Catalysis Division

Welcome address

“Chemistry without catalysis, would be a sword without a handle, a light without brilliance, a bell without sound” –Alwin Mittasch

Catalysis Division of CSIR-NCL work at developing novel heterogeneous catalytic materials for variety of applications including Energy, Environment and Healthcare. We also undertake fundamental surface science studies under in-situ or operando conditions to arrive at molecular level details of bond making and breaking process on a catalyst surface.

A strong emphasize on converting the performance of the materials to processes with pilot plant facility makes our division unique among others.

Materials for Hydrogen Generation, Biomass Utilization, Photocatalysis, Surface Science etc are some of the areas that are currently being actively pursued.

The students can expect to carry out material synthesis, characterization and their catalysis. They will be trained to operate different types of reactors, high end instruments for catalyst characterization and will enjoy the freedom to cut across divisions to acquire cross disipilnary knowledge.

News, Events and Highlights

Recent Publications view all>>

Germylene Mediated Reductive C

* Arup K. Rath*, Geethu Venugopal, Kumar Vanka, Dipak Dattatray Shinde, Soumya Ranjan Dash, Debjit Pramanik,Kritika Gour, Sakya S. Sen*, Germylene Mediated Reductive C–C and C-N Coupling of an Isocyanide and its Device Application, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 64, e202417052 (2025).

Unprecedented C-F bond cleavage

* Kirandeep Singh* And Sakya S Sen*,* Kumar Vanka, Aryya Ghosh, Srinu Tothadi, Mayur Sangole, Ravi Kumar, Debjit Pramanik, Soumya Ranjan Dash,Gargi Kundu, Unprecedented C-F bond cleavage from perfluoronaphthalene during cobaltocene reduction, Dalton Trans., 53, 17789 - 17793 (2024).

Uncovering diverse reactivity of

Rajesh G. Gonnade*, Kumar Vanka, Himanshu Sharma,Kajal Balayan, Sakya S. Sen*, Uncovering diverse reactivity of NHCs with diazoalkane: C-H activation, C=C bond formation, and access to N-heterocyclic methylenehydrazine, Chem. Sci., 15, 18387 - 18394 (2024).

Exploring Thermocatalytic Pyrolysis to

R. Venkataraghavan, , Arvind Bhure , Tufeil Khan, Dipak Shikare, R. Devi & Paresh Dhepe, Exploring Thermocatalytic Pyrolysis to Derive Sustainable Chemical Intermediates from Plastic Waste; Role of Temperature, Catalyst, and Reactor Conditions, Journal of the Indian Institute of Science., , (2024), DOI:10.1007/s41745-024-00447-3.

Selective Oxidation of Biomass

Sambhaji S. Ghadge, Shubham R. Bankar, and Vrushali H. Jadhav*, Selective Oxidation of Biomass derived 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-Diformylfuran (DFF) over Spent Dry cell battery cathode material (BCM-2), ACS Applied Engineering Materials., , (2024), DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaenm.4c00537.

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