About Amitava Choudhury

Education

  • Indian Institute Of Science, Doctor of Philosophy, 2004

Professional links

Campus associations

Amitava Choudhury

Prof, asoc
Chemistry
330 Schrenk Hall

573-341-6332 | choudhurya@mst.edu

Education

  • Indian Institute Of Science, Doctor of Philosophy, 2004

Professional links

Campus associations

Biography

Amitava Choudhury was born and brought up in the tea estates of North Bengal (popularly known as Dooars), India. He went to A. C. College (Science and Arts) and University of North Bengal to study Chemistry and received his B.Sc (Chemistry honors) and M.Sc in Chemistry (Inorganic Specialization), respectively. He then joined Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and received his PhD from the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit and came to Colorado State University as post-doctoral fellow. In 2008, he took up a position of Assistant research professor in Chemistry in Missouri S&T and was then hired as a tenure track assistant professor in 2011. Currently, he is an associate professor of Chemistry.
Dr. Choudhury has published more 100 peer-reviewed journals papers and his research has been funded through NSF (SSMC-DMR), UM Research Board and various research centers in Missouri S&T.
Dr. Choudhury enjoys teaching at both undergraduate and graduate students. He has taught physical chemistry (CHEM 3410: Chemical Thermodynamics I) course for six years (2011-2016) and currently teaches inorganic chemistry (CHEM 2320: Inorganic Chemistry II) for undergraduate chemistry majors. He is actively involved in teaching freshman chemistry lab course (CHEM 1319). He has developed a graduate level (CHEM 6320) course in solid state chemistry, which is taught in every alternate fall semester.

Research

Expertise areas

> Solid state synthesis of materials which include both oxides and non-oxides. Polyanion based materials (phosphates, sulfates, phosphites, boro-phosphates etc.), complex chalcogenides, porous materials (MOFs, organically templated solids, zeolites and zeolite related).
> X-ray crystallography including single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction (laboratory and synchrotron), Solid state electrochemistry (Lithium- and sodium-ion batteries, Solid electrolytes), Magnetic properties, Electronic properties, catalysis, sorption.

Current research projects

  • Electrode Materials for Li- and Na-ion batteries In this particular project we are trying to explore the synthesis of
    polyanion-based materials stabilized by transition metals like Ti, V,
    Mn, Fe. Systematic exploration of the phase diagram of Li/Na - M -
    XOmn- (X = Si, Ge, P, S, and B; M = transition metals) are being carried
    out by employing (i) molten salt flux and (ii) hydrothermal techniques
    to explore the formation of new structures. Simultaneously, we also
    apply chemical intuition to innovate new synthetic strategies to
    synthesize a target composition. X-ray diffraction techniques, both
    single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction are extensively used to
    solve crystal structures. We rely on high resolution X-ray diffraction
    data from Argonne National Lab for ab initio crystal structure solution
    and refinement. Fundamental properties related to the reductive
    insertion or oxidative de-insertion of alkali ions in batteries are
    studied by a multitude of tools to correlate crystal structures with
    insertion voltage.
  • Complex Chalcogenides In this project new multinary chalcogenide compositions are
    synthesized and structurally characterized. Exploratory routes using
    polychalcogenide flux as well as hypothesis driven chemistry guides
    the synthesis of target compositions. Major effort in this area are now
    devoted to rationally synthesize complex chalcogenides aiming
    different applications including thermoelectrics, solid-ion conductors
    and electrode materials. Theoretical calculations are carried out in
    collaboration with Drs. Medvedeva and Chernatynskiy (Physics,
    Missouri S&T) to get further insights into the structure-property-
    correlation. Low and high temperature thermoelectric properties
    (Thermal conductivity, Resistivity, and Seebeck Coefficient) are
    measured in collaboration with Dr. Hor (Physics, Missouri S&T), Dr.
    Watts (MS&E, Missouri S&T), and Dr. McGuire (ONL). Choudhury group
    has all the facilities to for electrode materials applications.
  • Porous solids We are interested in synthesizing new multicomponent porous solid,
    which are hydrolytically stable and has multi-functionality. In this
    endeavor we target inorganic-organic hybrid or purely inorganic
    (zeolitic) structures. These porous materials are subsequently tested
    for gas storage and catalysis.

Changes in cell potential as a function of fluoride substitution

Research interests

Research Interests in Dr. Choudhury's Group
The primary research area of the group revolves around inorganic solid state and materials chemistry. We are involved in the synthesis of new materials encompassing oxides, chalcogenides and hybrid organic-inorganic solids with a focus on applications on energy storage, conversion and catalysis. Specific research topics are:

> Rational synthesis of complex chalcogenides
> Polyanion-based electrode materials for Li- and Na-ion Batteries
> Porous materials

Research grants

  • NSF (SSMC-DMR)
  • UM Research Board
  • CREE (Missouri S&T)

Publications