✔ Electronic and Optical properties of nano-materials
✔ Solar cells
✔ Photo-catalysis
✔ Gas sensing
Current Research
The focus of our current research is on the growth of one-dimensional metal oxide nanostructures, thin films and heterostructures for solar energy (photocatalysis) and chemical sensing applications. Our expertise lies in direct growth of vertically oriented nanostructures and their composites with 2D materials; photoelectrochemical water splitting for hydrogen generation, photocatalytic CO2 reduction; sensors and electronic nose for gas detection etc. Recently, we have also ventured into the study of charge transport in single nanostructures and interesting features and anomalies have been discovered. In addition, we have explored high energy ion-beam induced modifications in nanomaterials in collaboration with IUAC Delhi. Facilities in our laboratory include various nanomaterials and thin film deposition systems such as thermal evaporation, RF-DC sputtering, Sol-Gel spin coating, Hydrothermal and Electrochemical workstation etc. We also have photoelectrochemical set-up equipped with solar simulator; semi-automated, computer interfaced gas sensing set-up; gas chromatograph etc.
Students
Current PhD Students
✔ PH15D014 SWATI DHUA
✔ PH15D037 SOURAV KUMAR KAJLI
✔ PH16D010 SUTAPA DEY
✔ PH17D301 RAGULKRISHNAN
✔ PH18D700 GARIMA GUPTA
✔ PH19D034 GOVINDA CHANDRA BEHERA
✔ PH20D302 SUBHASHREE MISHRA
✔ PH21D025 AMAN KUMAR BEHERA
✔ PH21D057 SAMIM HOSSAIN
Recent Publications
✔ Multiferroic, optical and magneto-dielectric properties with enhanced magneto-impedance characteristic of KBiFe2O5. Bushra Khan, Manoj K Singh, Aditya Kumar, Arushi Pandey, Sushmita Dwivedi, Upendra Kumar, Surbhi Ramawat, Sumit Kukreti, , Ambesh Dixit, Somnath C.Roy. Journal of Alloys and Compounds. 893 . 162225 . 2022.
✔ Development of CdTe quantum dot supported ZnIn2S4 hierarchical microflowers for improved photocatalytic activity. R Janani, S Sumathi, B Gupta, Somnath C Roy, Shubra Singh et al. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering. 10. 107030.
DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2021.107030. 2022.
✔ Ti3C2Tx MXene functionalization induced enhancement of photoelectrochemical performance of TiO2 nanotube arrays. Nasima Khatun, Sutapa Dey, Govinda C Behera , Somnath C Roy. Materials Chemistry and Physics. 278. 125651.
DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2021.125651. 2022.
✔ Enhanced H2 evolution through water splitting using TiO2/ultrathin g-C3N4: A type II heterojunction photocatalyst fabricated by in situ thermal exfoliation . Nasima Khatun, Sutapa Dey, Tamilselvan Appadurai, Aravind K Chandiran, Somnath C Roy . Applied Physics Letters . 119 . 093901 . 2021.
✔ Investigation of Photo-induced enhancement of sensitivity and electro-chemical surface phenomenon of multileg TiO2 nanotubes sensor device towards H2O2. P Chithra Lekha, Y Rambabu, V T Fidal Kumar, T S Chandra, Somnath C Roy. Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry. 895 . 115399 . 2021.
✔ Localized thermal spike driven morphology and electronic structure transformation in swift heavy ion irradiated TiO2 nanorods. Sutapa Dey, A Chakraborty, S B Mishra, N Khatun, A Hazra, B R K Nanda, C Sudakar, D Kabiraj, S C Roy. Nanoscale Advances.
DOI: 10.1039/D1NA00666E.. 2021.
✔ Electronic structure of graphene/TiO2 interface: Design and functional perspectives. Shashi B Mishra, Somnath C Roy, BRK Nanda. Applied Surface Science. 542 . 148709 . 2021.
✔ Adsorption and degradation mechanism of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene on TiO2 (110) surface . Shashi B. Mishra, S. Marutheeswaran, Somnath C. Roy, V. Natarajan, P. K. Rai, B.R.K. Nanda . Surface Science . 713 . 121902 . 2021.
✔ Morphology dependent electrical conduction and breakdown in single TiO2 nanotubes. Sourav K Kajli, Debdutta Ray, Somnath C Roy. Nanoscale Advances. 3 . 432 . 2021.
✔ Anomalous diameter dependent electrical transport in individual CuO nanowire. Sourav K Kajli, Debdutta Ray, Somnath C Roy. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics. 54(25). 255104 . 2021.
✔ Space charge limited conduction in anatase and mixed-phase (anatase/rutile) single TiO2 nanotubes. Sourav Kumar Kajli, Debdutta Ray, Somnath C Roy. Physica E: Low-dimensional Systems and Nanostructures. 115030 . 2021.
✔ Efficient UV-visible Photodetector Based on Single CuO/Cu2O Core-shell Nanowire. Sourav Kumar Kajli, Debdutta Ray, Somnath C Roy. Journal of Alloys and Compounds. 162546. 2021.
✔ Hydrothermal temperature-controlled size and distribution of CeO2 nanoparticles over TiO2 nanorods: heterojunction characteristics and photoelectrochemical performance. Sutapa Dey, Somnath C Roy. Ceramics International. 47(10). 14603 . 2021.
✔ Designing TiO2 nanostructures through hydrothermal growth: influence of process parameters and substrate position. Sutapa Dey, Somnath C Roy. Nano Express. 2 . 010028 . 2021.
✔ Influence of Ce doping on morphology, crystallinity and photoelectrochemical charge transfer characteristics of TiO2 nanorod arrays grown on conductive glass substrate . Sutapa Dey, Somnath C Roy . Journal of Alloys and Compounds . In Press . 2021.
✔ Highly efficient photoelectrochemical ZnO and TiO2 nanorod/Sb2S3 heterostructured photoanodes through one step thermolysis of Sb-MPA complex. V Sharma, A C Dakshinamurthy, B Pandey, Somnath C Roy, C Sudakar. Solar Energy . 225 . 333 . 2021.
✔ Charge transfer mediated photoluminescence enhancement in carbon dots embedded in TiO2 nanotube matrix . Anu B, B Pandey, Somnath C Roy, Jayeeta Bhattacharya . Carbon. 161 . 535. 2020.
✔ A scalable approach for functionalization of TiO2 nanotube arrays with g-C3N4 for enhanced photoelectrochemical performance . Beauty Pandey, Sanju Rani, Somnath C Roy . Journal of Alloys and Compounds . 846 . 155881 . 2020.
✔ Unravelling atomically resolved structure of a high-k dielectric oxidesemiconductor interface: Exit wave reconstruction and ab-initio calculation insights . Mahabul Islam, Piu Rajak, Satyesh K Ydav, Somnath C Roy, Somnath Bhattacharyya . Journal of Alloy and Compounds . 813 . 152232 . 2020.
✔ Mechanistic understanding of NO2 dissociation on rutile TiO2 (110) surface: an electronic structure study . S Marutheeswaran, Shashi B Mishra, Somnath C Roy, B R K Nanda . Journal of Physical Chemistry C . 124 . 8786 . 2020.
✔ TiO2 Nanotube Arrays on Flexible Kapton Substrates for Photo Electrochemical Solar Energy Conversion . Samba Siva Vadla, Payel Bandyopadhyay, Subish John, Pijush Ghosh, Somnath C Roy . ACS Applied Nano Materials . 3(12). 11715 to 11724. 2020.
✔ CuO/Cu2O nanoflake/nanowire heterostructure photocathode with enhanced surface area for photoelectrochemical solar energy conversion . Subish John, Somnath C Roy . Applied Surface Science . 509 . 144703 . 2020.
✔ Template-free fabrication of BiFeO3 nanorod arrays: multiferroic and photo-electrochemical performances . Swati Dhua, Hideto Furuno, Tomoyuki Homma, Nobuo Saito, Somnath C Roy . Nanotechnology. Article In Press. 2020.
✔ Effect of oxygen nonstoichiometry on the photoelectrochemical performance of oxide-nanorod based TiO2/Sb2S3 and ZnO/Sb2S3 heterostructured photoanodes . Vikas Sharma, Athrey C D, Beauty Pandey, Somnath C Roy, C. Sudakar . Nano Express . 2020.
✔ High Photo-electrochemical performance of reduced graphene oxide wrapped, CdS functionalized, TiO2 multi-leg nanotubes . Y Rambabu, Swati Dhua, Manu Jaiswal, Somnath C Roy . Nanotechnology. Accepted. 2020.
✔ Direct growth of self-aligned single-crystalline GaN nanorod array on flexible Ta foil for photocatalytic solar water-splitting . P. Tyagi, C. Ramesh, J. Kaswan, Swati. Dhua, Subish. John, A.K. Shukla, Somnath C. Roy, S.S. Kushvaha, S.K. Muthusamy . Journal of Alloys and Compounds . Accepted Manuscript. 2019.
✔ Local probing of magnetoelectric coupling in BaTiO3-Ni 1–3 composites . Samba Siva Vadla, Tommaso Costanzo, Subish John, Gabriel Caruntu, Somnath C. Roy . Scripta Materialia . 159 . 33-36. 2019.
✔ High photoelectrochemical activity of CuO nanoflakes grown on Cu foil . Subish John, Samba Siva Vadla, Somnath C Roy . Electrochimica Acta . Article in press. 00 . 2019.
✔ Photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide using graphene oxide wrapped TiO2 nanotubes . Y Rambabu, Umesh Kumar, Nikita Singhal, Meenal Kaushal, Manu Jaiswal, Suman L Jain, Somnath C Roy . Applied Surface Science . 2019.
✔ Chemicapacitive gas sensors based on TiO2 and BaTiO3 nanotube arrays . B Manmadha Rao, Somnath C Roy . Sensor Letters . 16 . 2 . 2018.
✔ Controlled and Selective Growth of 1D and 3D CdTe Nanostructures through a Structurally Engineered Porous Alumina Template for Enhanced Optical Applications . H S Bindra, Subish John, Somnath C Roy, O P Sinha, S S Islam, Ranu Naik . Journal of the Electrochemical Society . 165 . H3061-H3068 . 2018.
✔ Photo-electrochemical properties of graphene wrapped hierarchically branched nanostructures obtained through hydrothermally transformed TiO2 nanotubes . Yalavarthi Rambabu, Manu Jaiswal, Somnath C Roy . Nanotechnology. In Press . 2017.
✔ Modified photo-electrochemical and photo-voltaic properties of solvothermally crystallised TiO2 nanotube arrays . Manmadha Rao Banki, Mukta Tathavadekar, C Venkatrao, Somnath C Roy . Journal of Materials Science : Materials in Electronics (JMS-E) . 2016.
✔ Enhanced photoelectrochemical properties of reduced graphene oxide wrapped TiO2 multileg nanotubes . Y Rambabu, Manu Jaiswal, Somnath C Roy . Journal of the Electrochemical Society . 163 (8). H652 - H658. 2016.
✔ Probing the charge recombination in rGO decorated mixed phase (anatase-rutile) TiO2 multi-leg nanotubes . Yalavarthi Rambabu, Manu Jaiswal, Somnath C Roy . AIP Advances . 6 . 115010 . 2016.
✔ Effect of annealing temperature on the phase transition, structural stability and Photo-electrochemical performance of TiO2 multi-leg nanotubes . Yalavarthi Rambabu, Manu Jaiswal, Somnath C Roy . Catalysis Today . Available Online 19 February 2016. . 2016.
✔ Enhanced photoelectrochemical performance of multi-leg TiO2 nanotubes through efficient light harvesting . Y Rambabu, Manu Jaiswal, Somnath C. Roy . Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics . 48 . 295302 . 2015.
✔ Water assisted crystallization, gas sensing and photo-electrochemical properties of electrochemically synthesized TiO2 nanotube arrays . B. Manmadha Rao, Somnath C. Roy . RSC Advances . 4 . 49108 . 2014.
✔ Anatase TiO2 nanotube arrays with high temperature stability . B. Manmadha Rao, Somnath C. Roy . RSC Advances . 2014.
✔ Solvothermal processing of amorphous TiO2 nanotube arrays: achieving crystallinity at a lower thermal budget . B. Manmadha Rao, Somnath C. Roy . Journal of Physical Chemistry C . 2014.
✔ Theory, instrumentation and applications of magnetoelastic resonance sensors: A reveiw . Craig A. Grimes, Somnath C. Roy, Sanju Rani, and Q. Y. Cai . Sensors 11 (2011) 2809-2844. . 2011.
✔ Synthesis and applications of electrochemically self-assembled titania nanotube arrays, . Sanju Rani, Somnath C. Roy, Maggie Paulose, Oomman K. Varghese, Gopal K. Mor, Sanghoon Kim, Sorachon Yoriya, Thomas J. LaTempa, C. A. Grimes; . Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.. 12. 2780. 2010.
✔ Toward solar fuels: Photocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide to hydrocarbons, . Somnath C. Roy, Oomman K. Varghese, Maggie Paulose, and Craig A. Grimes; . ACS Nano. 4. 1259 . 2010.
✔ p-Type gas sensing behaviour of undoped SnO2 thin films irradiated with a high energy ion beam; . Sanju Rani, M. C. Bhatnagar, Somnath C. Roy, N. K. Puri, D. Kanjilal; . Sensors and Actuators B. 135. 35 . 2008.
✔ Effect of swift heavy ion irradiation on structure, optical, and gas sensing properties of SnO 2 thin films; . Sanju Rani, N. K. Puri, Somnath C. Roy, M. C. Bhatnagar, D. Kanjilal; . Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research (NIM)B. 266. 1987 . 2008.
✔ Use of magnetoelastic sensors for quantifying platelet aggregation I: Whole blood and platelet rich plasma; . Somnath C. Roy, J. R. Werner, D. Kouzoudis, C. A. Grimes; . Sensor Letters. 6. 280 . 2008.
✔ Eliminating unwanted nanobubbles from hydrophobic solid/liquid interfaces: A case study using magnetoelastic sensors; . X. Feng, Somnath C. Roy, C. A. Grimes; . Langmuir. 24. 3918 . 2008.
✔ Effect of Fe doping on the gas sensing properties of nano-crystalline SnO2 thin films; . Sanju Rani, Somnath C. Roy, M. C. Bhatnagar; . Sensors and Actuators B. 122. 204 . 2007.
✔ Large blue shift in the optical band-gap of sol-gel derived BST thin films; . Somnath C Roy, G. L. Sharma, M. C. Bhatnagar; . Solid State Communications. 141. 243 . 2007.
✔ The effect of TiO2 nanotubes in the enhancement of blood clotting for the control of hemorrhage; . Somnath C. Roy, Maggie Paulose, Craig A Grimes; . Biomaterials. 28. 4667. 2007.
Teaching
✔ 2017 : (Jan - May) - PH1020 Physics II; (Jul - Nov) - ID6030 An introduction to Nanoscience and Nanotechnology / PH1030 Physics Laboratory I
✔ 2018 : (Jan - May) - PH1030 Physics Laboratory I / PH5230 Seminar / PH5340 Dielectric, Magnetic & Optical Materials; (Jul - Nov) - PH1030 - Physics Laboratory I / PH5320 - Techniques of Characterization of Materials and Physical Measurements
✔ 2019 : (Jan - May) - PH5120 Physics Lab II (PG) / PH7090 Foundations in Experiemntal Physics ; (Jul - Nov) - PH1010 Physics I
✔ 2020 : (Jan - May) - PH1040 Physics Laboratory II / PH5910 Mini Project / PH6012 Fundamentals of Semiconductor Physics and Devices
✔ 2021 : (Jul - Nov) - EP2090 Engineering Physics Lab I / PH2050 Physics Lab III / PH6021 Introduction to Research / PHPCT0 Preparatory Course - Physics Theory
✔ 2022 : (Jan - May) - EP3220 Solid State Physics / PH5350 Laboratory for Physical Property Measurement and Transducer / Sensor Element Characteristics of Func ; (Jul - Nov) - PH1010 Physics I
