(2x) Transient Spectro-Kinetic Approach: A Tool for Deciphering Complex Structure-Function Relationships in Heterogeneous Catalysis

There is a growing demand of in-situ/operando monitoring and understanding of catalytic processes in the community due to the high requirement of efficiency and specificity. The more the technique reaches its limit, the more becomes the demand for developing tools to quantitatively analyze data for extracting kinetic information. With the advancement of characterization and kinetic measurement tools in recent years, it has become possible to monitor catalytic processes in controlled modes in real-time. To name a few, the modulation excitation spectroscopy, 2D correlation spectroscopy etc. coupled with transient isotope kinetic measurements and spectroscopic tools, such as, Raman, Infrared, UV-vis, XRD, XAS etc., along with machine learning approach, such as, chemometric pave the way for real time observation and understanding of catalyst structure and product formation evolutions.

Many of the above mentioned techniques are new and have not been utilized to their full strength for complex research areas like heterogeneous catalysis. The others, which have been in the community for some time, have been applied to only simple chemistries and need deeper understanding and further development prior to be used for the complex reactions and mechanism schemes. My group will focus on development of such techniques and methods, methodology validation and application towards real life catalysis issues in the energy and environment sectors.

Research Interests

In-situ/operando spectroscopy, modulation excitation spectroscopy, 2D correlation spectroscopy, chemometric and transient kinetics, energy and environment, circular economy

Teaching Interests

Core Subjects

Reaction Engineering

Engineering Thermodynamics

Fluid Mechanics

Electives

Mathematical Methods in Chemical Engineering

Modern Characterization Techniques in Catalysis