Research Highlights
Research News and Highlights from Rasaiah group 2023:
Dr. Duwage Charitha Perera (Ph.D. 2023) is a postdoctoral Fellow working with Professor Phillip
Sushkov, Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, and Dr. Mohsen
Farshad (Ph.D. 2020) is a postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical
Engineering, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN working with Professor Johnathan
Whitmer.
Recent publications (2023) from the Rasaiah group include:
1. Duwage Charitha Perera and Jayendran C. Rasaiah:
Computational study of H2O adsorption, hydrolysis, and water splitting on (ZnO) 3
nanoclusters deposited on graphene and graphene oxides”, ACS Omega, (2023). The figure
is from the abstract of the paper. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsomega.3c04882
2. Mohsen Farshad and Jayendran C. Rasaiah:
Kinetics of nanoparticle nucleation, growth, coalescence, and aggregation:
A theoretical study of (Ag)n nanoparticle formation based on population balance modulated by ligand binding & quot;
Chemical Physics, (2023) 573,112002-112010.
http://omh.umeche.maine.edu/pdfs/Chemical_Physics_573_(2023)_112002.pdf
Atik Faysal, (former) PhD student, and others from the Gramlich research group, recently published a paper in the Journal of Polymer Chemistry, “Pathway to fully-renewable biobased Polyesters derived from HMF and phenols.” The image below is from his abstract.
Chemistry professor Mitchell Bruce and a team of faculty, graduate students and staff recently published a paper in the Journal of Chemical Education, “Designing a Remote,
Synchronous, Hands-On General Chemistry Lab Course“. The course featured chemistry kits, which provided 800 students the opportunity to conduct hands-on experiments at home or in their dorm room during the pandemic. The journal cover art was designed by one of the co-authors, Ahmad Ahmad, a former graduate student in the Chemistry Department (now post-doc in Gramlich group).
Former graduate students from Professor Jay Rasaiah’s research group, Dr. Mohsen Farshad and Dr. Dylan Suvlu have taken postdoctoral positions. Mohsen has joined the research group of Professor Michael L. Klein at Temple University and Dylan is a postdoctoral fellow at MIT with Professor Adam Willard. Their recent publications are listed below.
- Mohsen Farshad, C. Duwage Perera and Professor Jay Rasaiah published a paper entitled “Theoretical study of the stability, structure, and optical spectra of small silver clusters and their formation using density functional theory” in a recent issue ” Physics Chemistry Chemical Physics” 2021,23,25507 published by the Royal Institute of Chemistry in the United Kingdom. They were invited to contribute to the inside cover. The cover was designed by Mohsen Farshad and Charitha Perera and is shown below.
- M.Farshad and J.C.Rasaiah, “Light-nucleotide versus Ion-nucleotide interactions for single nucleotide resolution”,Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2021, 125, 11, 2863–2870
- D. Suvlu, D. Thirumalai, and J. C. Rasaiah “Water-Mediated Interactions Determine Helix Formation of Peptides in Open Nanotubes”, J Physical Chemistry B.2021, 125, 3, 817–824.
- M. Farshad, J.C. Rasaiah, “Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study of Transverse and Longitudal Ionic Currents in Solid-State Nanopore DNA Sequencing“, ACS Applied Nano Materials, 2020, 3, 2, 1438-1447.
- D. Suvlu, M. Farshad, and J.C. Rasaiah, “Nanocluster Growth and Coalescence Modulated by Ligands“, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2020, 124, 31, 17340-17346
- M. Farshad, and J. C. Rasaiah “Reverse Translocation of Nucleotides through a Carbon Nanotube” Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2020, 21, 124(6):937-943.
- M. Farshad, D. Suvlu, J.C. Rasaiah, “Ligand-Mediated Nanocluster Formation with Autocatalytic and Classical Growth“, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2019, 123 (49), 29954-29963.
Ms. Charitha Perera, a former graduate student in Professor Jay Rasaiah’s research group published a paper. She also spoke on her research at Saint Amselm College in NH. The title of her talk was, “A Density Functional Study of Water Splitting Reaction Pathway on ZnO Nanoclusters.”
- D C. Perera, J. Hewage and J.C.Rasaiah, “AceticAcid and PropionicAcid decarboxylation on Mg(OH)2 clusters: a density functional theory study“, J.Mater Sci 2020, 55:16914-16927.
The research groups of Dr. Carl Tripp and Dr. Will Gramlich worked with the Advanced Structures and Composites Center in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to produce new bio-based materials conducive to 3D printing large, structurally demanding systems and objects, from molds for marine and infrastructure applications to homes. This novel material, made from combining bio-based resins and nanocellulose fibers from wood, aims to be an economical and environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional 3D printing feedstocks. Chemistry graduate students Peter Kelly, Grape Senkum (former graduate student), and Sabrina Sultana (former graduate student) and former undergraduate students Peng Cheng and Zoe Karpman are working to chemically modify cellulose nanofibers to improve composites, manufacturing of the nanocellulose, and drying. A recent publication in Macromolecular Rapid Communications by Peter Kelly, Peng Cheng, and Will Gramlich reports some of these efforts.
Charitha Perera of the Rasaiah research group discovered potential coating agent for textiles that decompose sweat (see UMaine weblink for full news release on UMaine’s Research Highlights Page)
Professor Carl Tripp and former graduate assistant, Sfoog Saleh, were featured in Science Direct. The featured article is available here.