Research Projects

This project focuses on the design and synthesis of porous organic polymers (POPs) comprising of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) and conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) that can be utilized as metal-free photo and electrocatalysts for CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR). Additionally, the as-prepared COFs and CMPs that contain metal-anchored site can be exploited as metal chelating sites to incorporate different transition metals for photo and electrochemical CO₂ reduction to produce selective carbon-rich C1 and C2 feedstock such as CO, HCOOH, CH₃OH, CH₄, C₂H₅OH, C₂H₄ etc. which can be used as fuel. Based on divergent donor-acceptor based molecular entities, these POPs can be rendered as excellent photocatalyst for CO2 reduction by exciton separation. On the other hand, these porous materials can be rendered as excellent support for electrocatalysis as well. Researchers will demarcate the effect of ranges of donor-acceptor based building blocks in terms of selectivity, sustainability, recyclability and productivity to produce value-added products from CO₂.