Dr. Debajit Sarma

Research Areas:Coordination polymer, solid state chemistry, Chalcogenide and chalcogel based materials, oxide materials, energy conversion and catalysis.Professional Experience:

• Post-Doctoral Research Associate (February 2013 – December 2016) Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston IL, USA
• Research Associate (May 2012 – January 2013) SSCU, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India

Awards & Honours:

• Selected for DST – DAAD joint research project proposal entitled “High throughtput investigation for the understanding of the formation of metal – organic framework solids” to work at Christian – Albrechts – Universitat, Kiel, Germany in 2010.
• Best Poster award in MTIC (Modern Trends in Inorganic Chemistry)-XIII, in 2009.
• CSIR JRF & SRF (2006-2011).
• GATE (2006).
• Gold medal for securing first rank in B.Sc (Chemistry) at Gauhati University (2004).

Teaching:

• CH 202: Inorganic Chemistry
• CH 401: Catalysis
• CH 402: Biological Chemistry of Metal Ions
• CH 426: Chemistry of Transition Metals
• CH 525: Organometallic and Bioinorganic Chemistry of Transition Metals
• CH 527: Seminar
• CH 602: Solid State Chemistry
• CH 703: Spectroscopic Techniques in Chemistry

No. of PhD Students 

Shikha Priyadarshini

Noohul Alam

Publications:

• Highly Efficient Separation of Trivalent Minor Actinides by a Layered Metal Sulfide (KInSn2S6) from Acidic Radioactive Waste Xiao, C.; Fard, Z. H.; Sarma, Debajit; Tze-Bin; Xu, C.; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 1649416497.
• “Enhanced photovoltaic performance and stability with a new type of hollow 3D perovskite {en}FASnI3” Ke, Weijun; Stoumpos, Constantinos C.; Zhu, Menghua; Mao, Lingling; Spanopoulos, Ioannis; Liu, Jian; Kontsevoi, Oleg Y.; Chen, Michelle; Sarma, Debajit; Zhang, Yongbo; Wasielewski, Michael R.; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; Sci. Adv. 2017, 3, E1701293.
• “All in one porous material: Exceptional sorption and selective sensing of hexavalent chromium by a Zr4+ MOF” Rapti, Sofia;† Sarma, Debajit;† Diamantis, Stavros A.; Skliri, Euaggelia; Armatas, Gerasimos S.; Tsipis, Athanassios C.; Hassan, Youssef S.; Alkordi, Mohamed; Malliakas, Christos D.; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; Lazarides, Theodore; Plakatouras, John C.; Manos, Manolis J.; J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017, 5, 14707-14719 . (†Equal first author).
• “Efficient and Selective Heavy Metal Sequestration from Water by Layered Sulfide K_2xSn_4-xS_8-x (x=0.65-1; KTS-3).” Sarma, Debajit; Islam, Saiful M.; Subrahmanyam, K. S.; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016, 4, 16597-16605.
• “High-Surface-Area Antimony Sulfide Chalcogels.” Subrahmanyam, K. S.; Malliakas, Christos D.; Islam, Saiful M.; Sarma, Debajit; Wu, Jinsong; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; Chem. Mater. 2016, 28, 7744-7749.
• “Direct Gap Semiconductors Pb₂BiS₂I₃, Sn₂BiS₂I₃ and Sn₂BiSI₅” Islam, Saiful M.; Malliakas, Christos D.; Sarma, Debajit; Maloney, David C.; Stoumpos, Constantinos C.; Kontsevoi, Oleg Y.; Freeman, Arthur J.; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; Chem. Mater. 2016, 28, 7332-7343.
• “Removal of TcO4^- from Representative Nuclear Waste Streams with Layered Potassium Metal Sulfide Materials” Neeway, James J.; Asmussen, R. Matthew; Lawter, Amanda R.; Bowden, Mark E.; Lukens, Wayne W.; Sarma, Debajit; Riley, Brian J.; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; Qafoku, Nikolla P. Chem. Mater. 2016, 28, 3976–3983.
• “Efficient Removal and Recovery of Uranium by a Layered Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Thiostannate” Feng, Mei-Ling; Sarma, Debajit; Qi, Xing-Hui; Du, Ke-Zhao; Huang, Xiao-Ying; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 12578-12585.
• “Open-Framework Oxysulfide Based on the Supertetrahedral [In₄ Sn₁₆ O₁₀ S₃₄]^12- Cluster and Efficient Sequestration of Heavy Metals” Zhang, Xian-Ming;^† Sarma, Debajit;^† Wu, Ya-Qin; Wang, Li; Ning, Zhi-Xue; Zhang, Fu-Qiang; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 5543-5546 (^†Equal first author).
• “Rapid, green and inexpensive synthesis of high quality UiO-66 amino-functionalized materials with exceptional capability for removal of hexavalent chromium from industrial waste” Rapti, Sofia; Pournara, Anastasia; Sarma, Debajit; Papadas, Ioannis T.; Armatas, Gerasimos S.; Hassan, Youssef S.; Alkordi, Mohamed H.; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; Manos, Manolis J.; Inorg. Chem. Front. 2016, 3, 635-644.
• “Selective capture of hexavalent chromium from an anionexchange column of metal organic resin-alginic acid composite” Rapti, Sofia;^† Pournara, Anastasia;^† Sarma, Debajit;^† Papadas, Ioannis T.; Armatas, Gerasimos S.; Tsipis, Athanassios C.; Lazarides, Theodore; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; Manos, Manolis J.; Chem. Sci. 2016, 7, 2427-2436 . (^†Equal first author).
• “K_2x Sn_4-x S_8-x (x=0.65-1): A New Metal Sulfide for Rapid and Selective Removal of Cs⁺, Sr²⁺ and UO₂²⁺ ions” Sarma, Debajit; Malliakas, Christos D.; Subrahmanyam, K. S.; Islam, Saiful M.; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; Chem. Sci. 2016, 7, 1121-1132.
• “Ion-exchangeable Molybdenum-sulfide Porous Chalcogel: Gas Adsorption and Capture of Iodine and Mercury” Subrahmanyam, K. S, Malliakas, Christos D; Sarma, Debajit; Armatas, Gerasimos S; Wu, Jinsong; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 13943-13948.
• “Chalcogenide Aerogels as Sorbents for Radioactive Iodine” Subrahmanyam, K. S; Sarma, Debajit; Malliakas,Christos D; Polychronopoulou, Kyriaki; Riley, Brian J; Pierce, David A; Chun, Jaehun; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; Chem. Mater. 2015, 27, 2619–2626.
• “Exploring the Color of Transition Metal Ions in Irregular Coordination Geometries: New Colored Inorganic Oxides Based on the Spiroffite Structure, Zn2–x Mx Te3 O8 (M= Co, Ni, Cu)” Tamilarasan, S; Sarma, Debajit; Bhattacharjee, S; Waghmare, U. V; Natarajan, S; Gopalakrishnan, J.; Inorg. Chem. 2013, 52, 5757-5763.
• “YGa1− x Mnx O3 : A novel purple inorganic pigment” Tamilarasan; Sarma, Debajit, D. Reddy, MLP; Natarajan, S. Gopalakrishnan, J.; RSC Adv. 2013, 3, 3199-3202.
• “Synthesis, Structure and Magnetic Properties of a New Eight-connected Metal Organic Framework (MOF) based on Co4 Clusters” Sarma, Debajit; Mahata, Partha; Natarajan, Srinivasan; Panissod, Pierre; Rogez, Guillaume; Drillon, Marc.; Inorg. Chem. 2012, 51, 4495-4501.
• “Aza-heterocyclic ligand assisted assembly of new cobalt MOFs with pcu and graphite related structures” Sarma, Debajit; Srivastava, Vishwas, Natarajan, Srinivasan.; Dalton Trans. 2012, 41, 4135-4145.
• Highly Luminescent and Thermally Stable Lanthanide Coordination Polymers Designed from 4-(Dipyridin- 2-yl)aminobenzoate: Efficient Energy Transfer from T 3+ to E 3+ in a Mixed Lanthanide Coordination Compound” Ramya, A. R.; Sarma, Debajit Natarajan, Srinivasan; Reddy, M. L. P.; Inorg. Chem. 2012, 51, 8818-8826.
• “Synthesis of a mixed – metal spinel, NiMn₂ O₄, through site selective substitution in a MOF, [(NiMn₂){C₆ H₃(COO)₃}₂]: Synthesis, Structure and Magnetic Studies” Sarma, Debajit; Mahata, Partha; Natarajan, Srinivasan.; Current Sci. 2012, 103, 1185-1192.
• “The relevance of metal organic frameworks (MOFs) in inorganic materials chemistry” Natarajan, Srinivasan; Mahata, Partha; Sarma, Debajit; J. Chem. Sci. 2012, 124, 339-553.
• “Usefulness of in Situ Single Crystal to Single Crystal Transformation (SCSC) Studies in Understanding the Temperature-Dependent Dimensionality Cross-over and Structural Reorganization in Copper-Containing Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs)” Sarma, Debajit; Natarajan, Srinivasan.; Cryst. Growth Des. 2011, 11, 5415-5423.
• “High-Throughput Study of the Cu(CH₃COO)₂. H₂O-5-Nitroisophthalic Acid- Heterocyclic Ligand System: Synthesis, Structure, Magnetic, and Heterogeneous Catalytic Studies of Three Copper Nitroisophthalates.” Sarma, Debajit; Ramanujachary, K. V.; Stock, Norbert; Natarajan, Srinivasan.; Cryst. Growth Des. 2011, 11, 1357-1369.
• "An eight-connected metal organic framework based on Cu₅ clusters: Synthesis, structure, magnetic and catalytic properties" Sarma, Debajit; Natarajan, Srinivasan.; Indian. J. Chem. 2011, 50A, 1281-1289.
• “Lanthanide Sulfate Frameworks: Synthesis, Structure, and Optical Properties.” Yotnoi, Bunlawee; Rujiwatra, Apinpus; Reddy, M. L. P.; Sarma, Debajit; Natarajan, Srinivasan.; Cryst. Growth Des. 2011, 11, 1347-1356.
• “CoMn₂ O₄ spinel from a MOF: synthesis, structure and magnetic studies.” Mahata, Partha; Sarma, Debajit; Madhu, C.; Sundaresen, A.; Natarajan, Srinivasan.; Dalton Trans. 2011, 40, 1952-1960.
• “Synthesis, Structure and Optical Studies of a Family of Three-Dimensional Rare- Earth Aminoisophthalates [M(µ2 -OH)(C₈ H₅ NO₄ )] (M = Y, La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Dy, and Er).” Sarma, Debajit; Prabu, Manikanda; Biju, Silvanose; Reddy, M. L. P.; Natarajan, Srinivasan.; Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2010, 3813-3822.
• “Magnetic behaviour in metal-organic frameworks-some recent examples.” Mahata, Partha;  Sarma, Debajit; Natarajan, Srinivasan.; J. Chem. Sci. 2010, 122, 19-35.
• “Amino Acid Based MOFs: Synthesis, Structure, Single Crystal to Single Crystal Transformation, Magnetic and Related Studies in a Family of Cobalt and Nickel Aminoisophthalates.” Sarma, Debajit; Ramanujachary, K. V.; Lofland, S. E.; Magdaleno, Travis; Natarajan, Srinivasan.; Inorg. Chem. 2009, 48, 11660-11676.

Patents and technology developments:

• “Column material for the capture of heavy metal and precious metal ions” Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; Sarma, Debajit; Manos, Manolis J.; 2015, US20150144568 A1; WO2015080976 A1.
• “Composite materials containing organic polymer-encapsulated metal organic frameworks” Manos, Manolis J.; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; Sarma, Debajit; Patent Filed (Serial No: 62/253,425 Filing Date: November 10, 2015, NU Reference No. 2015-136-01).

Presentations:

Oral Presentation:

• Novel Metal Sulfides to Achieve Effective Capture and durable Consolidation of Radionuclides, A talk given in “MATERIAL RECOVERY & WASTE FORMS CAMPAIGN WORKING GROUP MEETING” SRNL, South Carolina, USA in February, 2015.
• Synthesis, Structure and Properties of Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) Compounds of 5-Substituted Isophthalic Acids, Thesis colloquium on 11^th May, 2012, at Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit, IISc, Bangalore.
• Temperature Triggered Dimensionality Switching: Single crystal to single crystal transformation in a copper based coordination polymer, A talk given in UNIT DAY AND IN-HOUSE SUMPOSIUM, 20^th November, 2010 at Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit, IISc, Bangalore.
• Metal Carboxylates Coordination Polymers, A talk given in 7th June, 2010 at Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Christian Albrechts University, Otto-Hahn-Platz 6/7, D 24118, Kiel, Germany.
• In Situ Single-Crystal to Single-Crystal Transformation Study in Metal– Organic Frameworks, A talk given in UNIT DAY AND IN-HOUSE SUMPOSIUM, 26^th November, 2008 at Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit, IISc, Bangalore.

Poster Presentation:

• ‘K₂FeSn₂S₆ (KMS-4) and KInSn₂S₆ (KMS-5): Two New Members of Layered Metal Sulfide (KMS) Family’ by Debajit Sarma and Mercouri G Kanatzidis in “2016 Gordon Conference: Solid State Chemistry” at Coilby-Sawyer College, New London, USA.
• A New Layered sulfide for the Selective Removal of Sr²⁺, Cs⁺, UO₂²⁺ and Heavy Metal ions.’ by Debajit Sarma and Mercouri G Kanatzidis in “2014 Gordon Conference: Solid State Chemistry” at Coilby-Sawyer College, New London, USA.
• ‘A tale of two solids: temperature dependent dimensionality cross – over and structural reorganization’ by Debajit Sarma and Srinivasan Natarajan in MTIC-XIV at Hyderabad central University, Hyderabad, in 2011.
• ‘A Series of Copper Coordination Polymers with Varying Structural Architectures’ by Debajit Sarma and Srinivasan Natarajan in Divisional Day (Chemical Sciences) at IISc, Bangalore, in 2010.
• ‘Synthesis, structure and optical studies of a family of a three dimensional rare earth aminoisophthalates, [M(µ2- OH)(C₈H₅NO₄)], M = Y⁺³, La⁺³, Pr⁺³, Nd⁺³, Sm⁺³, Eu⁺³, Gd⁺³, Dy⁺³ and Er⁺³’ by Debajit Sarma, S. Biju, M. L. P. Reddy and Srinivasan Natarajan in MTIC-XIII at IISc, Bangalore, in 2009.