Faculty details

Prof.Bikash Garai

Designation: ANRF-Ramanujan Fellow

Department: Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Email: bikashgarai[at]gmail[dot]com

Contact Number: 9049375387

Personal Page: Click Here

About Me: I am a chemistry enthusiast, working on development of functional porous materials to bring in sustainability in our everyday life. My research objectives include construction of functional porous materials and study their structure-property relationship for application in stimuli-responsiveness, chemical sensing, photocatalysis, water purification, opto-electronics, etc. I employ metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs), Porous Aromatic Frameworks (PAFs), Supramolecular Organic Frameworks (SOFs) and Molecular Cages as the structural platforms which enable molecular-level understanding of host-guest interactions, functional responsiveness, and catalytic behavior.

Research Interest: Porous Frameworks, Supramolecular Chemistry, Photocatalysis, Chemical sensing, Sustainable Water and Energy Applications

Teaching

Practical: Analytical Chemistry (NCYC-522) for M. Sc. 2nd Semester

Academics

B. Sc. (2007-2010): The University of Burdwan

M. Sc. (2010-2012): Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Ph. D. (2013-2018): Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR) at CSIR-NCL

Position

Postdoctoral Researcher (2018-2020): Technische Universität Dresden, Germany

Postdoctoral Associate (2020-2023): New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE

Research Associate (2023-2025): New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE

Associate Research Scientist (2025-2026): New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE

Awards and Honors

CrystEngComm Best Poster Award (2014) at International Conference on Structural Chemistry of Molecules and Materials (SCOMM-2014)

Best Poster Award (2015) at 17th CRSI-National Symposium in Chemistry, 2015

Publications

Books Published

Natural Polymer-Based MOF Composites

T. Kundu, B. Garai, and S.Kaskel

Metal-Organic Frameworks in Biomedical and Environmental Field (pp 321-348), Springer International Publishing, 2021.

List Of Research Publications (only in Peer-reviewed Journals)

Selected Publications:

1. Triple energy conversion cascade in a densely charged redox active covalent organic actuator

B. Garai, G. Das, C. M. Duncan, H. F. Nour, F. Benyettou, T. Prakasam, S. Varghese, H. I. Hamoud, M. El-Roz, J. I. Martinez, F. Gándara, M. A. Olson, and Ali Trabolsi

Nat. Commun, 2025, 15, 5083.

2. Fluorescence “Turn-On” Amine Detection in a Cationic Covalent Organic Framework

G. Das, B. Garai, T. Prakasam, F. Benyettou, S. Varghese, S. K. Sharma, F. Gandara, R.Pasricha, M.Baias, R. Jagannathan, N. Saleh, M. Elhabiri, M. A. Olson, and A. Trabolsi

Nat. Commun.2022, 13, 3904.

3. Taming the Topology of Calix[4]arene-Based 2D-Covalent Organic Frameworks: Interpenetrated vs Noninterpenetrated Frameworks and Their Selective Removal of Cationic Dyes

B. Garai, D. Shetty, T. Skorjanc, F. Gándara, N. Naleem, S. Varghese,S. K. Sharma, M.Baias, R. Jagannathan, M. A. Olson, S. Kirmizialtin, and A. Trabolsi

J. Am. Chem. Soc.2021,143, 3407–3415.

[Featured in the cover page of the journal issue]

4. Reversible switching between positive and negative thermal expansion in a metal–organic framework DUT-49

B. Garai, V. Bon, A. Efimova, M. Gerlach, I. Senkovska, and S. Kaskel

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2020, 8, 20420–20428.

[Selected for Journal of Materials Chemistry A ‘HOT Papers’]

5. Tunable Flexibility and Porosity of the Metal-Organic Framework DUT-49 through Postsynthetic Metal Exchange

B. Garai, V. Bon, S. Krause, F.Schwotzer, M. Gerlach, I. Senkovska, and S. Kaskel

Chem. Mater.2020, 32, 889–896.

6. Photochromic metal–organic frameworks for inkless and erasable printing

B. Garai, A. Mallick, and R. Banerjee

Chem. Sci.2016, 7, 2195–2200.

[This article is part of the themed collection: Top 50 Articles of 2016: Inorganic Chemistry]

7. Hydrolytic conversion of a metal–organic polyhedron into a metal–organic framework

A. Mallick, B. Garai, D. Díaz Díaz, and R. Banerjee

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 13755–13759.

[Authors contributed equally to the work]

Patents

Photochromic metal organic frameworks for inkless and erasable printing 

R. Banerjee, B. Garai, A. Mallick

(US patent, 2020, Patent No. 10656515)

Projects & Activities

Guidance