Research Projects

Global warming and greenhouse gas emissions result from fossil fuel combustion. Global energy comes from fossil fuels including petroleum, coal, and natural gas. Thus, sustainability necessitates a quick shift from fossil fuels to renewables. Localization and intermittent nature limit renewable energy use. Clean, carbon-free electricity can be generated in fuel cells using Green hydrogen, hydrogen peroxide, and oxygen. There is urgent requirement for cheap, effective, and lasting fuel-electricity conversion electrocatalysts to address rising energy demands. Effective electrocatalysts are needed for energy-intensive electrochemical processes such as water splitting (OER, HER, and ORR). Base metals can replace precious metals due to their low toxicity, cost, and availability. Base metals can be used to make sustainable electrocatalysts that are environmentally and economically friendly. Inspired by natural enzymes, base-metal complexes with redox-active ligands having stabilizing pi-systems could catalyse multielectron reactions. Molecular catalysts are more popular than solid heterogeneous catalysts because their ligands can be adjusted to improve catalytic performance. The related ligands boost catalytic efficiency by increasing activity and selectivity. Molecular catalysts are adaptable, yet certain properties limit their homogenous phase catalytic activity. Solubility is crucial to homogenous catalyst catalytic effectiveness. Their use is expensive and environmentally harmful due to their solubility in highly polar organic solvents like DMF, acetonitrile and it is hard to isolate homogeneous catalysts from reaction mixtures, lowering their recyclable value. Heterogeneous molecule electrocatalysts, a novel family of efficient catalysts, have the capacity to solve these issues. Immobilizing metal complexes onto solid substrates creates heterogeneous molecular catalysts, which can improve catalytic efficiency and eliminate solvent dependence. In this regard, redox active molecular assemblies will be designed, synthesized and utilized as electrocatalyst for sustainable energy generation through water splitting and their potential application in energy storage technologies such as fuel cell and batteries.