If you think a household CFL bulb is a strange thing to find doing serious work in a high-precision chemistry lab in Germany… you are probably not alone. One can be forgiven for thinking these compact fluorescent lamps are the stuff of grocery stores and hallways, not the frontier of material science. But in Komal Jaiswal’s research, a trip to the local hardware store is as vital as a supply of rare-earth materials.
At its most basic level, chemistry is a game of high-speed collisions. To create a new compound, you have to force two different molecules to crash into each other with enough energy to break their internal bonds and forge new ones. Since the dawn of the industrial age, the most direct way to provide that kinetic energy has been to get those molecules moving as fast as possible. And the most reliable way to do that is to get them hot.
Heat has thus been the primary “hammer” of synthetic chemistry for over a century. To force two stubborn molecules to bond — to create the active ingredients in our medicines or the polymers in our smartphone screens — we essentially cook them. We crank up the furnace, apply pressure, and wait for the brute force of thermal energy to shake things into place. But heat is a blunt instrument; it regularly triggers unwanted side reactions and consumes massive amounts of power. In industrial settings, the traditional approach to synthetic chemistry often requires expensive, precious-metal catalysts as well, that vanish into the final mixture like sugar in tea, never to be seen again.
Jaiswal, whose work recently earned the Gold Award and 12 lakhs INR at the KPIT Shodh Awards 2026, belongs to a generation of researchers moving chemistry away from “brute force” and toward finesse. Her field is nanophotocatalysis, a discipline that uses light as an energy source and engineered nanomaterials as reusable platforms upon which chemical reactions occur.
Nanoscopic stages
A core problem in industrial chemistry is the single-use nature of catalysts. While these mediators are essential for controlling the speed of a reaction, their physical state can make them a liability. “A catalyst is basically a molecule which can speed up or slow down a reaction. But the problem with most existing catalysts is they become a part of the reaction mixture in a way in which they cannot be further separated at the end,” notes Jaiswal.
Her solution is to stop treating catalysts like ingredients and start treating them like platforms. By using nanomaterials — specifically molybdenum disulfide nanostructures or carbon quantum dots — she creates a physical surface area, a "stage" where the molecules meet and pair up. Because these are solid nanostructures rather than dissolved molecules, the recovery process is almost low-tech: a simple spin in a centrifuge or a quick precipitation, and the catalyst is recovered. In her lab, these materials have been reused up to 10 times with negligible losses to efficacy.
Let there be light
Then there is the ‘photo’ part of the equation. In Jaiswal’s workshop, light is particle, wave, and a tool where the wavelength (read: colour) can directly interact with chemical reactions. “We have to choose the light depending on the substrate. For example, in some of my work, simple household CFL bulbs were used. In some other cases where the reactant requires more energy, you need to use something more specific like blue or red light.”
Here, chemistry recovers some of the wonder that gave rise to alchemy centuries ago. The colour of the light becomes a functional choice, turning humble bulbs into modern-day philosopher’s stones. It’s almost like a lighting designer choosing filters to set a mood, except here the mood determines whether a chemical bond lives or dies.
Synthesis to survival
Jaiswal’s methodology functions as a modular "nanofactory," reconfigurable to produce a vast library of chemical compounds. By tuning the nanomaterial and the light source, she can coax starting materials into new, complex configurations that would otherwise be difficult to access. This allows researchers to rapidly prototype potential therapeutics, effectively transforming the lab into a discovery engine.
To validate the premise, her team synthesised a diverse range of compounds and subjected them to a high-stakes stress test: combatting bacteria. Once the nanomaterial facilitated the reaction to forge the structure of these molecules, the resulting compounds were separated from the nanomaterial and screened specifically for biological activity. One of the molecules proved to be a formidable antibiotic candidate, acting through direct, physical destruction.
“We found that it would damage the outside wall of the bacteria, which is called cell membrane rupture. We also saw another molecule that could enter into the bacteria and generate reactive oxygen species, which interfere with the metabolic process.”
Crucially, when treated against human embryonic kidney and breast cells, these compounds left the human hosts untouched, demonstrating the potential for targeted, non-toxic medicinal chemistry.
The horizon
Despite the elegance of nanophotocatalysis, the leap from a lab vial to a thousand-liter industrial vat is steep. Scaling up is not a simple matter of using bigger bulbs; building the chemical reactors themselves has an inherent challenge baked in.
"If you want to use light for chemical reactions, the major problem is to ensure that the photons reach every part of a big reaction chamber uniformly. There are technologies known, but transferring them to industry is still a challenge."
Today, Jaiswal is tackling these hurdles from inside the industrial giant BASF, a German multinational company and the largest diversified chemical producer in the world, where she applies these nanoscopic playgrounds to the challenges of global manufacturing.
The field is nascent, and industry still largely clings to the high-heat, high-waste methods of the past. But a future where the chemicals we rely on aren't "cooked" into existence looms not far on the horizon. We are realising that the most effective reactions don't necessarily require the most extreme conditions.
Sometimes, old challenges can be solved in new ways. They just have to be seen in the right light.
