Manish Shetty Research Group

Texas A&M University

How can catalytic materials be designed to convert waste plastics and abundant feedstocks into valuable chemicals sustainably? The research program designs and tests catalysts for plastics upcycling and tandem reactions such as methanolysis and transfer hydrogenolysis of PET using experimental catalysis and reaction kinetics. Researchers perform density functional theory and computational catalysis studies to modulate surface–adsorbate interactions for ammonia synthesis and other transformations. The group investigates catalyst deactivation mechanisms and reaction pathways for polyethylene hydrogenolysis with spectroscopy and mechanistic experiments. Work develops catalyst design principles for CO2, CH4 and biomass valorization toward sustainable chemical manufacturing.