Dr. Oomman Varghese’s Nanomaterials and Devices Laboratory has its research activities focused on materials and devices for the welfare of society and environment. The group develops nanostructured materials, investigates unique properties, reveals scientific truth behind the exceptional behavior, and tailors the properties to develop devices/processes primarily for energy and clinical applications.

The primary interest is in utilizing earth-abundant inorganic materials and organic polymers and carbon materials from sustainable sources for solar cells, solar fuel generation, and environmental sensing. The work on solar cells is targeted at solving scientific and technological issues associated with environmentally benign materials that are plentiful in earth’s crust so that highly efficient and low-cost solar cells can be developed. The work on solar fuels is intended for using these materials to develop technologies to convert sunlight and generate fuels either without carbon footprint (e.g., hydrogen from water) or through processes that enable carbon dioxide recycling (e.g., methane from carbon dioxide using photocatalysis). Both solar cell and solar fuel approaches are aimed at preventing the carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere. With the research on environmental sensors, the group is aiming at developing low-cost detectors to recognize gases/vapors that affect human health and the environment and also for medical applications to help diagnose and monitor diseases.