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- Professor of Analytical Chemistry, Indiana University Northwest, Gary, Indiana, July 2000-present. Full member of the Graduate Faculty of Indiana University, 1995-present.
- Co-Editor of the journal “Research in Chemical Intermediates”, published by VSP, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 2003-present.
- Visiting Scholar, Radiation Laboratory, a US Dept. of Energy facility at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, Sept. 1990 – current.
Current Research Interests:
Development of nanostructured carbon electrodes for fuel cell applications.
Current funding is from the US Army and State of Indiana (21st Century). These programs are primarily aimed at portable fuel cell applications. The goal is to develop portable fuel cells based on conventional consumables (methanol and air) for small electronic appliances (e.g., lap-tap computers) and to minimize the use of precious metals by developing new electrode materials and membrane assembly.
Experimental goal is to :
- Utilize carbon nanostructures (fullerenes, carbon nanotubes etc) as support to boost the electrode performance.
- Design of new metal catalysts and composites for improving the efficiency of electrode reactions.
- Develop membrane assembly and evaluate the overall performance in portable fuel cells (direct methanol and hydrogen fuel cells).
Ultrasound reactions with particular emphasis on synthesis of nano-sized metal colloids for catalytic applications.
Focus is on the synthesis of core shell and alloyed bimetallic systems e.g. Ru@Pt, and Co@Pt using ultrasound and different precursors in both aqueous and non aqueous systems
Development of humic acid based polyelectrolytes membranes: electrochemistry of redox species incorporated in the membranes
Our focus here is to to investigate the uptake of redox active species by the naturally occurring humic acid substances using cyclic voltammetry at a rotating disc electrode. Electroanalytical methods opens up new avenues to examine the interactions and transport of charged species in a humic acid environment.
Research Collaborators:
Selected Journal Publications:
Undergraduate students involved in research are identified in bold.
- K. Vinodgopal, Yuanhua He, Muthupandian Ashokkumar and Franz Grieser, “Sonochemically Prepared Platinum-Ruthenium Bimetallic Nanoparticles”, J. Phys. Chem B. 2006, 110, 3849-3852.
- G. Girishkumar, Timothy D. Hall, K. Vinodgopal, and Prashant V. Kamat “Single Wall Carbon Nanotube Supports for Portable Direct Methanol Fuel Cells” J. Phys. Chem. B. 2006, 110 (1), 107 -114.
- G. Girishkumar, Matthew Rettker, Robert Underhile, David Binz, K. Vinodgopal, Paul McGinn and Prashant V. Kamat, “Single Wall Carbon Nanotube based Proton Exchange Membrane Assembly for Hydrogen Fuel Cells” Langmuir, 2005, 21, 8487-8494.
- G. Girishkumar, K. Vinodgopal and Prashant V. Kamat, “Carbon Nanostructures in Portable Fuel Cells: Single Wall Carbon Nanotube Electrodes for Methanol Oxidation and Oxygen Reduction” J. Phys. Chem.B, 2004, 108, 19960-19966.
- Prashant V. Kamat, K. George Thomas, Said Barazzouk, G. Girishkumar, K. Vinodgopal and Dan Meisel “Self-Assembled Linear Bundles of Carbon Nanotubes and their Alignment in a DC-Field", J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 10757-10762
- K. Vinodgopal, Vaidyanathan Subramanian, Prashant V. Kamat ”The Selective Electrochemical Detection of Model Pollutant Species Using Films of Naturally Occurring Humic Acid”, Environ. Sci. & Technol., 2004 38, 2161-2166.
- K. Vinodgopal, Mehul Haria, Dan Meisel, Prashant V. Kamat ”Fullerene based Carbon Nanostructures for Methanol Oxidation”, Nanoletters., 2004, 4, 415-418.
Undergraduate Students:
- 2005: Randy Orr and Marikko Andersen - Project: Carbon nanotubes as carbon supports for DMFC.
- 2004: Matt Rettker and Robert Underhile -
Project: Carbon nanotubes as catalyst suuports for hydrogen fuel cells.
- 2003: Tom Nelson - Project: Gold nanoparticles as metal catalyst for fuel cell applications.
- 2002: Sheila Carrasquilla - Humic acid membranes for selective electrochemical detection of species.
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