Dr. Venu Keerthi, PhD

Experience

• 

  Pondicherry University

  Aug 2007 - May 2012

  As a 5 years Integrated Master's student at Pondicherry university,India, I have one year research experience under the supervision of prof. H. Surya Prakash Rao, Dean school of physical chemical & applied sciences at advance chemical synthesis laboratory and the details of the project is as follows:Most of the heterocyclic drugs are not extracted from natural sources but are synthesized from readily available fine chemicals. In this aspect synthesis and characterization of new molecular entities incorporating heterocyclic structures is of high importance. There are multiple benefits exploring this type of organic chemistry such as unravel intrinsic chemical behaviour of small molecules which still remain mysterious, may generate development of new methods for synthesis, characterization of a set of compounds by spectral means would create benchmarks for characterization of similar molecules, biological evaluation of prepared compounds may expose lead compounds for further structural fine tuning and etc. In this one year master's project, I have reported a facile synthesis of 4-(2- hydroxyaryl)-3-nitro-4H chromenes from C4-SMe substitution in 4H-chromene. This effort leads to a combinatorial library of 4-(2-hydroxyaryl)-3-nitro-4H-chromenes with structural variations in phenol and N-alkyl groups.Reference: Bioorg. Med. Chem, 14, (2006), 6686; Bioorg. Med. Chem, 15, (2007), 6450; Tetrahedron Letters, 49, (2008), 3276. Show less

  • Final year project (M.Sc. thesis-2012)

    Jun 2011 - May 2012

  • Class Representative (CR)

    Aug 2007 - May 2012
• 

  Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Banaglore

  May 2008 - Jul 2010

  Diploma in chemistry (POCE-2008)

  In all India competition, I have been selected for "Project Oriented Chemical Education (POCE)" which has been initiated by Prof. C.N.R. Rao at JNCASR, India. As a POCE student I was at JNCASR for three years [every summer (2.5 months) & winter session(1 month)]. During my internship I got an opportunity to work with Prof. Ranjan Datta, Prof. Shiva Prasad & Prof. Kulkarni. During this period I have been taught few modules related to chemistry and also I have been involved in cutting edge research on chemistry of materials. Bellow are the titles of projects those I have undertaken during this period.1) Indium doped Gallium nitride nanocrystals (References: Nature Materials, 3, (2004) 601; solid state commun, 141, (2007), 325)2) Chemically ordered domain structure of graphene analogue BxCyNz (this work has been published in solid state commun, 150, (2010), 2262)3) Electroless deposition of silver nanoparticles on Gallium Nitride nanowall network for the purpose of tuning photoluminescence properties of GaN. (Reference: J. Mater. Sci. Lett, 17, (1998), 303; Appl. Phy. Lett, 88, (2006), 143111) Show less

• 

  National University of Singapore

  May 2011 - Jul 2011

  Summer Internship Programme for Indian Students (SIPIS-2011)

  In all India competition, I have been selected for "Summer Internship Programme for Indian Students (SIPIS-2011)" Organised by Department of Physics, National University of Singapore. During this time I got a chance to work on a project title as"Efficient surfactant-free and chemical reductant-free solvothermal deoxidation of solution-processable sub-stoichiometric graphene oxide" and the details of the project is as follows:We report an efficient solvothermal process to achieve deep deoxidation of octadecylamine functionalized sub-stoichiometric graphene oxides (sub-GOx) in organic solvents. We found a strong solvent effect in the relative rates of alkyl chain degrafting and/or chain scission versus deoxidation and/or regraphenization. The desired deoxidation and/or regraphenization are promoted at higher temperatures and by the use of aprotic amide solvents. Furthermore we found that carbon monoxide (CO) was a remarkably efficient fugitive deoxidizer. A key advantage of this solvothermal deoxidation process is that the resultant dispersion of conductive graphenes can be directly used for printing, coating or formulating into nanocomposites, without further purification or heat treatment. Thin films of the deoxidized sub-GOx give dc conductivities of up to 40 S cm−1, which is the highest reported to date for solvent-processable graphene derivatives. These films show temperature independent conductivity, which suggests that its conductivity is largely limited by tunneling between the alkyl chain spacers.Reference: J. Mater. Chem. C, 1, (2013), 7246. Show less

• 

  Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Banaglore

  May 2012 - Dec 2012

  Research Assistant

  As a research assistant (RA) at 'Molecular Beam Epitaxy laboratory' JNCASR, Bangalore, I was working on "Modifying the optical properties of Gallium Nitride (GaN) nanowall network using silver nanoparticles" and details of the project is as follows:The objective of this work is to modify GaN network surface with fcc type metal (Ag) which can in turn be used as a sensor. We have deposited Silver (Ag) particles by Electroless deposition (ELD) as well as physical vapor deposition (PVD) on Gallium Nitride (GaN) naowall network, which has been grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) on sapphire (c-Al2O3). We have investigated the changes in optical properties of the system and correlated it with the position of Ag particles position on the network at different annealing temperatures. Experimental results suggest that with a careful adsorption of Ag nanoparticles and inducing appropriate Ag thermal diffusion can control the luminescence properties of Ag/GaN interface since GaN nanowall network provides a large surface area and well defined pores for Ag confinement.Reference: J. Mater. Sci. Lett, 17, (1998), 303; Appl. Phy. Lett, 88, (2006), 143111. Show less

• 

  National University of Singapore / Organic Nano Device Laboratory (ONDL)

  Jul 2013 - Feb 2017

  As a safety lead, I work closely with department of chemistry, NUS safety officer to make sure working conditions in and around the lab are safe and controllable. In case if the safety standards go down then I used to discuss key points with particular person or research group members in order to create safe working environment. Being a safety lead, once or twice in a year, I used to attend ‘safety lead update meeting’ organized by faculty of science, NUS and convey the meeting summary to research group members. Show less Apart from my research at NUS, I mentored four FYP students (during their Final Year Project, undergraduate students need to work in Chemistry research labs for a year and defend their thesis in scientific panel along with presentation of poster at departmental symposium), one UROP student (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme, As a part of their curriculum students will register for this module and defend their thesis at the end) for a year and five Junior College students (top class, interested junior college students will be attached with university research groups to train them on research activities) for a semester.Names of students in above mention order: Png Zhuang Mao; Teo Poh Seng Alex; Matthew-Shane; Daryl Darwan; Yao Yiheng; Kang Yi Cheng; Hoe Kian Guang; Tay Min Yi and Wang Yangwu Show less As a graduate student at Organic Nano Device Laboratory (ONDL), National University of Singapore, I was working on ‘synthesis of high molecular weight organic semiconducting polymers and their device applications such as OLEDs, OFETs’. ‘Perfluorophenyl azide photocrosslinkers and their role in constructing the hetero-structures of polymer electronic devices (Ex. OPV, OLED & OFET)’ was another major research project I have undertaken.Perfluorophenyl azide photocrosslinkers has practical applications in polymer organic semiconductors and they can be mixed into polymer matrix to effect general non-specific photocrosslinking when exposed to deep-ultraviolet (DUV) or i-line light without degrading their essential semiconductor properties such as exciton and charge-carrier traps even for the most demanding organic semiconductors. New device architecture can be achieved, including photo-patterned transistor circuits that are now possible in conventional lithography tools and this opens the possibility to elaborate advanced processing methodologies and develop sophisticated device architectures for polymer organic semiconductor devices that are no longer constraint by the limitations of solution processing methods.Side/parallel projects I have undertaken during my graduate studies:1) n- and p-doped semiconducting polymers for ohmic contacts in polymer electronic devices such as OLEDs & OPVs.2) Conjugated polyelectrolytes (homopolymers) for interface doping of polymer semiconductors in Organic Field Effect Transistors (OFETs).3) Acceptor (PC60BM) infiltrated crosslinked donor polymer (PBDTTPD) network solar cell.4) Solution processable, functionalized graphene oxide for nonlinear optical applications. Show less

  • Laboratory Safety Lead, ONDL, Dept. of Chemistry, NUS

    Sept 2013 - Feb 2017

  • Supervision/Mentor

    Jul 2013 - Feb 2017

  • Graduate student

    Jan 2013 - Feb 2017

  • Graduate Teaching Assistant

    Jul 2013 - Jun 2014
• 

  Nanyang Technological University

  Mar 2017 - now

  As a research associate at Energetics Research Institute (EnRI), Nanyang Technological University, I worked on following two research projects and their details were shown bellow(A) Fluoropolymer coated Aluminum particles (micro/nano size) for an enhanced energetic composite combustion:The presence of fluorine on the alumina passivation shell surrounding an aluminum particle is expected to react with Al2O3 exothermically to form AlF3. Such exothermic surface reaction precedes the main/active Aluminum oxidation reaction and has been coined as a pre-ignition reaction (PIR) and PIR can be used to enhance the Aluminum reactivity. The fluorine rich environment on the alumina passivation shell can be created either by physical (physisorption of polymer onto the Al-particle surface) or chemical (self-assembly of polymer onto the Al-particle through some chemical bond) methods.(B) Synthesis of energetic polymer binders and plasticisers for high energy applications:The design of future weapons systems requires the use of an explosive and propellant formulations having enhanced performance and reduced vulnerability during storage and transportation. Several approaches are available to provide Insensitive Munitions (IM) solutions, including weapon design, mitigation devices and packaging, although perhaps the most obvious one is the use of intrinsically less sensitive explosive and propellant formulations.One approach to less sensitive explosives is the development of cast-cured polymer bonded explosives (PBE), in which the explosive ingredient is suspended in a polymeric binder, cured in-situ as a tough elastomeric rubber which absorbs and dissipates the energy from hazardous stimuli. Binders are typically cross-linked polymers providing a matrix to bind the solids together with a plasticiser (usually not more than 50% of the total binder system) to ease processing of the uncured mix and to modify the mechanical properties of the final composition. Show less

  • Research Fellow

    Mar 2018 - now

  • Research Associate

    Mar 2017 - Feb 2018