Profile
Educational Background
PhD, Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 2005
MSc, Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, 2000
BSc with Chemistry Honors, Chemistry, Jadavpur University, India, 1998
Profile/About Me
Dr. Saha received his MSc degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and earned his PhD degree (2005) from University of California, Los Angeles, working on light and electron-powered molecular switches (i.e., bistable rotaxanes) under the supervision of 2016 chemistry Nobel Laureate, Sir Fraser Stoddart. He conducted postdoctoral research in Prof. Andy Hamilton’s laboratory at Yale University (2007–09) where he studied programming DNA and PNA quadruplex structures. Dr. Saha started his independent academic career at Florida State University in 2009 before moving to Clemson University as an Associate Professor in 2016. His research interest lies at the interface of supramolecular and materials chemistry.
Research Interests
The skyrocketing energy demand and growing urgency to reduce anthropogenic strains on our health and environment necessitate continuous innovation and supply of stimuli-responsive functional materials that can generate, transport, and store electrical energy, detect and remedy harmful agents, and perform other sophisticated tasks that enable technological advances. To this end, we are designing and constructing smart functional materials via chemical synthesis and supramolecular self-assembly, incorporating them into prototype devices, such as photovoltaic cells, coin-cell batteries, and field-effect transistors, and studying their structure–property relationships using optical, magnetic, and vibrational spectroscopies, electrochemistry, electron microscopies, x-ray and neutron diffraction analyses, and computational modeling. Graduate, undergraduate, and postdoctoral researchers involved in these cutting-edge multi-faceted research projects learn myriad advanced synthetic, characterization, spectroscopic, and analytical techniques that prepare them to spearhead future material discovery and development in industry or academia. Here is a brief description of ongoing projects in the Saha Lab:
1. Electronic and Photonic Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs) and Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs): Electrically and ionic conducting MOFs and COFs are drawing significant attention because of their diverse potential applications in molecular electronics and clean energy technologies, such as supercapacitors, chemiresistive sensors, electrocatalysts, and electrochromic devices. Electrical conductivity of materials is a function of charge carrier density and charge mobility, which are dictated by their structures and compositions. Depending on their structures and connectivity, charge-transport through MOFs occurs through metal-ligand coordination bonds with high covalent character, extended pi-conjugated ligands, pi-pi and pi-donor/acceptor stacks, and/or via redox-hopping, whereas the COFs largely depend on through-space charge transport via pi-stacked layers, as they usually lack continuous through-bond conduction pathways. While redox-active components supply mobile charge carriers, the formation of efficient long-range charge transport pathways in these porous frameworks, which are needed for charge mobility, requires innovative design and synthetic strategies. Our research aims to address this critical challenge by developing intrinsically conducting frameworks featuring built-in charge transport pathways extended in different directions, as well as boosting the conductivity of poor conducting ones by introducing redox-active agents, conducting organic polymers, and metal nanoparticles that create conduction pathways. In addition, we are also developing ionic conducting MOFs and COFs containing reversible Li+, Na+, K+, and Mg2+ ion binding sites that can be used as active components of rechargeable batteries and light-harvesting MOFs based on various chromophores and fluorophores that can convert light to electrical energy.
2. Charge Transporting Supramolecular pi-Donor/Acceptor Arrays Based on Redox-Active Metallacycles and Metal-Organic Cages: Another project in the Saha lab focuses on self-assembly and structure–property (electronic and optical) relationship studies of inclusion complexes of metallacycles and metal-organic cages having pi-donor faces that encapsulate complementary ?-acceptors and form well-defined and tailorable pi-donor/acceptor arrays capable of long-range charge delocalization.
3. Reversible Anion and Ion-Pair Recognition through Anion-Induced Electron and Charge Transfer Interactions: We are also developing novel anion and ion-pair receptors based on pi-acceptors with tunable electron accepting ability that can discriminate anions based on their Lewis basicity through distinct electron-transfer and charge-transfer interactions and capture charge-diffuse anions through anion–pi interactions.
This research has been supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) Grants # DMR-2321365, DMR-1809092, and CHE-2203985, CHE-1660329.
Note: Prospective postdoctoral researchers with experience in MOFs, COFs, coordination cages, single crystal x-ray crystal structure analysis, and electrochemistry, and graduate students interested in aforesaid fields are encouraged to contact Prof. Saha via email: souravs@clemson.edu
Research Group (Lab)
Current:
Dr. Ashok Yadav (postdoc)
Shiyu Zhang (graduate student)
Weikang Zheng (graduate student)
Evan Thibodeaux (graduate student)
Azhar Ansari (graduate student)
Luke Cromer (graduate student)
Tirthankar Biswas (graduate student)
Ellis Barger (undergraduate student)
Graduated:
Paola Benavides (PhD, 2023) — Now @ Dow Chemicals
Monica Gordillo (PhD, 2022) — Now @ Dow Chemicals
Amina Khatun (PhD, 2021) – Now @ Intel Corp. Portland, OR
Krishnendu Maity (PhD, 2018) – Now @ Molekule, Tampa, FL
Andrei Palukoshka (MS, 2020) – Now @ Parimer Scientific, Easley, SC
Faysal Ibrahim (BS, 2020) – Now a grad student @ UWisc. Madison
Courses Taught
Organic Chemistry (Undergraduate)
Supramolecular & Materials Chemistry (Graduate and Senior Undergraduate)
Selected Publications
• Benavides, P. A.; Gordillo, M. A.; Thibodeaux, E.; Yadav, A.; Johnson, E.; Sachdeva, R.; Saha. S.* Rare Guest-Induced Electrical Conductivity of Zn-Porphyrin Metallacage Inclusion Complexes Featuring pi-Donor/Acceptor/Donor Stacks. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2024, 16, 1234–1242.
• Attia, M. F.; Ogunnaike, E. A.; Pitz, M.; Elbaz, N. M.; Panda, D. K. Alexander-Bryant, A.; Saha, S.;*, Whitehead, D. W.;* Kananov, A.* Enhancing Drug Delivery with Supramolecular Amphiphilic Macrocycle Nanoparticles: Selective Targeting of CDK4/6 Inhibitor Palbociclib to Melanoma. Biomaterials Science 2024, 12, 725–737.
• Yadav. A.; Zhang, S.; Benavides, P. A.; Zhou, W.; Saha, S.* Electrically Conducting pi-Intercalated Graphitic Metal–Organic Framework Containing Alternate pi-Donor/Acceptor Stacks. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, e202303819.
• Zhang, S.; Zhang, W.; Yadav. A.; Baker, J. M.; Saha, S.* From a Collapse-Prone, Insulating Ni-MOF-74 Analogue to Crystalline, Porous, Semiconducting MOF/Conducting Polymer Composites. Inorganic Chemistry 2023, 62, 18999–19005.
• Gordillo, M. A.; Benavides, P. A.; Ma, K.; Saha. S.* Transforming an Insulating Metal–Organic Framework (MOF) into Semiconducting MOF/Gold-Nanoparticle and MOF/Polymer/Gold-Nanoparticle Composites to Gain Electrical Conductivity. ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 2022, 5, 13912–13920.
• Khatun, A; Yadav. A.; Saha, S.* Transforming an Insulating Metal–Organic Framework (MOF) into Electrically Conducting MOF?Conducting Polymer Composites. Materials Today Chemistry 2022, 24, 100981.
• Gordillo, M. A.; Benavides, P. A.; McMillen, C.; Saha. S.* Iodine-induced electrical conductivity of novel columnar lanthanide metal–organic frameworks based on a butterfly-shaped pi-extended tetrathiafulvalene ligand. Mater. Adv. 2022, 3, 6157–6160.
• Benavides, P. A.; Gordillo, M. A.; Yadav. A.; Joaqui-Joaqui, M. A.; Saha. S.* Pt(II)-Coordinated Tricomponent Self-Assemblies of Tetrapyridyl Porphyrin and Dicarboxylate Ligands: Are They 3D Prisms or 2D Bow Ties? Chem. Sci. 2022, 13, 4070–4081.
• Zhang, S.; Panda, D. K.; Yadav. A.; Zhou, W.; Saha, S.* Effects of intervalence charge transfer interaction between pi-stacked mixed-valent tetrathiafulvalene ligands on the electrical conductivity of 3D metal–organic frameworks. Chem. Sci. 2021, 12, 13379–13391.
• Yadav. A.; Panda, D. K.; Zhang, S.; Zhou, W.; Saha, S.* Electrically Conductive 3D Metal–Organic Framework Featuring pi-Acidic Hexaazatriphenylene Hexacarbonitrile Ligands with Anion–pi Interaction and Efficient Charge Transport Capabilities. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2020, 12, 40613–40618.
• Gordillo, M. A.; Benavides, P. A.; Panda, D. K.; Saha, S.* Advent of Electrically Conducting Double-Helical Metal–Organic Frameworks Featuring Butterfly-Shaped Electron Rich pi-Extended Tetrathiafulvalene Ligands. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2020, 12, 12955–12961.
• Gordillo, M. A.; Panda, D. K.; Saha, S*. Efficient MOF-Sensitized Solar Cells Featuring Solvothermally Grown [100]-Oriented Pillared Porphyrin Framework-11 Films on ZnO-FTO Surfaces. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2019, 11, 3196–3206.
• Panda, D. K.; Maity, K.; Palukoshka, A.; Ibrahim, F.; Saha, S.* Li+ Ion Conducting Sulfonate-Based Neutral Metal–Organic Framework. ACS Sus. Chem. Eng. 2019, 7, 4619–4624.
• Khatun, A.; Panda, D. K.; Sayresmith, N.; Walter, M. G.; Saha, S.* Thiazolothiazole-Based Luminescent Metal–Organic Frameworks with Ligand-to-Ligand Energy Transfer and Hg2+-Sensing Capabilities. Inorg. Chem. 2019, 58, 12707–12715.
• Saha, S.* Anion-Induced Electron Transfer. Accounts of Chemical Research 2018, 51, 2225–2236.
• Guo, Z.; Panda, D. K.; Gordillo, M. A; Khatun, A.; Wu, H.; Zhou, W.; Saha, S.* Lowering Band Gap of an Electroactive Metal–Organic Framework via Complementary Guest Intercalation. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2017, 9, 32413–32417.
Memberships
American Chemical Society
Honors and Awards
• Kavli Fellow of the US National Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Sciences (2016)
• Innovator Award, Florida State University (2015)
• ChemComm Emerging Investigator (2014)
• American Chemical Society Young Academic Investigator in Organic Chemistry (2014)
• ACS-PRF Doctoral New Investigator Award (2011)
• First Year Assistant Professor Award, Florida State University (2010)
