Vasudha Sharma
Prime Minister Research Fellow
Vasudha Sharma was born in Jammu, India. She finished her masters from University of Jammu and in 2020, she joined Molecular Magnetism and Catalysis (MMCAT) lab as a research scholar at Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Currently, she is a Prime Minister Research Fellow. Under the supervision of Prof. Maheswaran Shanmugam , she has been trained in handling inert chemistry and with an explicit intention , she is heading towards the better understanding of carbon dioxide chemistry and working on activating the carbon dioxide into future fuels.
Research Interests
The research in MMCAT group facilitates new opportunities in the context of Carbon Neutral Economy, talking of which the journey has started with looking for carbon dioxide mitigation solution , thereby producing future fuels. Being familiar with increasing ppm levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, even a small contribution that can help in reducing Green House Gas Effects , will definitely serve the purpose of working in this field.
There are a number of highly efficient molecular catalysts already been known which are converting carbon dioxide into C1, C2 hydrocarbons and various others useful chemicals. Yet the problem lies in the use of highly expensive , rarely abundant 4d, 5d molecular catalysts. However, many 3d molecular catalysts are also flourishing in this market but they involve harsh reaction conditions, use of amines/ alcohols/ Lewis acids as additives to achieve maximum catalytic efficiency.
Keeping all these factors in mind, we are heading with a vision of designing highly reactive, cost-effective 3d-molecular catalysts and execute them into activation of carbon dioxide carried under extremely mild conditions.