Welcome!

Our group develops optically active nanomaterials that control and convert light at the nanoscale for applications in sustainable energy, catalysis, environmental remediation, polymer recycling, and advanced manufacturing. We focus on plasmonic nanoparticles and their composites, which can concentrate light and generate localized electromagnetic fields, energetic charge carriers, and heat.

By combining nanomaterial synthesis, optical and electronic characterization, catalytic measurements, and theoretical  modeling, we seek to establish fundamental relationships among nanoparticle composition, structure, optical response, and functional performance. A particular emphasis of our work is the development of alternative refractory plasmonic materials, including titanium nitride nanostructures, as durable and potentially lower-cost alternatives to conventional gold and silver nanoparticles.

We also investigate bimetallic and hybrid plasmonic systems, where composition and nanoscale interfaces can be tailored to tune optical, thermal, and catalytic properties. These materials offer opportunities for plasmon-enhanced catalysis, solar-energy conversion, photothermal polymer recycling, optoelectronics, functional polymer composites, and additive-manufacturing technologies.

Research Highlights

Development of Solar Energy Enhanced Recyclable Epoxy for Additive Manufacturing

• Demonstration of Complete Recycling Processes of Reversible Epoxies Using Solar Energy Conversion, M. Finale, J. Logan, A Saha, M. Durfee, N. Penner, J. D. McCoy, Y. Lee, S. Chowdhury, Advanced Energy and Sustainability Research, 2025,2400352

  https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aesr.202400352

• Understanding and Promoting the Reaction Kinetics of Photothermally Driven Diels–Alder Reaction with Minimized Side Reactions, Arnob D. Saha, Julio Cubillas, Leslie Elliot Ashie, Pabitra Choudhury, Youngmin Lee, Sanchari Chowdhury. Polymer Degradation and Stability, 242 (December 2025).

  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141391025005634

• Recyclability of Reversible Polymer Networks over a Dozen Reprocessing Cycles, Gaeun Kim, Nicole (Penners) Salustri, Arnob D. Saha, Samantha J. (Lindholm) Knight, Sanchari Chowdhury, Youngmin Lee. Cleaner Materials, 20 (June 2026), article 100395. 

 

• Understanding the Effect of Side Reactions on the Recyclability of Furan–Maleimide Resins Based on Thermoreversible Diels–Alder Network, BT McReynolds, KD Mojtabai, N Penners, G Kim, S Lindholm, Y Lee, J.D McCoy, S Chowdhury, Polymers 15 (5), 1106

   https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/15/5/1106

• Diels–Alder Augmented Epoxies with Plasmonic Nanoparticle Fillers for Efficient Photothermal Depolymerization, K. D. Mojtabai, S. J. Lindholm, B. T. McReynolds, N. Penners, J. D. McCoy, S. Chowdhury and Y. Lee, ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 2022

  https://pubs.acs.org/aapmcd/article/4/4/2703/494056/Diels-Alder-Augmented-Epoxies-with-Plasmonic

• Determining the Reaction Kinetics and Thermodynamics of a Diels–Alder Network Using Dynamic Gel Criteria, BT McReynolds, Sanchari Chowdhury, JD McCoy, Y Lee, Macromolecules 2024, 57, 12, 5620–5628

  https://pubs.acs.org/mamobx/article/57/12/5620/147002/Determining-the-Reaction-Kinetics-and

Light Mediated Mild Deposition Method for Single Transition Metal Atom

• Plasmon assisted synthesis of TiN-supported single-atom nickel catalysts, De Silva, KGG.C.; Helsel, N.; Jeyashangararaj, H.S.; Choudhury, P. and Chowdhury, S. Discover Nano19, 50 (2024). 

   https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s11671-024-03992-z

• Nonprecious Single Atom Catalyst for Methane Pyrolysis , N Helsel, S Chowdhury, P Choudhury, Molecules 2024, 29 (19), 4541, 2024

        https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/29/19/4541

• Plasmon mediated deposition of Ni on Titanium Nitride nanoparticles: applications in the enhanced photoreduction of bicarbonate , K.-G.-G. C. De Silva, M. Finale, and S. Chowdhury,  Materials Research Bulletin,2022
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025540822001076

Designing Photoactive Catalysts to Drive Energy Extensive Reactions using Solar Energy

• Titanium nitride nanoparticles for the efficient photocatalysis of bicarbonate into formate, A Beierle, Pl Gieri, H Pan, M D. Heagy, A. Manjavacas and S. Chowdhury,  Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 200, 109967 (2019). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092702481930296X
• Efficient production of formic acid by simultaneous photoreduction of bicarbonate and oxidation of glycerol on gold-TiO2 composite under solar light, H. Pan, A. Steiniger, M. D. Heagy and S. Chowdhury. Journal of CO2Utilization, 22, 117, (2017).

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212982017303864

• TiO2-PDMS composite sponge for adsorption and solar mediated photodegradation of dye pollutants. Hickman, R.; Walker. and Chowdhury, S.  Journal of Water Process Engineering, 24, 74-82 (2018).

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214714418300874

• Semiconductor Photocatalysis of Bicarbonate to Solar Fuels:Formate Production from Copper(I)Oxide. Pan,H.; Chowdhury, S.; Premchandra, D.; Olugin, S. and Heagy, M.D. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 6, 1872 (2018).

https://pubs.acs.org/ascecg/article/6/2/1872/1244353/Semiconductor-Photocatalysis-of-Bicarbonate-to

Relaxation Dynamics Studies of Plasmonic Composites

 

• Ultrafast relaxation dynamics in bimetallic plasmonic catalysts , S. Sim; A. Beierle; P. Mantos; S. McCrory; R.P. Prasankumar and S. Chowdhury; Nanoscale 12 (18), 10284-10291 (2020).

  https://pubs.rsc.org/nr/article-abstract/12/18/10284/694267/Ultrafast-relaxation-dynamics-in-  bimetallic?redirectedFrom=fulltext

 

Funding and other resources

              Private Industry