Research Projects

Water contamination is one of the most critical environmental problems created by humans. It results from carelessly releasing chemically stable and highly soluble contaminants into effluents. In this direction, an environmentally friendly and cost-effective solar-driven photocatalysis process offers much potential for removing organic contaminants in water, among others. However, light sources and high recombination rate of photogenerated carriers significantly hamper the photocatalytic process. Recently, piezocatalysis has become the most explored substitute for other sophisticated oxidation processes for environmental cleanup because of its simplicity, high dye breakdown, and lack of toxicity. Most recently, pyrocatalysis has also shown great potential as an effective and sustainable approach for breaking down organic contaminants in wastewater. The process involves temporal temperature fluctuation to drive catalytic reactions that break down organic molecules into simpler, less harmful compounds. Few pyrocatalytic materials have been developed to degrade organic pollutants in wastewater. However, implementing pyrocatalysis for organic pollutant degradation in wastewater still faces several challenges. Thus, there is a need for further research to optimize the process conditions and develop more efficient and sustainable pyrocatalytic materials. In order to achieve the significant pyrocatalysis effect in bulk, Na0.5Ba0.5TiO3(NBT)-based composition with a dopant (i.e., Zn, Sn, Sr, etc.) will be explored in this project. Recently, NBT-based compositions have shown a significant pyroelectric and low dielectric coefficient which can enhance the catalytic performance. Further, the grain size of pyroelectric materials can significantly impact the efficiency of catalytic reactions. Thus, the sintering parameter (time and temperature) effect on grain size will also be explored. Moreover, NBT-cement and PVDF polymer-based composite materials will be used for pyrocatalysis and are expected to have several potential advantages over single-component materials. For example, combining pyroelectric cement composite can be easy to synthesize, low cost, and made in any shape/size. However, PVDF-based composite is expected to have low dielectric permittivity and improved chemical stability. The final step will study the polling and porosity effect in the best composition obtained from the above process. Finally, a device/prototype will be fabricated based on the best suitable composition for the real-time wastewater treatment of the IIT Indore health center, where methylene blue (organic) pollutant is used for medical testing. Additionally, solar energy as a heat source will be explored for water cleaning. It is a unique concept that the researcher has not yet explored. Moreover, the prototype device will combine pyro and piezo catalysis.