Research Highlights

• Dr. Chandra Sekhar Rout’s group and collaborators demonstrated WO3/rGO hybrid to be a high performance electrode material for supercapacitors both experimentally and theoretically. The hybrid structure with additional reduced graphene oxide content results in additional electronic states around Fermi level due to orbital interaction and plays a key role in enhancing fast electronic charge transfer pathways, crystallinity, better interfacial interactions and superior electrochemical properties. The details can be found in his published article in “ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering”.
  

• Dr. B.M. Nagaraja and his group reports In-situ generation of Cu0 supported on TiO2 aerogel as a catalyst for the vapour phase hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline Catalysis Letters (In press-2018: DOI: 10.1007/s10562-018-2481-6)
  

• Dr. Mahesh Padaki and his group have developed a unique membrane for removal of heavy metals using novel Al-Ti2O6 a mixed metal oxide based composite membrane. The details can be found in his published article of Chemical Engineering Journal.
  

• Dr. Nataraj et al. develops a simple and solvent-free synthetic route for the production of FeS/Fe(0) functionalized graphene nanocomposite (G-Fe) via a one-step pyrolysis of seaweed biomass (Ulva fasciata). The same os published in Journal of Hazardous Materials. »
  

• S.K. Nataraj group developed Forward Osmosis process for highly efficient recovery of water (reusable) from the dirtiest leather industry wastewater and the details can be found in the published article in ACS Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research. »
  

• Dr. B.M. Nagaraja & Dr. Arvind H. Jadhav group reports, Vapour phase selective hydrogenation of benzaldehyde to benzyl alcohol using Cu supported Mg-Al hydrotalicite catalyst published in Catalysis Communications 106 (2017) 73-77. »
  

• S.K. Nataraj and co-authors prepared a Functionalized seaweed-derived graphene/polyaniline nanocomposite as efficient energy storage electrode and the details can be seen in their publication in Journal of Applied Electrochemistry. »
  

• Prof. Mahaveer Kurkuri, Dr. Madhuprasad, and group report a Chemodosimeter functionalized diatomaceous earth particles for visual detection and removal of trace mercury ions from water. »
  

  Schematic representation to show removal process of Hg2+ ions from water using surface modified diatoms

  Our specific focus on:

  • Surface modification strategy for drug delivery and dye removal applications

• Dr. Keri and group reports the extract of C tora methanol to inhibit the Aβ42 aggregation and to dis-aggregate the pre-formed fibrils for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. »
  
  

• Ashesh, Nataraj and co-authors developed higher performance supercapacitor electrode from sugar industry spentwash waste and work has been published in J. Haz. Materials.
  
  

• Dr. B.M. Nagaraja and his group reports, Vapor-phase dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene over V2O5/TiO2-Al2O3 catalyst with CO2. »
  

• Dr. B.M. Nagaraja and his group reports, TiO2-ZrO2 composite: for the synthesis of 2-aryl substituted benzoxazole derivatives. »
  
  

• Dr Geetha Balakrishna and Mahesh Padaki innovates an effective mPIAM (modified Poly isobutylene alt maleic anhydride) that can be used as a potent blend material to obtain highly hydrophillic and proton exchange membranes for applications exclusively but not limited to separation of metal ions and salts. The electronic coupling that occurs between SO3H− and Na+ of salts and the electrostatic interaction between metal ions and the charge on membrane facilitates NaCl and Cr (VI) rejection respectively. 100% efficiency for chromium removal and 60% salt rejection, was achieved and was far better than the commercially available NF 270 membrane »

• Dr. Siddappa Patil and his group reports “Magnetic Nanoparticle-Supported N-Heterocyclic Carbene-Palladium(II): A Convenient, Efficient and Recyclable Catalyst for Suzuki-Miyaura Cross-Coupling Reactions”. »

• R Geetha Balakrishna, Mahesh Padaki, and the group prepared blend membranes that rejection of heavy metals and with improved flux compared to commercial NF 270 membrane. The same has been published in “Journal of Hazardous Materials” »

• Dr. B.M. Nagaraja and group reports “Development of stable MoO3/TiO2-Al2O3 catalyst for oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene using CO2 as the soft oxidant. »

• Dr. Srinivasa Budagumpi and group reports "A series of silver(I) complexes of chlorocoumarin–tethered NHC ligands that exhibited antibacterial activities against resistant bacteria E. coli, on par with the standard drug, ampicillin". »

• Dr. Ahipa and group synthesizes "New blue emissive conjugated small molecules with low lying HOMO energy levels for optoelectronic applications" »

• Dr. S.K. Nataraj and his collaborators demonstrated the Chitosan-Sodium Alginate based biomaterial scaffolds (BMS) with in-situ functionalized alumina hydroxide forming scaffold like structure and its application in removal of Fluoride (F-), Chromium (Cr(VI)) and dye from water. »

• Dr. B.M. Nagaraja and his group worked on synchronized dehydrogenation-hydrogenation reactions over partially reduced MoO2 based catalyst for simultaneous synthesis of styrene and aniline. »

• Dr. S.K. Nataraj and his collaborators demonstrated the potentiostatic approach of growing polyaniline nanofiber in fractal morphology by interfacial electropolymerization. »

• Dr. Geetha R. Balakrishna and her group prepared V2O5 nanowire clusters by gel-combustion method using bio-fuel, cassava starch. »

• Dr. Geetha Balakrishna, Dr. Mahesh Padaki and their group reported the novel modification of poly vinyl chloride with L-cysteine for preparation of composite membrane with polysulfone and TiO2 nano particles. The composite membranes showed improved rejection of As (V) throughout the pH range. »

  

• Dr. S K Nataraj and his group demonstrated the direct use of sulphate rich seaweed polysaccharides, carrageenans, namely kappa (κ-), iota (ι-) and lambda (λ-) as source of sulphur and carbon doping in TiO2 photocatalysts. »

  

• Dr. Mahveer D. Kurkuri , Dr. Madhuprasad and their group successfully developed fluoride detecting device using naturally available turmeric which was able to detect the fluoride contaminant in aqueous media at as low as 1 ppm concentration . »

  

• Dr. Geetha Balakrishna and group designs a new doped Dye - Sensitized Solar Cell with a reaching 6.14%, with double the efficiency of an undoped solar cell. »