PI Name & Affiliation:

Dr. Arpan Kumar Nayak,
Assistant Professor,
Department of Physics, School of Advanced Sciences (SAS),
Vellore Institute of Technology, India

Funding Agency: DST-SERB

Scheme: Start up Research Grant (SRG)

Overlay: Rs. 30,58,379

Duration of the Project: 2 Years

Dr. Arpan Kumar Nayak

Assistant Professor

solar

Project Description

The clean energy production is crucial for the development of society and environment remediation. The current proposal goals to develop hybrid energy materials as visible light photocatalysts for the degradation of hazardous contaminants and/or chemical/electrochemical hydrogen production from water. Present work focus with faceted growth of oxides, bandgap engineering of oxides, mixed metal oxide nanocomposites synthesis, metal-metal oxide heterojunction, oxynitrides, and polymer-metal oxide composites to enhance the hazardous contaminants degradation efficiency and hydrogen (H2) production under visible light. Most importantly, development of cost-effective and earth abundant energy materials for efficient dye degradation and H2 generation using visible light is vital for industrial/practical application. The main objectives are to synthesize metal oxides with exposed crystal facets in different planes, high surface area activated carbon photocatalysts using bio-waste, nanocomposites and mixed metal oxide heterostructures. The current project proposal is a step towards cost effective and sustainability solution for the future environment remediation and energy crisis.