Research Activities
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We are broadly interested in heterogeneous catalysis and materials for energy, chemicals and environment. Our efforts are towards 1) elucidating active sites and reaction mechanisms, 2) identifying complex reaction pathways and kinetic modelling, 3) deriving structure-property relations for different classes of catalytic materials, 4) understanding and exploiting solvent effects in liquid phase reactions, 5) rapid screening of potential catalytic materials, and 6) design and development of materials for selective gas separation.
Current Research Interests and Directions
Our Collaborators
Prof. Michail Stamatakis
Professor of Computational Inorganic Chemistry
Oxford University, UK
Dr. Akshat Tanksale
Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Monash University, Clayton, Australia
Dr. Alejandro Montoya
Associate Professor
School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
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Dr. Deanna D' Alessandro
Director, Net Zero Institute
Professor, School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Dr. Tej S. Choksi
School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology,
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore, Singapore
Dr. Jayamurugan Govindasamy
Institute of Nanoscience and Technology, Mohali
Mr. Sandip De
Chemical Production
BASF, Germany
Alberto Pettinau,
Director, Research and Development
Sotacarbo SpA, Italy
Richa Sharma
schlumberger, Pune
Dr. R. Nandini Devi
Scientist
National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune
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Dr. Kavitha Joshi
Principal Scientist
National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune
Dr. T Raja
Scientist
National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune
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Dr. Arindam Indra
Assistant professor
Department of Chemistry
IIT BHU
Dr. Sreedevi Upadhyayula
Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
IIT Delhi
Dr. Abinaya Sampath
Assistant professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
IIT Gandhinagar
Funding
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"Carbon Capture and Recycling Technologies", IIT Madras under the Partnership Collaboration Awards between University of Sydney, Australia and IIT Madras, March 2023-March 2025 (Co-PI)
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"Energy Consortium", Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) under the Institute of Eminence (IoE) scheme, Feb 2023-Jan- 2026 (Co-PI)
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Research Based Industry Project, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt. Ltd: March 2021- September 2021 , "A novel method for onboard NOx utilization via deep oxidation: Phase 1" (Co-PI)
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Scientific and Useful Profound Research Advancement, Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB): April 2021- April 2024, "Bridging the gap between surface science studies and catalytic reaction engineering for oxidative dehydrogenation of light alkanes" (PI)
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Carbon dioxide Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) Lab, Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) under the Institute of Eminence (IoE) scheme, Dec 2020-Dec- 2022 (Co-PI)
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Startup Research Grant, Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB): Dec 2019-Dec 2021. "Aqueous-phase Mild Oxidation of Methane to Methanol on Atomically Dispersed Catalysts: Mechanistic Insights and Solvent Effects from First Principles" (PI)
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New Faculty Seed Grant, IIT Madras: Jun 2019-Jun 2022. "Towards Rational Catalyst Design and Reaction Engineering for Methanol Synthesis from CO2 from First Principles" (PI)
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Exploratory Research Project, IIT Madras: Feb 2019-Feb 2020. "Solvent effects in aqueous phase mild oxidation of methane to methanol on heterogenous catalysts", (PI)
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New Faculty Initiation Grant, IIT Madras: Nov 2018-March 2021. "First principles investigation of the catalytic upgradation of light alkanes to value added chemicals" (PI)