Research Projects

In the era of technological advancement, the biggest challenge towards the entire civilisation is pollution, especially large CO₂ emissions. In most cases, the production of essential products is directly related to energy consumption and huge CO₂ emission processes. So, finding a sustainable alternative is no longer a choice; it’s an urgent necessity. The issue continues to exist on a national scale. India's agriculture-driven economy relies significantly on urea, yet the country is still primarily reliant on imports to supply this crucial requirement. Still now, urea is produced by the Bosch–Meiser process, which involves high energy consumption and releases large amounts of CO₂ into the environment. So, it’s crucial to substitute this with any sustainable process. Herein, the ecatalytic route of urea synthesis under ambient conditions could be an ideal alternative. This involves co-fixation of N₂ or NOx and evil CO₂ under low potential bias, which makes the process very economical and a green alternative. While ecatalytic urea synthesis holds tremendous promise, it still lags behind in several critical aspects. From the extensive study of the last several years by researchers across the globe, the outcomes are not up to the mark. From the research findings, the key bottlenecks identified are poor adsorption, low selectivity, & competitive side reactions. Herein, catalytic spin modification by using a magnetic field (MF) gives a nuanced layer of control towards the reaction efficiency. Therefore, development of a magneto-ecatalytic system by selecting an efficient magneto-ecatalyst and optimizing the MF could be an effective strategy to break the bottlenecks and enhance the efficiencies. Herein, the goals of this research project are to extend the horizon and apply this radically novel strategy to boost the coupling process (urea) and establish a mechanistic base for magneto-echemistry. We began our echemical urea synthesis journey in 2021, when the urea synthesis process was at the forefront of research at that time. We filed a US patent and an Indian patent on the e-chemical urea synthesis process. In our pioneering experimental study, we evidently reported spin interconversion (T-S) under MF can significantly enhance the NH₃ synthesis performance. Recent reports also confirmed that an MF can effectively boost the CO₂RR efficiencies. As integral steps in the e-chem urea synthesis, both processes have been experimentally examined under MF. Therefore, tuning the spin of the magnetic catalyst by MF has the ability to break the reaction bottlenecks and boost the co-reduction performances. In our review on magneto-echemistry, we critically analysed key factors: spin alignment, MHD effects, spin interconversion, Hall effects, and magnetic hyperthermia. Now, it's crucial to experimentally establish a mechanistic base for these magneto-echemical processes, which remains largely unexplored. This cutting-edge project aims to engineer magnetic catalysts and fine-tune MF parameters to favour heteroatomic bond formation, particularly C–N coupling towards urea. Moreover, our recent preliminary study exhibited the enhanced urea yield rate and FE using a combination of CoFe catalyst and optimised MF. Therefore, we foresee tuning the spin structure of the catalytic system by an external MF could be a game-changing strategy for enhancing urea production, current densities, FE, and selectivity. Finally, the magnetic boosting strategy will be translated into a continuous flow platform or membrane electrode assembly (MEA), facilitating progress towards the establishment of a robust and scalable sustainable alternative. Through controlled reactions and in-situ analyses, a mechanistic foundation for magneto-electrochemical processes from simple HER/OER to complex coupling was established, paving the way for using magnetic fields to enhance diverse reactions beyond C–N coupling, including in synthetic and pharmaceutical chemistry.