Research at AFML
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Overview of Research at AFML
AFML focuses on highly interdisciplinary research encompassing the design and synthesis of nanoscale functional materials, elucidation of the fundamental magnetic, electronic, optical and other physical properties of these materials, and the development of processes that lead to multifunctional objects for specific applications. We use the 'bottom-up'paradigm of nanotechnology as the underlying approach in the interlinked research at AFML. The current research topics are:
Metal-halide Perovskites
Our focus is to unravel new structures, phase transformations and self-assembly of perovskite systems having different strutural dimensionalities. In the case of 2D perovskites, a particular attention is devoted to the choice of the organic spacer molecules. We synthesize the perovskite systems by wet-chemical methods in the form of nanostructures and single crystals. The structure-property correlation of these perovskite phases are investigated in terms of their optical properties and application in solar cells, photodetectors, photo-rechargeable batteries and photocatalysis.
Electrocatalysis
We apply the solid-state chemistry principles to design electrocatalysts, mainly consisting of metal alloys and metal oxides having earth-abundant elements. These nanostructures are investigated for their structural inhomogeneity, defect chemistry, coordination of metal-centers, charge transfer, and their behavior as a function of pH. The electrocatalysts are applied for water splitting to produce green hydrogen, carbon dioxide reduction, nitrate reduction to ammonia, and C-N coupling to urea. The catalytic activities are further tested with the large-area electrodes of industrial relevance. Our allied interests are in the fabrication of zinc-air and zinc-nitrate batteries.
In both the above research areas, AFML has strong collaborations with the computational research groups in India, namely, Prof. Swapan K. Pati (JNCASR), Prof. Priya Mahadevan (SNBNCBS), Prof. Swastika Banerjee (IIT Roorkee), Prof. Dibyajyoti Ghosh (IIT Delhi), Prof. Koushik Pal (IIT Kanpur), Prof. Manzoor Dar (IUST Kashmir), Prof. Bidisa Das (RISE, TCG-CREST), and Prof. Priya Johari (Shiv Nadar University).