<p>Prof. Vivek Polshettiwar’s NANOCAT group works on the development of novel nanomaterials for catalysis, solar energy harvesting, and CO2 capture-conversion to tackle “climate change”. They have developed next-generation nanocatalysts via the morphological control of nanomaterials, dendritic fibrous nanosilica (DFNS). The uniqueness of DFNS is its high surface area is produced by its fibrous structure instead of the formation of pores, making the large surface area easily accessible (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41596-019-0177-z"><i>Nature Protocol</i>. <strong>2019</strong><i>, 14, </i>2177-2204</a>, <i>Indian Patent Appl. 201621004089</i>). DFNS is now being used for various applications, such as catalysis, photocatalysis, CO2 capture-conversion, RNA extraction from viruses, energy harvesting &amp; storage, drug delivery, etc.</p><p>By using the techniques of nanotechnology, they have transformed DFNS based yellow gold to black gold by changing the size and gaps between gold nanoparticles. Similar to the real trees, the developed black gold acts like an artificial tree that uses CO2, sunlight, and water to produce fuel.&nbsp;This work on “<i>Black (nano)Gold</i>” is <i>one-of-its-kind</i> and a way forward to develop “<i>Artificial Trees</i>” which captures and converts CO2 to fuel and useful chemicals and CO2 may then become our main source of clean energy (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2019/sc/c9sc02369k#!divAbstract"><i>Chemical Science</i>,<strong> 2019</strong><i>, 10, </i>6694-6603</a>, <i>Indian Patent Appl. 202021001441</i>).</p><p>His group also showed that “<i>Defects in DFNS</i>” convert CO2&nbsp;to fuel with excellent productivity and selectivity (<i>an</i> <i>entirely new concept</i> <i>in the field</i>). Neither metal nor complex organic ligands were required, and the defect alone acted as catalytic sites. Surprisingly, the catalytic activity for methane production increased significantly after every regeneration cycle, which they explained by a detailed mechanistic study. (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.pnas.org/content/117/12/6383"><i>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A </i><strong>2020</strong>, <i>117</i>, 6383-6390</a>, <i>Indian Patent Appl. 202021001440</i>).</p><p>They also developed “<i>Acidic Amorphous Aluminosilicates (AAS)</i>”, which possess Brønsted acidic sites like in zeolites and porous textural properties and were used for catalysis, plastic degradation and CO2 to fuel conversion. Conventional and DNP-enhanced SS NMR provided a molecular-level understanding of these materials (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17711-6"><i>Nature Commun. </i><strong>2020</strong><i>, 11, </i>3828</a><i>, Indian Patent Appl. 202021040554.</i>).</p><p>Their work on “<i>Capturing CO2 before its Release</i>” using lithium silicates nanosheets with excellent capture capacity, kinetics and stability can provide a novel path to capture CO2 inside the reactor itself and stopping their release to the environment (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/sc/d0sc06843h#!divAbstract"><i>Chem. Sci., </i><strong>2021</strong><i>, 12, </i>4825</a>, <i>Indian Patent Appl. 202021008717</i>).</p><p>Recently they showed that "Bubble the Air in Water with a pinch of Magnesium and you will get Fuel (methane, hydrogen) and green cement". No heat, electricity, or light energy was required; simply the use of water and magnesium in just a few minutes. This protocol can even be used for hydrogen production (940 liter per kg of Mg), which is nearly 420 times more than hydrogen produced by the reaction of Mg with water alone (2.24 liter per kg of Mg). (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/sc/d1sc01113h#!divAbstract"><i>Chem. Sci., <strong>2021</strong>, 12, 5774</i></a><i>,</i> <i>PCT App. No. PCT/IN2020/50458</i>).</p><p>Prof. Polshettiwar’s group has developed their own research field on “<i>Fibrous Nanosilica based Catalysis</i>” and more than 150 groups worldwide are now working in the field that Vivek started. This is one of the very few examples of such widespread use of material invented by Indian researchers. In addition to fundamental research on DFNS, group is also trying to commercialize it with the help of industries to create a real societal impact of his research; a step towards “<i>Atmanirbhar Bharat</i>”.</p><p>Nanocat group’s work is recently summarized in <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.accounts.2c00031?fbclid=IwAR1ND3l2QIgS5WuALrfCIxjXUUDclo359nrIcgQBj7B4mRV3o5-ostGDp40&amp;"><i>Acc. Chem. Res.&nbsp;</i> <strong>2022</strong>, 55, 1395–1410.</a></p><p>More details about the group’s research is at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.nanocat.co.in/">https://www.nanocat.co.in/</a></p>