The year 2022 unfurled with an auspicious breakthrough, the Department of Chemistry comes to be recognized as an approved Research Centre under the University of Kerala. It is noteworthy that the Department of Chemistry is the first research department in the history of St. Michael’s College. As the department celebrated the deserved success of their profound vision and systematic progression, the other departments deemed it as source of motivation that has broadened their vistas. Now, the two other post graduate departments also are in the process of being upgraded to research centres.

Department of Chemistry

The Department of Chemistry had its origin with St. Michael's College in 1967 when it was initiated as a Junior College comprising of only Pre - degree courses. In 2022 the Department of Chemistry is recognized as an approved research centre of the University of Kerala. Now the Department offers two courses B.Sc. Chemistry and M.Sc. Chemistry and is also actively involved in Research.

The thrust area of research includes Materials Science, Organic Electronics, Renewable Energy, and Sensors. The research activities of the Department are highly active and publishing the work in internationally reputed journals. At present three of our faculty members are approved Research Guides of University of Kerala. Also four research scholars are working in the department for the Ph.D programme. The research programmes of the Department are financially supported by University Grants Commission (UGC), Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) in the form of Major and Minor Research Projects. In 2015, Department received the prestigious DST-FIST grant and with this the research facilities are improved tremendously. With this fund we have set up a Sophisticated Instrumentation Centre and Networking and Computational Facility in the Department. The major research instruments include UV-Visible Spectrophotometer, FTIR, Fluorescence Spectrophotometer, Electrochemical Workstation etc. These facilities are also utilized by teachers, students and research scholars of neighbouring colleges of both Kerala and MG University. The Department has also signed MoUs with various colleges and reputed research centres in Kerala to strengthen the research activities. The Department organises National and International conferences regularly to provide an international exposure for our students. It is noteworthy that the students of our department are qualifying various National Eligibility Tests such as CSIR and GATE examinations and pursuing their higher studies in various reputed research institutes in India and abroad. In 2018 the Department started functioning completely with Green Energy. Department of Chemistry is the first fully Solar Educational Department in the College, totally devoted to the promotion of renewable energy.

Alternative renewable energy resources especially low-cost solar energy based organic photovoltaic devices are the major focus of research of the Department. Our other research interest includes design and synthesis of novel organic molecules for organic electronics, synthesis of nanomaterials and their incorporation in photovoltaic devices etc. Materials having delocalized π electron system are interesting due to their optical and electronic properties. They are potential candidates in organic photovoltaics. We design, synthesis and characterize various materials for organic electronics. Some of the materials of interest include derivatives perylene diimides, pyrene, phenothiazine etc. We also interested to investigate the photophysical and transport properties of oligomeric and polymeric materials which can be used to fabricate organic electronic devices

Focus of research of Department of Chemistry is,

• Organic Photovoltaics, Organic Light Emitting Diodes, Device Fabrication and Characterization
• Transport Studies of Oligomeric and Polymeric Materials
• Photophysical Properties of Conjugated Polymers and Nanoparticles
• Charge Transfer Dynamics in DNA
• Electrochemical Sensors

Research Scholars

Three Research Scholars are working for their Ph.D programme under the guidance of Dr. P. Manoj. One Project fellow is working under the guidance of Dr. Beena James in the KSCSTE Project.

Gayathri Mohan M

Modelling, Synthesis and Charge Transport Properties of Conjugated Polymers and Oligomers for Organic Photovoltaics

Seena Elizabeth George

Synthesis, Photophysical Properties and Device Fabrication of Semiconducting Organic Materials for Electronic Applications

Satheesh Babu T

Tuning the Band-gap and Exploring the Photophysical Properties of Stable Conjugated Oligomers for Optoelectronic Applications

Vineetha Rajendran

(Project Fellow, KSCSTE Project)

Research Projects

• Major project entitled “Synthesis and Characterization of Photo Resposive Polymers” funded by KSCSTE, Kerala, (2021-24). (Principal Investigator: Dr. Beena James) Total Grant Rs. 14.57 Lakhs.
• Student Project entitled “Electrochemical Detection of Analytes using Voltammetric Sensors” funded by KSCSTE, Kerala, 2019 (Principal Investigator: Dr. Pearl Augustine) Total Grant Rs. 10000/-.
• Student Project entitled “Synthesis, Characterization and Photophysical Study of Electrospun dye Doped Polymer Nanofibers for Photovolataic Applications” funded by KSCSTE, Kerala, 2018 (Principal Investigator: Liya Jose M.) Total Grant Rs. 10000/-.
• Minor project entitled “Comparative Study of Substituent Effect on Two Related Families of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells Using Ruthenium and Iridium Complexes” funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC), India, (2014-16). (Principal Investigator: Joseph Libin K. L.) Total Grant Rs. 1.5 Lakhs.
• Major project entitled “Optical Characterization and Charge Transport Properties of Conjugated Oligomers and Polymers for Organic Photovoltaics” funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), India (2013-16). (Principal Investigator: Dr. P. Manoj) Total Grant: 31.85 Lakhs.
• Minor project entitled “Synthesis and Characterization of Nanomaterials for Photovoltaic Applications” funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC), India, (2012-14). (Principal Investigator: Seena Elizabeth George) Total Grant Rs. 80,000/-
• Minor project entitled “Synthesis and Photophysical Properties of fluorescent Chitosan” funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC), India, (2012-14). (Principal Investigator: Dr. Pearl Augustine) Total Grant Rs. 90,000/-.
• Major project entitled “Investigations of the Photophysical Properties of Semiconducting Organic Materials for Electronic Applications” funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC), India. (2012-15). (Principal Investigator: Dr. P. Manoj) Total Grant: 11.60 Lakhs.