Gopala Krishna Darbha
Associate Professor
Dept: Earth Sciences (DES)
E-mail: gkdarbha [at] iiserkol.ac.in
Personal homepage: Click Here
Our work is focused on both the fundamental and as well as applied aspects of environmental science. Our main goal is to address the safety concerns of anthropogenic contaminants under varying hydrogeochemical environments and finding nano-eco-friendly solutions to combat potential contaminants in the environment. 1) To understand the fate and transport of contaminants in the subsurface environment. More specifically, to interpret the mechanisms responsible for retention of colloids/nanoparticles in the porous (soil) environment and at rock and mineral surfaces. As part of the work, we also investigate the role of colloids/nanoparticles to transport the contaminants in the riverine and soil environments. Here, the impact of factors such as flow velocity, geochemistry, surface topography, etc. on transport/deposition will be elucidated. We consider the nanoparticles such as nanopesticides, nanoplastics, nano metal oxides for the study. 2)Application of eco-friendly nanoparticles for the remediation of metal contaminants in the environment. Modified nanocomposites such as bio-char, hydroxyapatite, clay-based products are synthesized and applied for the remediation purpose. 3)Factors contributing to accumulation of contaminants (metals, dyes, persistent organic pollutants, PAHs, PCBs) in the riverbed and sediments4)Impact of pollution on groundwater hydrogeochemistry5)Finding the human exposure pathways to contaminants (metals, plastics, pesticides, perfluoroalkyl compounds etc) through food, water and air.Interested candidates to work in our lab may write to my email address along with their CV.
- Ph.D. (Environmental Nanoscience), USA (Jackson State University), 2008
- Associate Professor, IISER Kolkata (current)
- Assistant Professor, IISER Kolkata (2017 - 2021)
- Senior postdoc, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany (2011 - 2016)
- Postdoc, University of Gottingen, Germany (2008 - 2011)
- Postdoc, Lehigh University, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. (2008 - 2008)
- Certificate of appreciation for standing as one of the top 5% most cited authors from Royal Society of Chemistry (2021)
- NSSWM-2019 Excellent paper presentation award from National symposium on sustainable waste management (2019)
- Early Career Research Award from Science and Engineering Research Board (2017)
- Ramanujan Fellowship from SERB, Department of Science and Technology (2016)
- Best graduate student Ph.D. from Jackson State University, U.S.A. (2008)
- 2nd prize in graduate student presentation from 8th SSCCM Conference (2008)
- 2nd prize in graduate student presentation from 7th SSCCM Conference (2007)
- Qualified Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering with 98.6 percentile from AICTE (2003)
- Sri N.Sri Ramabhadra Raju memorial prize (Gold medal) for standing top among all B.S. students from D.N.R. College, Andhra University (2000)
- Sri N.Bangar Raju memorial prize for standing first among all the B.S. Physics students from D.N.R. College, Andhra University (2000)
- Sri A.B.R.B.Kasi Viswanadha Raju memorial prize for standing first among all the B.S. Chemistry from D.N.R. College, Andhra University (2000)
- Tiwari, Ekta; Singh, Nisha; Khandelwal, Nitin; Ganie, Zahid Ahmad; Choudhary, Aniket; Monikh, Fazel Abdholahpur and Darbha, Gopala Krishna. 2022." Impact of nanoplastic debris on the stability and transport of metal oxide nanoparticles: role of varying soil solution chemistry,." Chemosphere, 308, 136091
- Khandelwal, Nitin and Darbha, Gopala Krishna. 2022."Sorption and continuous filtration of heavy metals and radionuclides using novel nano-Farringtonite: Mechanisms delineation using EXAFS." Chemosphere, 308, 136376
- Tiwari, Ekta; Khandelwal, Nitin; Singh, Nisha and Darbha, Gopala Krishna. 2022."Influence of natural soil colloid’s stability on transport of copper-based nanoparticles in saturated porous media." Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring and Management, 17, 100633
- Choudhary, Aniket; Khandelwal, Nitin; Singh, Nisha; Tiwari, Ekta; Ganie, Zahid Ahmad and Darbha, Gopala Krishna. 2022."Nanoplastics interaction with feldspar and weathering originated secondary minerals (kaolinite and gibbsite) in the riverine environment." Science of the Total Environment, 818, 151831
- Tiwari, Ekta; Khandelwal, Nitin; Singh, Nisha; Biswas, Sannay and Darbha, Gopala Krishna. 2022." Effect of clay colloid – CuO nanoparticles interaction on retention of nanoparticles in different types of soils: role of clay fraction and environmental parameters." Environmental Research, 203, 111885