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Atanu Ghosh is the first author of the McCusker Group's latest paper, published in Nature Chemistry. His research focuses on the excited-state dynamics of cobalt(III) polypyridyl complexes, which absorb and store light energy.
Initially, Ghosh’s data defied expectations, revealing cobalt(III) complexes were more efficient at energy storage than anticipated. This discovery uncovered "Marcus-inverted-region" behaviour, a phenomenon that could enhance future solution-based chemistry, like bond activation.
Driven by this unexpected finding, Ghosh, alongside his advisor Jim, explored the underlying causes. They concluded that structural changes in the excited state play a key role in these unique dynamics.
“I still remember the Christmas holidays of 2021 when I figured this out from my experiments and informed Jim of the good news on December 31, which made the start of 2022 very exciting for us,” he says.
Atanu Ghosh
