Yatendra S Chaudhary

Biography

Dr. Yatendra S. Chaudhary is Senior Principal Scientist at CSIR-Institute of Minerals & Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar, India and Professor at the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), New Delhi, India. He earned Ph.D. for the research work focused on nanostructured photo-catalysts for solar-driven water splitting in 2004. Subsequently, he moved to Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, India, where he carried out research in Materials Chemistry. He designed enzyme-semiconductor based photocatalysts for visible light driven CO2 reduction and H2 production while working at University of Oxford, UK. His research accomplishments in the area of nanomaterial and solar fuel research have brought him many recognitions such as Green Talent-2011 Award from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany, CSIR-Young Scientist Award-2013 in Chemical Sciences section from the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, India and prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship by the European Union. Dr. Chaudhary has been leading various projects funded by MNRE, CSIR and SERB, New Delhi mainly focusing on the design of artificial photosynthesis devices to produce fuel using solar radiation. He is also actively engaged as reviewer for many RSC and ACS journals and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Nanoscience and International Journal of Photoenergy.
The research activities in his group are focused on various facets of colloids and materials chemistry for solar fuel generation. The major focus is on designing the heterostructured photocatalysts with desired morphologies and size as to exploit the advantages associated with nanomaterials (such as quantum confinement effects, surface area), hetero-interface with appropriate energetics and layered structure of semiconductors  for efficient solar H2 generation and CO2 reduction to fuels.

Education

Marie Curie Reserach Fellow, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
Visiting Fellow, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Ind
Ph.D., Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra, India 2004

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

NANOMATERIALS CHEMISTRY: Development of facile and versatile synthetic approaches based on soft chemistry to fabricate a variety of functional nanostructures/nanocrystals possessing mainly metal oxide frameworks, perovskites, chalcogenides, and noble metals (Au, Ag and Pt etc.) for various applications such as opto-electronic and photocatalysis etc. Insight into the science of structure-property relationship of hierarchical nanostructures.
SOLAR FUEL GENERATION: Exploration and engineering corrosion-resistant photocatalyst based on semiconductors, that exhibit the optimal conduction and valence band edge alignment for visible light driven H+ (water splitting) and/or CO2 reduction into fuels (energy rich compounds). Design of artificial photosynthesis system/prototype based on enzyme mimics-semiconductor or metal organic framework-semiconductor assemblies for solar fuel generation. An understanding of underlying surface chemistry, photo-electrochemistry and band gap engineering in these systems.
INTRINSIC WHITE LIGHT EMITTING MATERIALS & DEVICES: The white LEDs available as of today, typically consists of a blue LED and one or more phosphors to convert part of the blue light to longer wavelengths and suffers from low spectral power distribution in the red region and dampening emission intensity . In addition, these are synthesized by sophisticated high vacuum methods, which are expensive methods.  We are working on developing the novel direct white materials that eliminate the phosphors use and can exhibit broad emission over the entire visible spectral range (400-800 nm) under ambient conditions and underpinning the photo-physics in these processes. We have recently discovered the formation of a stable complex under ambient conditions, extending the present understanding of molecular interactions, and exhibiting the unusually enhanced broad emission over the entire visible spectral range.
BIOMIMETIC NANOMATERIALS: Synthesis of stimuli responsive biodegradable nano-gels for targeted drug delivery application and kinetics studies of drug uptake and release. Development of corrosion resistant nanostructured hydroxyapatite (HAp) based scaffolds with improved mechanical strength and cellular biocompatibility.

Websites

• Personal webpage

Books