Mohindar Seehra
Eberly Family Distinguished Professor
B.S., Punjab University (India), 1959
M.S., Aligarh University (India), 1962
Ph.D., University of Rochester, 1969
Fellow, the Institute of Physics (U.K.), 2001 – Current
Fellow, the American Physical Society, 1984 – Current
Research Fellow, A. P. Sloan Foundation, 1973 – 1976

West Virginia University
Department of Physics
PO Box 6315
Morgantown, WV 26506

Tel: (304)293-3422 ext. 1473
Fax: (304)293-5732
mseehra@wvu.edu

Vita – requires Adobe Acrobat Reader

Research Group (as of February 2006): Postdoctoral research associates Prasanta Dutta and Susmita Pal; Graduate students Jenny Shim, Sukanya Ranganathan and Vivek Singh; undergraduate student Jeremy Fortune.

Research Programs: A major focus of our research program is the investigations of the structural and magnetic properties of nanoparticles since nanoparticles are the building blocks of nanotechnology. As size is reduced below about 30 nm, properties of materials begin to deviate strongly from those of their bulk counterparts because of the increasing role of the surface atoms. Also, the reduced dimensions lead to quantum effects. Materials currently under investigation are nanoparticles of transition metals and their oxides such as Ni, NiO, Co, CoO, CeO2, Fe, Fe2O3, FeOOH etc. These materials are prepared by chemical methods such as sol-gel technique. Challenge is to devise procedures to produce particles of desired shapes and sizes and with very narrow size distributions. These particles are capped to reduce interparticle interactions. For structural investigations, x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and FTIR spectroscopy are employed whereas SQUID magnetometry, electron magnetic resonance, temperature-programmed reduction, and differential scanning calorimetry are used for investigating electronic and magnetic properties. U.S. Department of Energy is providing support for these studies.

A second focus area is the applications of nanomaterials in catalysis. We are investigating CuO and CeO2 based catalysts supplied by our collaborators at the University of Pittsburgh and University of Utah for technologies associated with the production and storage of hydrogen. We are also investigating the electrochemical oxidation of carbons to produce pure hydrogen. These studies are supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Recent Publications (for complete list, see vita):

S.B. Majumder, S. Bhattacharyya, R. S. Katiyar, A. Manivannan, P. Dutta and M.S. Seehra: Dielectric and magnetic properties of sol-gel derived Pb(Fe0.5Nb0.5)O3 ceramics, J. Appl. Phys. 99, 024108 (7 pages) 2006.

P. Dutta, B.C. Dunn, E.M. Eyring, N. Shah, G.P. Huffman, A. Manivannan and M.S. Seehra: Characteristics of cobalt nanoneedles in 10% Co/aerogel Fischer-Tropsch catalyst, Chem. Materials 17, 5183-5186 (2005).

S. Neeleshwar, C.L. Chen. C.B. Tsai, Y.Y. Chen, C.C. Chen, S.G. Shyu and M.S. Seehra: Size dependent properties of CdSe quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B (Rapid Commun); B71, 201307R (4 pages) 2005.

N.O. Elbashir, P. Dutta, A. Manivannan, M.S. Seehra and C.B. Roberts: Impact of cobalt-based catalyst characteristics on the performance of conventional gas-phase and supercritical-phase Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, Applied Catalysis: General 285, 169-180 (2005).

A. Manivannan, L. Ramakrishnan, M.S. Seehra, E. Granite, J.E. Butler, D.A. Tryk and A. Fujishima: Mercury detection at boron doped diamond electrodes using rotating disk technique, J. Electroanalytical Chemistry 577, 287-293 (2005).

A. Manivannan, G. Glaspell, P. Dutta and M.S. Seehra: Nature of the reversible paramagnetism to ferromagnetism state in cobalt-doped titanium dioxide, J. Appl. Phys. 97, 10D325 (3 pages) (2005).

M.S. Seehra, H. Shim, P. Dutta, A. Manivannan and J. Bonevich: Interparticle interaction effects in the magnetic properties of 5 nm NiO nanorods, J. Appl. Phys. 97, 10J609 (3 pages) (2005).

A. Punnoose, M.S. Seehra, J. van Tol and L.C. Brunel: High frequency electron magnetic resonance and magnetic studies of ferrihydrite nanoparticles and evidence of a phase transition, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 288, 168-172 (2005).

P. Dutta, N.O. Elbashir, A.Manivannan, M.S. Seehra and C.B. Roberts: Characterization of Fischer-Tropsch cobalt-based catalysts (Co/SiO2, Co/Al2O3) by x-ray diffraction and magnetic measurements, Catal. Letters 98, 203-210 (2004).

P. Dutta, A. Manivannan, M.S. Seehra, N. Shah and G.P. Huffman: Magnetic properties of nearly defect-free maghemite nanocrystals, Phys. Rev. B 70, 174428 (7 pages) (2004).

B.C. Dunn, D.L. Covington, P. Cole, R. J. Pugmire, H.L.C. Meuzelaar, R.D. Ernst, E.C. Heider, E.M. Eyring, N. Shah, G.P. Huffman, M.S. Seehra, A. Manivannan and P. Dutta: Silica xerogel supported cobalt metal Fischer-Tropsch catalysts for syngas to diesel fuel range conversion, Energy & Fuels 18, 1519-1521 (2004).

M.S. Seehra, P. Roy, A. Raman and A. Manivannan: Structural investigations of synthetic ferrihydrite nanoparticles doped with Si, Solid State Commun. 130, 597-601 (2004).

P. Dutta, A. Manivannan, M.S. Seehra, P.M. Adekkanattu and J. Guin: Determination of electronic state and concentration of Ni in NiSAPO catalysts by magnetic measurements, Catalysis Letters 94, 181-185 (2004).

M.S. Seehra, P. Dutta, H. Shim and A. Manivannan: Temperature dependence of electron magnetic resonance and magnetization in NiO nanorods, Solid St. Commun. 129, 721-725 (2004).

A. Punnoose, T. Phanthavady, M.S. Seehra, N. Shah and G.P. Huffman: Magnetic properties of ferrihydrite nanoparticles doped with Ni, Mo and Ir, Phys. Rev. B 69, 054425 (9 pages) 2004.

A. Manivannan, M.S. Seehra and A. Fujishima: Detection of mercury at the ppb level in solution using boron doped diamond electrode, Fuel Processing Technology 85, 513-519 (2004).

A. Manivannan, G. Glaspell and M.S. Seehra: Controlled transformation of paramagnetism to room temperature ferromagnetism in cobalt-doped titanium dioxide, J. Appl. Phys. (Letter) 94, 6994-6996 (2003).

M.S. Seehra and A. Punnoose: Particle size dependence of exchange-bias and coercivity in CuO nanoparticles, Solid State Commun. 128, 299-302 (2003).

A. Manivannan, M. S. Seehra, S. B. Majumder and R.S. Katiyar: Magnetism of Co-doped Titania thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis, Appl. Phys. Letters 83, 111-113 (2003).

A. Punnoose, M.S. Seehra, W.K. Park and J.S. Moodera: On the room temperature ferromagnetism in Co-doped TiO2 films, J. Appl. Phys. 93, 7867-7869 (2003).

A. Punnoose, E.H. Morales, Y. Wang, D. Lederman and M.S. Seehra: Hysteretic ferromagnetic resonance as a probe for coercivity, exchange-bias and loop asymmetry, J. Appl. Phys. (Letter) 93 771-773 (2003).