Dr. Zahoor Hussain Farooqi

Associate Professor,
Punjab University, Lahore

Short Bio: Dr. Farooqi worked at City University of New York, USA, University of Liverpool, UK and Loughborough University, UK. He is author of two Physical Chemistry laboratory manuals and one book chapter. He has published 140 articles with accumulative impact factor more than 600 which have attracted more about 4000 citations with H-index of 39 and i-10 index of 94 (Google Scholar). In addition to these, he secured HEC grants under various schemes.

Keynote Topic: Smart Polymer Microgels and Hybrid Microgels for Environmental and Catalytic Applications

School of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, New Campus, Lahore 54590, Pakistan

Synthesis and characterization of smart microgel particles have gained a lot of consideration in last two decades due to their potential applications in various fields including nanotechnology, catalysis and environmental science. Our group has reported different microgel systems with different morphologies for in-situ fabrication and stabilization of metal nanoparticles. The homogeneous microgel particles were obtained by a single step process of free radical precipitation polymerization. However, core-shell microgel particles were obtained by two step precipitation polymerization method. We have also developed a single step method to obtain core shell microgel particles. Metal nanoparticles were loaded into the microgel system by reduction of metal ions inside the polymer network. Both pure and hybrid microgel systems were characterized by UV-Visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, thermo-gravimetric analysis and transmission electron microscopy. Microgel particles were used as adsorbent for removal of heavy metal ions from waste water. Catalytic activity of the hybrid microgels was investigated by carrying out the reduction of various nitroarenes and organic dyes in aqueous medium in the presence of the hybrid system. Catalytic activity of the smart hybrid microgel systems was found externally tunable by changing the pH and temperature of the medium. Catalytic system was found to be recyclable and may be used for other organic transformations in aqueous medium.