical CO2 reduction (CO2R)

Hydrogen (H2) is now being used as alternative to carbonaceous fuel because of highest energy density and non-toxic waste generation. However, electrochemical water splitting which consists of two important reactions; hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), is considered as one of the most promising approach to produce H2, a renewable fuel. An efficient and durable catalyst must operate both of the half cell reactions (HER and OER) simultaneously under low over-potentials and exhibit fast reaction kinetics. Our group is focused on the development of non-noble metal based bifunctional catalysts for overall water splitting as a economic and sustainable development towards a renewable energy based society.

Electrocatalytic water splitting for an alternative fuel production

Selective reduction of CO2 is a major unsolved problem due to a large number of accessible reaction pathways with similar thermodynamic reduction potential. Our research is focused on the designing of polyoxometalate protected metal-oxides/chalcogenides hybrid nanostructures for selective CO2R to value-added carbonaceous products. Photo-active nano-cores and redox-active polyoxometalates on the surface of this hybrid nanostructures will allow us to perform visible-light driven photochemical CO2R. Mechanistic pathway will be investigated by studying the reaction kinetics and also by interrogating the reaction intermediates with the help of different ex situ and/or in situ spectroscopic and microscopic tools.

The transition to a green and sustainable energy based society is one of the grand challenges that faces our society. An appealing approach to progress towards this end, is to mitigate our dependence on fossil fuel by production of so-called solar-fuels from CO2 and water. This intrinsic chemical problem can be realized by development of artificial photosynthetic schemes which by mimicking the plants can give access to selective production of fuel feed-stocks via water splitting and CO2 reduction.

Electrocatalytic organic transformation, a chemical reagent free approach with zero waste

Apart from the energy-intensive carbothermal route, at present, several chemical routes are available to treat naturally abundant minerals and waste molecules to recycle them into valuable counterparts. Several advantages of the electrochemical approach over the chemical routes such as easy product recovery, electrode reusability, no additional chemical waste formation, and tuning selectivity by changing electrode potential make it an attractive and facile method. In this context, electrochemical-organic-transformation is considered as a potential synthetic approach for the synthesis of various organic compounds and even natural products. Consequently, it is a rapidly growing research area adapted by synthetic organic and inorganic chemists. We are focused on decoration of the electrode surface with nanostructured catalysts for selective electro-organo-transformations.