Biography

Dr. Haneesh Saini joined the Department of Chemistry at JIIT Noida in 2025. Prior to joining JIIT, he worked as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at CGC Mohali University, Jhanjeri. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Science from Kurukshetra University of Haryana. He qualified IIT JAM exam in 2018 and based on that he joined Chemistry Department of NIT Jalandhar to peruse his master’s in chemistry. During masters, he got an amazing opportunity to attend an internship program at IISER Mohali. He also qualified IIT GATE exam of 2020 and joined PhD in Material Science at Chemistry Department of IIT Jammu. He attended the very famous Sakura Science Exchange Program of Japan at Shimane University of Japan. Dr. Saini completed his PhD in 2024 with a good publication record.

Research Highlights

The core area of his research is material science to develop materials for real-world applications. He worked on polymeric membranes for the purification of oil-water mixtures and emulsions. Specifically, his work involves the design of membranes possessing special wettability (hydrophobicity-oleophilicity) so as to realize the purification of oil contaminated water. He has worked on Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) and Metal-Organic Polyhedra (MOPs) which collectively form a class of materials named as Organic-Inorganic Hybrids. MOFs and MOPs have a hybrid nature of organic and inorganic materials which is associated with the organic and inorganic nature of their precursors. These materials are basically designed by using organic ligands and inorganic metal ions/clusters which combined together by a self-assembly process to result farmwork materials (MOFs) or individual entities of a particular geometry (MOPs). Both MOFs and MOPs are very famous among research community because of their fascinating properties like rich surface chemistry and tuneable properties which make them suitable for various application. Owing to these properties, MOFs and MOPs based membranes with special wettability were utilized for the purification of oil contaminated water. Dr. Saini has more than 5 years of research experience in which he published 11 research articles in reputed international journals. His research publications have cumulative impact factor of more than 200 along with greater than 900 citations.

Areas of Research

• Polymeric Membranes
• Hydrophobic-Oleophilic Materials
• Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Materials
• Oil-Water Mixture/Emulsion Separation

Best Five Articles

• J. K. Wychowaniec, H. Saini, B. Scheibe, D. P. Dubal, A. Schneemann and K. Jayaramulu, Hierarchical Porous Metal–Organic Gels and Derived Materials: From Fundamentals to Potential Applications, Chemical Society Reviews, vol. 51, pp. 9068-9126, 2022. (Equal Contribution)
• S. V. Dummert, H. Saini, M. Z. Hussain, K. Yadava, K. Jayaramulu, A. Casini and Roland A. Fischer, Cyclodextrin metal–organic frameworks and derivatives: recent developments and applications, Chem. Soc. Rev., vol. 51, pp. 5175-5213, 2022. (Equal Contribution)
• D. D. Chronopoulos, H. Saini, I. Tantis, R. Zbořil, K. Jayaramulu and Michal Otyepka Carbon Nanotube based Metal-Organic Framework (CNT@MOF) Hybrids: From Fundamentals toward Applications, Small, vol. 18, pp. 2104628, 2021. (Equal Contribution)
• H. Saini, N. Srinivasan, V. Šedajová, M. Majumder, D. P. Dubal, M. Otyepka, R. Zbořil, N. Kurra, R.A. Fischer and K. Jayaramulu Emerging MXene@Metal-Organic Framework Hybrids: Design Strategies towards Versatile Applications, ACS Nano, vol. 15, pp. 18742-18776, 2021.
• H. Saini, P. Kallem, E. Otyepková, F. Geyer, A. Schneemann, V. Ranc, F. Banatb, R. Zbořil, M. Otyepka, R.A. Fischer and K. Jayaramulu Two-dimensional MOF based Liquid Marbles: Surface Energy Calculations and Efficient Oil-Water Separation Using a ZIF-9-III@PVDF Membrane, J. Mater. Chem. A, vol. 9, pp. 23651-23659, 2021.

Professional Activities

• Participated and successfully completed the Six-Days Faculty Development Program on “One Health – Innovative Solutions for Health, Productivity and Conservation Challenges”, organized by the Department of Biotechnology, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida. (July 14-9, 2025)
• Attended “Sakura Science Exchange Program” administered by Japan Science & Technology Agency, organized at Shimane University Japan. (December 10-24, 2025)  
• Presented a poster in an International Workshop on “Sustainable Materials and Construction (IWSMC-2025)”, organized by Indian Institute of Technology Jammu, (J & K), India. (February 21-23, 2025)
• Presented his work on the topic ‘Hydrophobic Composite Membrane for Water Treatment’ in an International Conference, “Advancements in Basic Science, Environmental Studies and Traditional Medicine for Translational Drug Delivery & Development (TMT3D-2024)”, organized by Institute of Medical Science, B.H.U. Varanasi (U.P.), India. (November 21-23, 2024)
• Presented a poster on the topic ‘Utilization of Metal Organic Frameworks as Sensors’ in a National Conference, “Science & Technology for Sustainable Future-2020” organized by D.A.V. College, Jalandhar (Punjab), India (March 6-7, 2020)

Achievements

• Senior Research Fellow (SRF) in Indian Institute of Technology Jammu, India (2024)
• Qualified Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) conducted by Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 2020
• Qualified Joint Admission Test for M.Sc. (JAM) conducted by Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay for admission to M.Sc. program in 2018.