Ashok K Ganguli
IIT Delhi, New Delhi
Ashok Ganguli is currently holding the Prof N K Jha Chair in the Dept. of Chemistry, IIT Delhi, and was earlier Institute Chair Professor (2019-21). He is also a Joint Professor in Dept. of Materials Science & Engg and Deputy Director (Strategy & Planning) at IIT Delhi. He is also the founding Director of the Institute of Nano Science and Technology in Mohali (Jan 2013- Jan 2018). Prof. Ganguli obtained his Ph.D. degree from the Solid State & Structural Chemistry Unit (SSCU) of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (1990) in the area of Thallium based high-temperature superconductors for which he got the Sudborough Medal of the Indian Institute of Science. He has been a visiting scientist at Dupont Company, USA (1990-91), a postdoctoral associate and visiting scientist at Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University, USA (1991-93 and 2004-05), and a visiting professor at EPFL, Lausanne in 2016. His areas of interest are the design of nanostructured materials for applications in water purification, solar energy conversion, microfluidic devices, and high-temperature superconductivity. He is a recipient of the National Award of Nano Science and Nanotechnology given by DST, Government of India, the Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) Silver medal, Materials Research Society of India (MRSI) Medal, the C.N.R. Rao-CRSI National award, Chemical Excellence Award by Indian Society of Chemists and Biologists and the Bangalore India Nano award given by Karnataka Govt. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London, the National Academy of Sciences, India, the Asia–Pacific Association of Materials, and the Indian Academy of Sciences (2010).
Symposium on “Green Energy”
Photoelectrochemical water splitting for green energy
Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is a promising solar-to-hydrogen conversion technique to provide a clean and sustainable fuel (i.e., hydrogen) directly from water and solar energy. Hydrogen (H2), is one of the most viable, eco-friendly, and clean energy sources, with water as a by-product of its combustion. Large-scale hydrogen fuel production is still challenging since it requires a high-energy process. Conversion of water into clean and renewable hydrogen fuel by using highly efficient photocatalysts is a key process. There has been a lot of interest in searching for suitable semiconductor materials as photocatalysts for efficient photoelectrochemical water-splitting applications. Increased photon absorption, long carrier life, and surface catalysis are mostly responsible for enhanced efficiency. This is achieved by the appropriate design of heterojunctions, using electron/hole sinks, and using a suitable co-catalyst. Fabrication of core/shell nanostructures with appropriate band edge considerations has been very popular. Z-scheme-based efficient visible light active core/shell/shell heterostructure of NaNbO<sub>3</sub>/CuInS<sub>2</sub>/In<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> for PEC water splitting revealed high current density of ∼6.72 mA/cm2 at −1.0 V versus Ag/AgCl. To enhance the PEC water splitting, the CuInS2 photocathode was modified with appropriate cocatalyst layers, including the Pt layer and FeOOH layer with ITO.