Rate My Professor Ajayan Vinu

Professor Ajayan Vinu is the Laureate Professor of Nanomaterials and Director of the Global Innovative Centre for Advanced Nanomaterials in the School of Science, College of Engineering, Science and Environment at the University of Newcastle, Australia, since October 2017. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Master of Science in Chemistry with first class from Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tamil Nadu, India, and Doctor of Philosophy from Anna University, India, with his doctoral research performed at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, from 2000 to 2003. His distinguished career encompasses positions as Professor of Nanomaterials and ARC Future Fellow (Professorial Level 3) at the Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia from 2015 to 2017; Professor and ARC Future Fellow at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland from 2011 to 2015; Senior Scientist and Research Director at the National Institute for Materials Science, International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, Japan from 2006 to 2011; and International Young Scientist Fellow at the National Institute for Materials Science, Japan from 2004 to 2006.

Professor Vinu's research specializes in nanoporous materials for energy generation and storage, drug delivery, carbon capture and conversion, catalysis, CO2 capture, hydrogen storage, materials chemistry, mesoporous materials, nanomaterials, nanotechnology, photocatalysis, sensing, solar cells, supercapacitors and batteries, water splitting, hydrogen generation, and hydrogen utilization. He has published approximately 595 papers in high-impact journals, garnering over 46,000 citations and an H-index of 110, with 125 papers cited more than 100 times and 56 exceeding 200 citations. Key publications include 'Borophene: Crucial Challenges and the Way Forward' (2026), 'Fe2+-Induced Activation of Single and Dual Metal Site—Lattice Oxygen Mechanism in Fe Rich NiFe-LDHs for Oxygen Evolution Reaction' (2026), 'Carbon nitride incorporated nanoporous carbon nanoarchitectonics derived from Victorian brown coal for supercapacitor and oxygen reduction reaction' (2026), and 'Nitrogen enriched mesoporous carbon nitrides: Applications in heterogeneous (photo) catalysis' (2018). He serves on the editorial boards of ACS Central Science, Carbon Energy, Carbon, Small Science, Materials Today Nano, The Chemical Record, Emergent Materials, Heliyon, Scientific Reports, and others. His accolades include Highly Cited Researcher 2024 by Clarivate, Aether Industries Dr R. A. Mashelkar ICS Centennial Jubilee Award, Asian Paints Padma Vibhushan Dr R A Mashelkar Medal 2023, CRS Gold Medal 2023, Chemical Research Society of India Medal 2018, CNR Rao Lectureship Award 2019, fellowships as FRSC, FRACI, FWAC, FWAAS, and over $30 million AUD in research funding. He has delivered approximately 300 lectures, including 52 plenary and 37 keynote, across more than 40 countries and holds honorary professor positions at Hokkaido University, Yonsei University, and others.