Research Projects

Low molecular weight gelators (LMWGs) are a promising field in science and technology, enabling the creation of supramolecular soft, flexible semi-solid scaffolds with trapped polar/non-polar immobilized solvents. The assimilation of metal salts with LMWG results in self-assembled metallogels with visco-elastic, thixotropic, and self-healing features. This project aims to design and synthesize various small molecular weight gelator molecules, including carbohydrates, peptides, cholesterol, enzymes, alkanes, carboxylic acids, poly-oxo carbocyclic compounds, urea-derivatives, aliphatic and aromatic amines, thiazole, triazole, and tetrazole derivatives, and LMWGs mediated self-healable metallogels using different transition and non-transition metal salts. Mechanically stable self-healable metallogels are effective in fabricating flexible devices, and their elasticity and flexibility make them attractive for conductive materials. The use of metal salts in the supramolecular gel scaffold has been recognized to increase light-responsive electronic-charge conduction. The project aims to design flexible photo-sensitive semiconducting structural materials for fast-forward signaling, negligible storage time, low power consumption, low forward voltage drop, and high current density. The exploration of flexible non-linear optical devices is a key challenge in physical to chemical sciences. The implementation of flexible and transparent metallogel materials in non-linear applications offers a new dimension. The research will also explore multi-photon absorption involving several virtual states. The photo-sensitive type self-healing metallogel will be applied to the study of higher order optical non-linearity.