Energy and water are two world's major challenges with increasing population. Our research focuses on the development of multifunctional hybrid nanostructures for energy and environmental applications. Our thrust is on synthesizing nanomaterials utilizing a greener route. We investigate the charge transport in the semiconducting materials to develop efficient photocatalysts for the treatment of wastewater. We develop nanostructured metal oxides using simple and cost-effective methods and look into their utilization as electrode materials for high energy/power density energy storage applications. Perovskite materials are arising as a new generation of solution processable inorganic-organic hybrid photovoltaic materials. Various questions remain unanswered with regards to understanding of these materials. Our research on perovskite solar cell is to understand film formation of the perovskite materials, composition/interface engineering and in-house synthesis of new hole-transporting materials. Emphasis is to understand degradation of devices through measuring their performance under various stress conditions.

• DST Inspire Faculty Award 2013.
• Young Engineer Award (2014-15).
• Young Scientist Award 2014 at International Smart Materials and Surfaces Conference (SMS 2014), Thailand.
• P.K. Kelkar Young Faculty Research Fellowship 2018 by IIT Kanpur
• Editorial board member for journal IET Nanodielectrics
• Advisory board member of the Royal Society of Chemistry journal ‘Molecular Systems Design & Engineering’

• R. Ranjan, A. Prakash, A. Singh, A. Singh, A. Garg and R. K. Gupta,"Effect of tantalum doping in TiO2 compact layer on the performance of planar Spiro-OMeTAD free perovskite solar cells", Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 6, 1037 ‐ 1047, 2018.
• M. Misra, N. Singh and R. K. Gupta, "Enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity of Au@Ag core-shell bimetallic nanoparticles immobilized on electrospun TiO2 nanofibers for degradation of organic compounds", Catalysis Science & Technology, 7, 570-580, 2017 (Front Inside Cover).
• N. Singh, J. Prakash, M. Misra, A. Sharma and R. K. Gupta, "Dual functional Ta doped electrospun TiO2 nanofibers with enhanced photocatalysis and SERS detection for organic compounds", ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 9 (34), 28495 ‐ 28507, 2017.
• N. Singh, J. Prakash and R. K. Gupta, "Design and engineering of high performance photocatalytic systems based on metal oxide-graphene-noble metal nanocomposites", Molecular Systems Design & Engineering,2, 422-439, 2017 (Highlighted as the top ten most-read articles in MSDE during Q4 2017).
• Prateek, V. K. Thakur and R. K. Gupta, "Recent progress on ferroelectric polymer based nanocomposites for high energy density capacitors: Synthesis, dielectric properties and future aspects" Chemical Reviews, 116, 4260 - 4317, 2016.
• A. Tyagi, K. M. Tripathi, N. Singh, S. Choudhary and R. K. Gupta, "Green synthesis of carbon quantum dots from lemon peel waste: Applications in sensing and photocatalysis", RSC Advances, 6, 72423-72432, 2016 (Selected for Editors Web Collection from RSC Advances by Indian researchers published in 2016-2018).
• N. Singh, K. Mondal, M. Misra, A. Sharma and R. K. Gupta, "Quantum dot sensitized electrospun mesoporous titanium dioxide hollow nanofibers for photocatalytic applications", RSC Advances, 6, 48109 - 48119, 2016.
• A. Tyagi, K. M. Tripathi and R. K. Gupta, "Recent progress on micro-scale energy storage devices and future aspects", Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 3, 22507-22541, 2015.
• V. K. Thakur, M. K. Thakur and R. K. Gupta, "Graft copolymers of Natural Fibers for Green Composites", Carbohydrate Polymers, 104, 87-93, 2014.
• V. K. Thakur, M. K. Thakur and R. K. Gupta, "Rapid Synthesis of Graft Copolymers from Natural Cellulose Fibers", Carbohydrate Polymers, 98, 820-828, 2013.
• R. K. Gupta, S. Krishnamoorthy, D. Y. Kusuma, P. S. Lee and M. P. Srinivasan, "Enhancing charge-storage capacity of non-volatile memory device using template-directed assembly of gold nanoparticles", Nanoscale, 4, 2296-2300, 2012.
• N. Singh, R. K. Gupta and P. S. Lee, "Gold-nanoparticle-functionalized In2O3 nanowires as CO gas sensors with a significant enhancement in response", ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 3, 2246-2252, 2011.