Electrochemical synthesis offers an environment friendly technology with unique selectivity towards oxidation, reduction and functionalization. CECRI has developed many electro-organic processes over the years in this field. Some of the process that were commercialized include amino guanidine bicarbonate, unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine, calcium gluconate and potassium iodate. Around 12 licenses were issued for calcium gluconate alone.
To meet out the current product requirements and industrial needs, some of these technologies developed more than two decades ago need upgradation. More effective anode and cathode materials are now available. Some separators like porous pot and asbestos should now be replaced with ion-exchange membranes and other new separator materials. Rotating electrodes and batch cells should be replaced by flow cells with higher space time yields.
Fortunately, such updated modern flow cells are now commercially available. Some of the process like calcium gluconate and potassium iodate still receives enquiries from industries and entrepreneurs. Efforts to update a few commercially viable process of current interest are in progress. This upgradation can be speeded up wherever financial support and customer interest are available.
The Materials Electrochemistry research activities focus on the development of multifunctional materials for energy, environmental and healthcare applications. A gamut of materials are being developed for multifarious applications: (i) solar energy conversion into fuels by means of photocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis, cathodes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), (ii) electrocatalysis for oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions (OER & HER), oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and CO2 reduction, (iii) electrochemical sensors for detecting biologically and environmentally significant compounds, (iv) phosphors with tuneable emission colors for LED and display applications, and (v) electroceramics (dielectric, piezoelectric and magnetic materials) and supercapacitors.