Department of Chemistry

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Jesni M Jacob, currently doing research under Dr Mahesh Kumar Ravva narrates her journey to achieving CSIR-JRF All India Rank of 65 through persistent efforts.

I’m working in the field of computational chemistry on designing and developing organic molecules for OLED applications. Securing an AIR of 65 in the CSIR JRF in Chemical Science June 2021 exam is a dream come true moment for me.

In 2019, I completed my post-graduate studies at Madras Christian College, Chennai. The four-year-long journey from zero to JRF AIR 65 was of hard work, patience, sleepless nights, sacrifices and even frustrated moments. It was challenging to remain motivated after multiple unsuccessful attempts. But I wasn’t ready to give up hope. I believed in myself and dreamed big with faith in God Almighty.

My previous attempts didn’t provide me with any hope of continuing my preparation because my marks were consistently far below the cutoffs. That made me realise one thing: without coaching and ample guidance, qualifying for CSIR JRF is a toiling task for an average student. But I learned that with strong passion, proper dedication, and right strategies of do’s and don’ts, any aspiring student can pass the exam with flying colours.

After each attempt, I learned from my mistakes and tried to optimise my strategies. One should never try to cover the entire syllabus and be bothered about it. I analysed the unit-wise weightage and narrowed it down to a few important topics that I found exciting and comfortable.

• Choose topics carefully and focus solely on mastering them.
• Try to stick to and rely on reliable standard textbooks as much as possible.
• The SRMAP library provided me with excellent access to a wide range of standard texts.

The JRF aspirants should try to solve previous years’ questions from standard exams (CSIR, GATE, IISc, etc.) and note new concepts or approaches every day. Enjoy and prepare short notes with a lot of scribbling and highlighting in various colours. Notes should be concise and simple to revise later. But don’t spend too much time making notes.

I made time for exam preparation along with my work and research activities. I’m grateful to my family, teachers, and especially my guide- Dr Mahesh Kumar Ravva, for their constant support and encouragement. He gave me a safe space to express my desire to ace the exam and my anxieties about it. Dr Mahesh always listened to my concerns and helped me to gain clarity on my thoughts. He always encouraged me to dream big and shared his perspectives and lessons from his life experiences. He is a great mentor, motivator, and teacher to me.

Once you are a part of SRM University-AP, we ensure that your future is secured! With the guidance of Dr Sujith Kalluri, Assistant Professor, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Mr Chanakya wends his way to Purdue University, USA, a world-renowned research university, for doing his PhD. He secured admission with a full tuition fee waiver and teaching assistantship. Chanakya Karra spent his two years DST-SERB JRF position at SRM AP and has made remarkable contributions to SRM-Amararaja Centre for Energy Storage Devices.

DST-SERB JRF position helped Chanakya resume his research career, which had a pause for over a year. “It fills me with immense joy to see the SRM-Amararaja Centre for Energy Storage Devices shape up with every possible equipment to conduct research on batteries. Kudos to the management and the efforts of the faculty associated with the centre,” says Mr Chanakya. He further mentioned that the research work conducted at SRM-Amara Raja Centre enabled him to write over three papers that catapulted his chances of admission.

“I would urge the students to make the best use of the opportunities available at SRM-AP and discuss their plans with the faculty. I am sure new avenues will open with the mentoring of world-class faculty at SRM”, says Mr Chanakya to the junior batches of students aspiring for a research career.

Mr Chanakya expressed his gratitude to the faculty members associated with Amararaja Centre for Energy Storage Devices- Dr Pardha Saradhi Maram, Associate Professor, Chemistry, Dr Surfarazhussain S Halkarni, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Dr Laxmi Narayana Patro, Assistant Professor, Physics, and others.

The Department of Chemistry is glad to announce that Dr J P Raja Pandiyan has published a paper titled ” Microfluidics and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, a win-win combination?” in the journal ‘Lab on a Chip’ having an impact factor of 6.79 in collaboration with researchers from different universities across India, Germany, and Japan.

Abstract of the Research

With the continuous development in nanoscience and nanotechnology, analytical techniques like surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) render structural and chemical information of a variety of analyte molecules in ultra-low concentration. Although this technique is making significant progress in various fields, the reproducibility of SERS measurements and sensitivity towards small molecules are still daunting challenges. In this regard, microfluidic surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (MF-SERS) is well on its way to join the toolbox of analytical chemists. This review article explains how MF-SERS is becoming a powerful tool in analytical chemistry. We critically present the developments in SERS substrates for microfluidic devices and how these substrates in microfluidic channels can improve the SERS sensitivity, reproducibility, and detection limit. We then introduce the building materials for microfluidic platforms and their types such as droplet, centrifugal, and digital microfluidics. Finally, we enumerate some challenges and future directions in microfluidic SERS. Overall, this article showcases the potential and versatility of microfluidic SERS in overcoming the inherent issues in the SERS technique and also discusses the advantage of adding SERS to the arsenal of microfluidics.

About the Raman Research Group at SRM AP

Raman spectroscopy, invented by Sir CV Raman in 1928 and got Nobel Prize in 1930, is a vibrational spectroscopic technique that works based on the principle of inelastic scattering of light. Surface-Enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is one of the modern analytical techniques which can detect chemical and biomolecules in an ultra-low concentration. The research group is working on the development of the SERS technique to address the issues in food, environmental, energy and biological science.

The newly developed SERS substrates are mainly used for the detection of biological samples for disease diagnosis, food samples to ensure food safety, water samples to study the contamination and pollution rate. These studies can make meaningful social changes and improvements.

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Dr Nimai Mishra, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, along with his research group comprising of students pursuing PhD under his supervision, Ms VG Vasavi Dutt, Mr Syed Akhil, Mr Rahul Singh, and Mr Manoj Paalabathuni have published a research article titled “High-Quality CsPbX3 (X = Cl, Br, or I) Perovskite Nanocrystals Using Ascorbic Acid Post-Treatment: Implications for Light-Emitting Applications” in the Journal “ACS Applied Nano Materials” (published by The American Chemical Society) having an impact factor of ~5.1.

Abstract:

Cesium lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (CsPbX3 PNCs) have been the flourishing area of research in the field of photovoltaic and optoelectronic applications because of their excellent optical and electronic properties. However, they suffer from low stability and deterioration of photoluminescence (PL) properties post-synthesis. One of the ways to minimize the surface defects in the surface treatment with suitable ligands is to achieve the PNCs with superior PL properties for light-emitting applications.

In this article, Dr Mishra’s research group addressed the issue of stability in PNCs. We demonstrate to achieve high photoluminescence and stability of CsPbX3 PNCs by incorporating ascorbic acid via post-treatment as a new capping ligand that is abundantly available. Upon addition of ascorbic acid as surface passivation ligand into the oleic acid/oleylamine system to get near-unity photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of CsPbBr3, CsPb(Br/I)3, and for CsPbI3 perovskite NCs. Maintaining stability has become the hotspot of research in this field. Hence, as-a-proof of concept, the stability studies of PNCs in ambient conditions, under continuous UV irradiation, and PL with temperature variations are put forth here. The stability enhancement with post-treatment of ascorbic acid is highly reproducible as we tested for four batches of samples.

Despite the significant advancements of PNCs, there is a challenge afflicting the stability of CsPbI3 PNCs. They are thermodynamically unstable and undergo a non-perovskite phase (δ-phase) transition at room temperature. Many efforts have been reported in the stabilization of iodide perovskite NCs by critically passivating PNCs and applying them for optoelectronics and photovoltaics. On the other hand, mixed halide perovskites like CsPbBrI2 which are relatively stable than CsPbI3 PNCs are a better choice for device applications. But, photo-induced halide segregation is unavoidable which in turn again limit their usage in practical applications. In this manuscript, we demonstrated that the ultra-stable iodide-based PNCs can be achieved by simple and facile surface treatment with ascorbic acid.

The PL intensity of untreated and ascorbic acid-treated PNCs is recorded for 42 days since the date of synthesis. The measurements are carried out for 4 different batches of samples to ensure reproducibility. It is found that the PL intensity is deteriorating rapidly for untreated PNCs while the PL intensity is largely maintained for ascorbic acid treated PNCs. Nearly ̴72% of the initial PL intensity is maintained even after 42 days for the ascorbic acid-treated CsPbBr3 PNCs while the PL intensity is dropped to 24% for untreated PNCs. Ascorbic acid treated CsPbBrI2 PNCs exhibited exceptional ambient stability where ̴69% of the initial PL intensity is maintained after 42 days while the PL of untreated CsPbBrI2 PNCs is degraded rapidly within 2 weeks from the date of synthesis. Moreover, the PL stability of CsPbI3 PNCs is high for ascorbic acid-treated samples even after 55 days while the PL has deteriorated within 4 days for untreated CsPbI3 PNCs. The PL of untreated CsPbI3 PNCs is completely lost in the first 4 hours of UV illumination while ̴ 76.7% remnant PL is observed for ascorbic acid-treated CsPbI3 PNCs. We believe the stabilization of CsPbX3 PNCs of different halide compositions via simple surface treatment with ascorbic acid could form a basis for futuristic light-emitting applications.

Read the full paper: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsanm.1c04312