My research interests are in the areas of physical chemistry, environmental chemistry, catalysis/kinetics, renewable/sustainable energy, and energetic materials. My current project involves the synthesis, characterization, and detection of inorganic based green energetic materials (GEMs). This project is being funded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and investigates the use of different transition metals (Cu, Ni, Co, etc.) and various ligands (ethylenediamine, hydrazine, aminoguanidine, guanidine, etc.) to synthesize potential GEMs, characterize the GEMs for structural and thermal properties, and develop detection methods for GEM by utilizing their optical properties since these GEMs can be in different colors.
