4\/18\/26: Dulcemariam Haddabah joins the group as undergraduate student researcher!<\/p>\n
3\/23\/26: Zohaib and Benish presente posters at the 2026 Spring ACS meeting in Atlanta, GA;<\/p>\n
3\/20\/26: Dr. Akopov presented a talk titled \u201cY(<\/span>TM<\/span><\/i>)B4 Catalysts: From Water Splitting to Reforming Reactions\u201d at the 2026 Seaborg Symposium at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA;<\/span><\/p>\n 1\/20\/26: The cover image<\/a> for our Chem.Comm.<\/em> article is published online;<\/p>\n 1\/15\/26: Akash Putchakayala\u00a0joins the group as an undergraduate student researcher!<\/p>\n 12\/02\/25: A new article on the HER properties of YCrB4 type ternary borides was published in <\/span>Chemical Communications<\/em>, titled <\/span>“Probing layered Y(TM<\/i>)B4 (TM<\/i> = Cr, Mo and W) borides as efficient hydrogen evolution reaction electrocatalysts”<\/a>;<\/span><\/p>\n 11\/20\/25: Rutva Joshi passed her Masters Defense and Submitted the Masters Thesis. Congratulations, Rutva on getting the Masters Degree in Chemistry!<\/p>\n 11\/7\/25: Dr. Akopov presented a talk titled “Fire, Lightning and Water: Synthesis and Catalytic Properties of YWB4 and Rb2SnBr6<\/span>” at the seminar in the Chemistry Department at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA. Thanks to Professor Xiaoyan Tan for the invitation!<\/p>\n 09\/08\/25: A new article on mechanical properties of high entropy dodecaborides was published in Chem. Mater.<\/em>, titled “Understanding Failure Strain and Hardness in Solid Solutions and High-Entropy Superhard Metal Dodecaborides”<\/a><\/p>\n 07\/08\/25: Rahidul will be joining Prof. Dong-Kyun Ko group in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department at NJIT as a postdoc on July 15th!<\/p>\n 06\/24\/25: Our group hosted undergraduate students from the Dominican University.<\/p>\n 06\/20\/25: We have received a grant of $110,000 over two years from the ACS PRF for “Investigation of Metal Borocarbides as Poison-Resistant Reforming Catalysts” project!<\/p>\n 06\/06\/25: David Lopez joins the group as an undergraduate student researcher!<\/p>\n 4\/30\/25: Dr. Akopov presented a talk titled “Fire, Lightning and Water: Synthesis and Optical Properties of Intermetallic Halides<\/span>” at the seminar in the Chemistry Department at Wichita State University, Wichita, KS. Thanks to Professor Jian Wang for the invitation!<\/p>\n 4\/11\/25: Dr. Akopov presented a talk titled “Hydrothermal Growth and Characterization of Large Rb2SnBr6 Double Perovskite Crystals<\/span>” at the 2025 Spring MRS meeting\u00a0 in Seattle, WA.<\/p>\n 4\/4\/25: We have received an Individual Fulcrum grant of $15,000 from the Rutgers Research Council for “Metal Borocarbides as Poison-Resistant Catalysts” project!<\/p>\n 3\/25\/25: Rahidul presented a talk titled “Fabrication and characterization of centimeter to millimeter-scale stable Rb2SnBr6 double perovskite single crystals for photocatalytic and optoelectronic applications<\/span>” at the 2025 Spring ACS meeting in San Diego, CA;<\/p>\n 3\/22\/25: Zohaib presented a poster titled “Comparative study of single and nanosized tin halide perovskites for visible-Light photocatalysis<\/span>” at the 2025 Spring ACS meeting in San Diego, CA;<\/p>\n 1\/21\/25: A new article on the growth of Rb2SnBr6 perovskite crystals was published in Dalton Transactions<\/em>, titled “Hydrothermal Growth and Characterization of Large Rb2SnBr6 Double Perovskite Crystals: A Promising Semiconductor Material for Photocatalysis and Optoelectronics”<\/a><\/p>\n 1\/18\/25: A new article on the synthesis and magnetic properties of 3d and 4f metal tetrel sulfides was published in Chemistry of Materials<\/em>, titled\u00a0“Interplay of 3d and 4f Magnetism in Chiral Y6FeSi2S14 and Tb6FeSi2S14 Chalcogenides”<\/a><\/p>\n 12\/16\/24: Benish Fatima and Ali Hossain have joined the group and will start in Spring 2025 semester!<\/p>\n 12\/9\/24: Zohaib has passed his candidacy exam! Congratulations!<\/p>\n 11\/26\/24: A new article on the synthesis and luminescent properties of doped metal tetrel thioiodides was published in Inorganic<\/em> Chemistry<\/em>, titled “Enhancement of crystal growth in molten salts by co-crystallization agent: Synthesis and Luminescent Properties of Ce3+ and Eu2+-doped La3(SiS4)2I”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n 08\/26\/24: A new article on the synthesis and NLO properties of transition metal tetrel phosphides was published in Chemistry of Materials<\/em>, titled \u201cFeSi4P4 and CoSi3P3: Hidden Gems of Ternary Tetrel Pnictides with Outstanding Non-Linear Optical Properties\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n 07\/26\/24: Dr. Akopov presented a poster titled “Fire and Water: Synthesis and Optical Properties of Intermetallic Halides” at the 2024 Solid State Gordon Research Conference (GRC) meeting at the Colby-Sawyer College in New London, NH.<\/p>\n 06\/19\/24: Our undergraduate student, Lesly Delgado, was chosen as the recipient of the Dean\u2019s 2024 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)!<\/p>\n 06\/17\/24: The Akopov Lab will be hosting a high school student from Jose Marti STEM Academy (Union City, NJ) for 10 weeks of Summer research!<\/p>\n 05\/22\/24: The lab hosted high school students from East Orange High School and introduced them to the aspects of solid state synthesis and characterization<\/em>, including a demonstration of arc-melting of copper metal ingots.<\/span><\/p>\n 03\/20\/24: Dr. Akopov presented a talk titled \u201cLuminescent Ln3(SiS4)I: Synthesis and Crystal Growth\u201d at the 2024 Spring ACS National Meeting in New Orleans, LA.<\/p>\n 02\/26\/24: A new article on the synthesis and the effects of the addition of C, Zr and Si on the mechanical properties of WB4 is published in Chemistry of\u00a0Materials<\/em>, titled “Hardening in Tungsten Tetraboride with the Addition of Carbon, Zirconium and Silicon: Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Effects<\/span>“<\/a><\/p>\n 02\/05\/24: Lesly Delgado joins the group as an undergraduate student researcher!<\/p>\n 01\/08\/24: Rutva Joshi has joined the group as a Masters student!<\/p>\n 12\/12\/23: A new review article on synthesis, properties and applications of non-linear optical materials together with our collaborators from the Yeung Lab at SUNY Albany is published in\u00a0ACS Applied Optical Materials<\/em>, titled\u00a0Advances in Solid-State Nonlinear Optical Materials: From Fundamentals to Applications<\/a><\/p>\n 11\/06\/23: Rahidul Hasan has joined the group as a Postdoctoral Associate!<\/p>\n 09\/21\/23: Zohaib is attending a Diffuse Scattering workshop at ORNL in Oak Ridge, TN.<\/p>\n 09\/11\/23: A new article on high-entropy sulfides is published in\u00a0Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers<\/em>, titled\u00a0Synthesis of Chiral High-Entropy Sulfides for the Non-Linear Optical Applications<\/a><\/p>\n 08\/21\/23: Dr. Akopov participated in the Rutgers-Newark PreCollege Institute workshop program aimed at middle and high school students from local schools by giving a week-long class on Chemistry in Materials, which described different materials used in everyday ordinary life and the chemistry behind them.<\/p>\n 07\/10\/23: A new article on a Ni-Si-P catalyst is published in\u00a0Inorganic Chemistry<\/em>, titled\u00a0Probing of the Noninnocent Role of P in Transition-Metal Phosphide Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Electrocatalysts via Replacement with Electropositive Si<\/a><\/p>\n 05\/25\/23: The lab hosted high school students from Hose Marti STEM Academy and introduced them to the aspects of solid state synthesis and characterization<\/em>.<\/p>\n 04\/28\/23: A new article on NLO arsenides is published in the\u00a0Journal of Materials Chemistry A<\/em>, titled\u00a0IrSi3As3: a first transition metal arsenide non-linear optical material<\/a><\/p>\n 03\/28\/23: Dr. Akopov presented a talk titled \u201cSynthesis and crystal growth of luminescent lanthanide iodothiosilicates Ln<\/em>3<\/sub>(SiS4<\/sub>)I\u201d at the 2023 Spring ACS National Meeting in Indianapolis, IN.<\/p>\n 02\/01\/23: Francesca Mondestin joins the group as an undergraduate student researcher!<\/p>\n 11\/01\/22: Hafiz Zohaib Aslam joins the group as the first Graduate student!<\/p>\n 09\/01\/22: The Akopov Group begins at the Rutgers University-Newark!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"