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Our group members include scientists, postdocs, and PhD students
Research Interest
Materials for photovoltaics and catalysis and their applications in sustainable development
Research Facilities
State-of-the-art research facilities
Vacancies
PhD and Postdoc positions are available time to time
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I am fond of sports, travel and photography
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A few selected images and videosResearch Interest
(e) Hydrogen storage materials
Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of sources including fossil fuels, renewables, and water. Hydrogen usage as a fuel is already feasible, but its storage and delivery face serious challenges. The goal of this project is to develop a high-density hydrogen storage system based on metal hydrides or ammonia borane (AB). Amine-boranes such as ammonia borane is chemical hydrides that are stable in air and water and contain very high hydrogen content. Due to their high hydrogen capacity, such species have also been employed as a hydrogen sources for fuel cell applications. The objectives of this project are to 1) identify viable amine-borane or metal hydride materials for hydrogen storage at ambient conditions, and 2) develop a cost-effective photocatalytic route for dehydrogenation and rehydrogenation of amine-boranes - as a means of chemical hydrogen storage. This project will combine synthetic, characterization, material and application expertise from a multidisciplinary team of scientists.
The research work will be focusing on these main areas:
1) Development of new efficient photocatalytic methods to increase and control the rate and extent of H2 release,
2) Elucidation of the critical mechanistic pathways and intermediates in dehydrogenation/hydrogenation photocatalytic reactions, and
3) Development of a cost-effective photocatalytic method for discharge and recharge hydrogen from ammonia borane - as a means of chemical hydrogen storage.
The project falls under alternative fuels to develop a research program in material chemistry, material sciences and nanotechnology and will facilitate an in-depth study to understand key fundamental features of ammonia borane (AB) or metal hydrides and photocatalytic systems for their potential application in the field such as hydrogen storage.
Publications
1. Allen M. Lunsford, Jan H. Blank, Salvador Moncho, Steven C. Haas, Sohail Muhammad, Edward N. Brothers, Marcetta Y. Darensbourg and Ashfaq A. Bengali; Inorg. Chem., 2016, 55 (2), pp 964-973
2. Sohail Muhammad, Salvador Moncho, Edward N. Brothers and Ashfaq A. Bengali; Dehydrogenation of a tertiary amine-borane by a rhenium complex; Chem. Commun., 2014, 50, 5874-5877
3. Muhammad Sohail, Salvador Moncho, Edward N. Brothers, Donald J. Darensbourg, and Ashfaq A. Bengali; Estimating the strength of the M-H-B interaction: A Kinetic approach, Dalton Trans. 2013, 42, 6720-6723