TEQIP-ll Subcomponent 1.2.1

Centre of Excellence in Advanced Materials

Dr. Amit Kumar Chakraborty

Coordinator , CoE

National Institute of Technology

Durgapur-713209, West Bengal, India

Email: amitkc61@gmail.com

CoE Progress Review meeting, MHRD

New Delhi,19th October,2016

The CoE Team details Participating departments: Physics (PH),

Metallurgical & Materials Engg. (MME) and ECE

2 Coordinators: Dr. Amit K. Chakraborty (PH), & Prof. D. K. Mondal (MME)

10 faculty members of NIT Durgapur from three departments: 4 (Physics), 5 (MME), 1 (ECE)

2 External R&D members (CSIR-CMERI, JBNSTS)

2 External Industry members (ASP)

6 Full-time Ph.D. students receiving assistantship from CoE

2 technical Operators

40 M. Tech. students

OBJECTIVES a) To develop new materials with diverse functionalities directly useful to the

industry and eventually to the society

b) To establish a platform for interdisciplinary research on developing and

exploring new and advanced materials with diverse practical applications through

the active collaboration between partnering departments/faculties.

c) To improve the research ambience within the institute by the presence of a

state-of-the art research facility with inter-disciplinary research objective.

d) To improve interaction with industries, R&D, academia through organizing

events like workshop, seminars, invited lectures etc.

e) To help in career advancement, upgradation of research competence of

faculties, knowledge sharing and networking.

f) To help improve the quality of the faculties of the neighbouring institutes by

offering them short-term training, work-shop, as well as through part-time Ph.D.

program.

List of Equipment procured with relevance Equipment Relevance to research

Field Emission Scanning

Electron Microscope

Characterisation of microstructure and morphology of

materials

Atomic Force Microscope Characterisation of surface of nanostructured materials

Solar Simulator system Characterisation of photovoltaic cells for energy harvesting

Battery Testing system Fabrication & testing of Li-based batteries

Potentiostat/galvanostat for

electrochemistry

Characterisation of storage capacity of supercapacitor

materials

BET surface analyzer Characterisation of porosity, size and specific surface area of

nanomaterials

UV –vis spectrophotometer Characterisation of optical properties and electronicstructure

Gas Sensing System Characterisation of gas sensing materials

Chemical Vapor Deposition

system

Synthesis of thin films of nanomaterials such as carbon

nanotubeand graphene

Spin Coater Deposition of thin films of materials from solution

Thermal Coater Deposition of thin films of solid metals

Sputter coater Deposition of thin films of metals

Rotary Vacuum Evaporator Chemical synthesis of materials

Glove box Chemical synthesis of air sensitive materials

THEMATIC AREAS OF RESEARCH

Carbon nanostructures (graphene, CNT) and their composites

Multiferroic materials and their composites

Conducting polymer nanocomposites Photonic & optical materials Molecular dynamics of nanoparticle based

metal matrix composites Aluminium based alloys & composites

How has the CoE helped improve research in the area, and what surge in research you could get due to this support? Has the COE created effective collaborations with the industry (cite specific cases of such linkages) and other relevant institutions?

• CoE has helped improve our research greatly by for example, funding cost of

consumables and characterisation charges to faculty members for research

which are not doable at NIT Durgapur. This has especially benefitted the

members having no other/limited ongoing project.

• CoE has created a surge in research by members in areas where they were not

so active (such as photovoltaics & supercapacitors). The newly created

facilities at CoE have created large impact on the research activity of the CoE

members as it has allowed members to pursue research in new areas of

current relevance.

• CoE has created many effective collaboration with academic institutes (list in

next slide) through visit, workshop, seminar, joint conference etc.

List of Collaborative R&D activities With Other Institutions:

IMRE, Singapore (Characterisation & exchange visits)

Open University, UK (DST-UKIERI grant, Joint PhD)

Liverpool University, UK (GCRF grant, joint PhD & M Tech.)

EMPA, Switzerland (MOU and joint PhD)

IFW Dresden, Germany (Fellowship)

University of Southampton, UK

CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur (joint PhD)

CSIR-CECRI, Karaikudi (Joint PhD)

CSIR-CGCRI, Kolkata (joint PhD & joint conference)

JBNSTS, Kolkata (Joint PhD)

IACS, Kolkata

University of Kalyani, Kolkata

Visvabharati University (Joint PhD)

BARC, Mumbai

IIT-BHU, Varanasi (Joint M. Tech. student)

SMIT, Sikkim (Joint PhD)

With Industries:

Alloy Steel Plant, Durgapur

Academic outcomes: New courses coming due to this research initiative in the form of electives and advanced courses, upgradation of teaching labs, curriculum enhancement, increase in graduate student strength, increased interaction with domain experts.

Elective such as “Techniques of Materials Characterisation”, “Nanomaterials” and the laboratory course such as “Materials Synthesis & Characterisation lab” as part of the M. Tech. curriculum have been upgraded by incorporation of new topics and experiments. There has been numerous interaction with domain experts through seminars and visits which have helped upgrade/revise the curriculum.

Research outcomes: papers published in international journals

1. Souvik Chakraborty,Saikat Saha,V. R. Dhanak, Kallolmay Biswas, Michel Barbezat, Giovanni P. Terrasi and Amit K. Chakraborty, “High yield synthesis of amine functionalized graphene oxide and its surface properties”, RSC Adv., 6, 67916-67924 (2016)

2. SG Chatterjee, S Chatterjee, AK Ray, AK Chakraborty, Graphene–metal oxide nanohybrids for toxic gas sensor: A review, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 221, 1170-1181 (2015)

3. S. Sinha, S. K. Chatterjee, J. Ghosh, and A. K. Meikap, Electrical transport properties of ZnSe quantum dots at and above room temperature, Current Applied Physics 15, 555-562 (2015)

4. RK Agrawalla, S Paul, PK Sahoo, AK Chakraborty, AK Mitra, A facile synthesis of a novel three‐phase nanocomposite: Single‐wall carbon nanotube/silver nanohybrid fibers embedded in sulfonated polyaniline, Journal of Applied Polymer Science 132, 41692 (2015)

5. V Meriga, S Valligatla, S Sundaresan, C Cahill, VR Dhanak, Amit K Chakraborty, Optical, electrical, and electrochemical properties of graphene based water soluble polyaniline composites, Journal of Applied Polymer Science 132, 42766 (2015)

6. A. Mukherjee, S. Basu , N. T. K. Thanh, L. A. W. Green ,and M. Pal, Enhanced multiferroic properties of Y and Mn codoped multiferroic BiFeO3 nanoparticles, J. Mater. Sci., 50, 1891-1900 (2015).

7. S. Sinha, S. K. Chatterjee, J. Ghosh, and A. K. Meikap , Electrical transport properties of polyvinyl alcohol - selenium nanocomposite films at and above room temperature, J. Mater. Sci. 50 1632-1645 (2015)

8. R. Sinha, S.Basu and A.K.Meikap, Investigation of dielectric and electrical behavior of Mn dopedYCrO3 nanoparticles synthesized by the sol-gel method, Physica E, 69, 47–55, 2015.

9. Ayan Mukherjee, Mahasweta Banerjee, Soumen Basu, N. T. K. Thanh, L. A. W. Green ,Mrinal Pal, Enhanced magnetic and electrical properties of Co-doped BiFeO3

nanoparticles, Physica B, 448, 199-203 (2014) . 10. N. Chakrabarty, A. Mukherjee,S.Sinha, A.K. Meikap, S.Basu, Observation of

Correlated Barrier Hopping (CBH) in blue luminescent PbI2 Nanoparticles, Physica E, 64, 134-140 (2014).

11. A Mukherjee, M Banerjee, S Basu, MD Mukadam, SM Yusuf, M Pal, Enhanced magnetodielectric and multiferroic properties of Er doped bismuth ferrite nanoparticles,Materials Chemistry and Physics, 162, 140-148 (2015).

12. Ayan Mukherjee, Soumen Basu, P. K. Manna, S. M. Yusufand Mrinal Pal, Giant magnetodielectric and enhanced multiferroic properties of Sm doped bismuth ferrite nanoparticles, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2, 5885-5891 (2014).

13. U Chowdhury, S Goswami, D Bhattacharya, J Ghosh, S Basu, S Neogi, Room temperature multiferroicity in orthorhombic LuFeO3, Appl. Phys. Lett. 105 (5), 052911 (2014)

14. A. Mukherjee, S. Basu, P. K. Manna, S. M. Yusuf and M.Pal, Enhancement of multiferroic properties of nanocrystalline BiFeO3 powder by Gd-doping, J. Alloys and Comps, 598, 142-150, (2014).

Research outcomes: papers published in international journals

15.R. K. Agrawalla, V. Meriga, R. Paul, Amit K Chakraborty, AK Mitra, “Solvothermal synthesis of a polyaniline nanocomposite-a prospective biosensor electrode material”, eXPRESS Polym. Lett. 10 (9), 780–787 (2016)

16.P. S. Mukherjee, K. Gupta, G. Chakraborty and A. K. Meikap, “Response of magnetic field and temperature on electrical transport of polyaniline- malic acid nanocomposite”, Polymer Composites, 37,1042-1048, (2016).

17.S. Saha, K. Talukder, AK Chakraborty, The Role of CatSper1 and CatSper2 Ion Channels in Male Fertility and Infertility, Procedia Materials Science, 10, 730-736 (2015)

18.R. Sinha, S. Kundu, S. Basu and A. K. Meikap, “Effect of La doping on optical and Electrical Transport Properties of Nanocrystalline YCrO3”, Solid State Sciences, 2016 (Accepted)

19.Krishnan Bandyopadhyay, K. S. Ghosh and M. M. Ghosh, “Non-Equilibrium MD Modeling and Simulation to Extract Mechanical Properties of Copper Nanoparticles Under Ultra-High Strain Rate Loading”, Computational Material Science (under review).

20.D.K.Das and M. M. Ghosh, “On Mechanical properties of Graphene sheet estimated using Molecular Dynamics Simulations”, Materials and Design (under review).

Research outcomes: papers published in international journals

21. N. Chakrabarty, A.Dey, S. Krishnamurthy and A.K. Chakraborty, Investigation on the electrochemical properties of hydrothermally synthesized reduced graphene oxide/Ceria nanocomposite for supercapacitor applications.

22. V. Meriga, N. Chakrabarty, A. Muthurasu, V. Ganesh and A.K. Chakraborty, SnCl2 intercalated Polyaniline-Reduced graphene oxide ternary composites as supercapacitor electrode material

23. M. Char, N. Chakrabarty and A.K. Chakraborty, Defect induced La3+:MnO2/ MWCNT Composites for Supercapacitors

24. H. Kumar, N. Chakrabarty and A.K. Chakraborty, A comparative study of electrochemical properties of Nickel Hydroxide nanoparticles with different carbon nanostructures

25. N. Chakrabarty, V.R. Dhanak and A.K. Chakraborty, Optimization of Lanthanum doping content into Nickel Hydroxide-MWCNT composite for supercapacitor applications at and above room temperature.

Research outcomes: manuscripts awaiting submission in international journals

Research outcomes: Conference papers

1. M. Banerjee, A. Mukherjee, S. K. Kundu, D. K. Rana, S. Basu and M. Pal, Magnetic and Electrical Properties of Er doped BiFeO3, EMCA 2014, 4-6 December 2014, CGCRI Kolkata.

2. D. K. Rana, A. Mukherjee, S. K. Kundu, S. Basu, Size dependent structural, optical and electrical properties of BiFeO3 naniparticles, EMCA 2014, 4-6 December 2014, CGCRI Kolkata.

3. S. K. Kundu, A. Mukherjee, D. K. Rana, A.K. Das, A.K. Meikap and S. Basu, Electrical Transport Properties of Manganese doped Nanocrystalline Lanthamum Orthoferrite, ICANN-2015, 8-11 December, 2015, IIT Guwahati.

4. A. Sarkar, S. Bera and A.K. Chakraborty, Optical Study of Tungsten Sulphide-rGO nanostructures EMCA 2014, 4-6 December 2014, CGCRI Kolkata.

5. N. Chakrabarty and A.K. Chakraborty, Photocatalytic Properties of Cu2+ ZnS Nanostructures, EMCA 2014, 4-6 December 2014, CGCRI Kolkata.

6. A.Sarkar, N. Chakrabarty, S. Bera and A.K. Chakraborty, Optical properties of ZnS and Cu2+ doped ZnS nanostructures, AIP Conference Proceedings 1665, 050107 (2015), 59th DAE Solid State Symposium, 16-20, December,2014, VIT , Tamil Nadu.

7. N. Chakrabarty, S.Sivaprakash and A.K. Chakraborty, Electrochemical properties of CNT/NiO composite, AIP Conference Proceedings 1665, 050072 (2015), 59th DAE Solid State Symposium, 16-20, December,2014, VIT , Tamil Nadu.

8. M. Char, N. Chakrabarty, S. Krishnamurthy and A.K. Chakraborty, Defect induced La3+:MnO2/MWCNT Composites for Supercapacitors, NANOENERGY 2015, 1-3 June, 2015, Manchester , United Kingdom.

9. Krishnan Bandyopadhyay, J. Sarkar, S. Das, S. Bakshi, A. Das, K. S. Ghosh and M. M. Ghosh, “MD Simulation of Tensile Properties of Copper Nanoparticles”, NMD ATM 2014, 12-15 November, 2014 , Pune.

10. Krishnan Bandyopadhyay, J.Sarkar, S. Das, P. N. Giri, B. Sagar, M. Ranjan, B.Adhikary, K. S. Ghosh and M. M. Ghosh, “Molecular Dynamics Study of the Effects of Particle Size and Strain Rate on the Tensile Properties of Copper Nanoparticles under Ultra-high Strain Rates”, EMCA 2014, 4-6 December 2014, CGCRI Kolkata.

11. S. Das, Krishnan Bandyopadhyay, K. S. Ghosh, and M. M. Ghosh, “An Overview of Nanofluids: Synthesis, Characterization and Application”, 22nd Conference on "West Bengal State Science and Technology Congress" 28th February to 1st March, 2015, North Bengal University, Darjeeling, West Bengal.

12. Krishnan Bandyopadhyay, K. S. Ghosh and M. M. Ghosh, “Modelling Nanoindentation of Copper Nanoparticles for the Estimation of Mechanical Properties using Molecular Dynamics “Communicated in the Conference Proceeding of the International Conference "NMD ATM 2016" will be held at IIT Kanpur, India during Nov. 11-14, 2016.

13. D.K.Das and M.M.Ghosh, “Evaluation of Mechanical Properties of Single Layer Graphene Sheet by Various MD Approaches”, Communicated in the Conference Proceeding of the International Conference "NMD ATM 2016" will be held at IIT Kanpur, India during Nov. 11-14, 2016.

14. A. Sarkar, S. Bera and A.K. Chakraborty, Hydrothermal Synthesis of Tungsten Oxide Nanorods and Their Application as Supercapacitor Electrodes, ICANN-2015, 8-11 December, 2015, IIT Guwahati.

Research outcomes: Conference papers

15. A. K. Das and A. K. Meikap, Dielectric Properties of Polyvinyl alcohol – Silver Nanoparticle Composite Film, Functional Materials: Recent Trends, held on 29th January, 2016, Department of Physics, Presidency University, Kolkata.

16. S. K. Singh, D. K. Rana, S. Basu, Study of Multiferroic behaviour of PVDF-NiFe2O4 (Nickel Ferrite) polymer nanocomposite, ICAM-2016, 4-7 March 2016, IIT Roorkee.

17. S. K. Singh, D. K. Rana, S. Basu, Study of Electrical Properties of NiFe2O4(Nickel Ferrite)-PVDF polymer nanocomposite, ICRTEM-2016, 17-19 March 2016, Jaipur National University.

18. S. K. Kundu, A. Mukherjee, D. K. Rana, A.K. Das, A.K. Meikap and S. Basu, Study of some Optical and Electrical Properties of Mn doped Nanocrystalline Lanthamum ferrite, ICNBL-2016, 25-29 May 2016, NIT Srinagar.

19. D. K. Rana, S. K. Kundu, N. Raja, A. Mukherjee and S. Basu, Synthesis and characterization of PVDF-BiFeO3 nanocomposite films, ICNBL-2016, 25-29 May 2016, NIT Srinagar.

20. N. Chakrabarty and A.K. Chakraborty, Hydrothermal Synthesis of Bismuth Ferrite Nanostructures for Supercapacitors, ICNBL-2016, 25-29 May 2016, NIT Srinagar. ( BEST ORAL PRESENTATION 2nd Prize)

21. A.K. Chakraborty and A. Sarkar, Carbon Nanostructure-Nickel Sulphide Nanohybrids As Electrodes In Supercapacitors And Solar Cells, NANOENERGY 2016, 27-29 July,2016, Liverpool, United Kingdom.

Research outcomes: Conference papers

22. D. K. Rana, S. K. Kundu, A. Mukherjee and S. Basu, Study the Electrical Behavior of PVDF-BiFeO3 nanocomposite, ICANN-2015, 8-11 December, 2015, IIT Guwahati.

23. A. K. Das, B. Dutta, S. Sinha, A. Mukherjee, S. Basu, A. K. Meikap ,DC Conductivity Behavior of Polyvinylalcohol-silver Nanoparticle Composite Film, ICANN-2015, 8-11 December, 2015, IIT Guwahati.

24. S. Choudhury, S. Sain, M. K. Manda1, S. K. Pradhan and A. K. Meikap , Electrical Transport Properties and Microstructural Properties of Zn0.98Mn0.02O Nanocomposites, ICANN-2015, 8-11 December, 2015, IIT Guwahati.

25. A. K. Meikap and S. Sinha, Alternating Current Conductivity and Relaxation Behavior of Polyvinyl Alcohol – Mercury Selenide Nanocomposite Films, Functional Materials: Recent Trends, held on 29th January, 2016, Department of Physics, Presidency University, Kolkata.

Research outcomes: Conference papers

Reach out effect: How has this research helped the institute? Any initiatives to address societal issues? Other novel outcomes.

• Facilities at CoE are accessible to people outside the CoE members. People

from almost all departments have been using the facilities of CoE which is

helping their research activity.

• The research carried out at the CoE has various societal applications. For

example, among the primary interests of the CoE is to produce solar cells,

supercapacitors, gas sensors all have direct societal impact. If successful,

this can cause a major impact to the society.

• CoE at NIT Durgapur has adopted a village (Loya) in its neighbourhood

within Durgapur sub division which has no conventional electricity supply.

The solar cells to be developed under this project can provide economic

solution to the issue if we succeed in transfering the technology to large

scale modules/panels

• The institute, in particular the TEQIP cell has helped in procurement of the equipment through PMSS

• In terms of space and logistics requirement such as furniture and building, institute has provided the necessary infrastructure to establish the centre.

• The highest authorities of the institute have shown deep interest in the CoE’s activities such that the coordinator of CoE had to make a presentation before the BOG members in a BOG meeting

• The Centre of Excellence lab was inaugurated by none other than the The Chairman, BOG of NIT Durgapur

• Both Chairman and Director keep regular update on the progress and functioning of the CoE.

Institutional support and future directions: How has the institute helped the COE?

• Several research proposals submitted by the centre’s members under various schemes to support manpower and operating costs after project closure.

• Several externally funded projects are currently being managed by CoE members

• Most equipment purchased with three years comprehensive warranty

• Small user fee to access the facilities of the Centre. • Training programs planned to be organized by the centre to

generate funds as well as train manpower on the various equipment of the centre.

• Generate funds through consultancy to industries. • Funding from MHRD for a further 3 years

What are the plans for the future of the CoE? Plan for Sustainability

What are the plans for the future of the CoE? Research objectives for next 3-5 years

Establish the identity of the CoE as a national centre for cutting edge research in materials with particular focus on the following materials: 1. Develop carbon nanostructures (CNT, graphene) based novel

heterostructures with advanced properties suitable for application in areas such as photovoltaic, supercapacitor, gas sensor, resistive memory device, electromagnetic shielding, etc.

2. Develop multiferroic materials such as rare earth orthoferrites (like LaFeO3,GdFeO3, YFeO3 etc.) with improved performance. Polymer based flexible multiferroics materials id another focus of the research.

3. Develop semiconductor nanostructures with high photocatalytic properties for hydrogen production and dye degradation ; and non linear optical properties for laser and photonic applications

What are the plans for the future of the CoE? Research objectives for next 3-5 years

4. Develop high melting point alloys (by arc melting) and novel

nano structures/metallic glasses with high cooling rate (by

melt spinning, suction casting, etc.) for biomedical implant

applications.

5. Develop various metallic alloys such as (i) two phase + and

(ii) single phase Ti-alloys, e,g. Ti-Al-V, Ti-Nb-Sn and Ti-Ta

etc. iii) Mg-base bio-absorbed materials, iv) age hardenable

2xxx (Al-Cu-Mg), 7xxx (Al-Zn-Mg) series Al-alloys and evaluate

their microstructural, mechanical and electrochemical

behaviour

6. Develop multiscale model to theoretically evaluate and design

copper based composites with improved thermal and

mechanical properties by incorporation of graphene.

• The preliminary results are very encouraging (as evident from

publications) but needs more time to take the knowledge of

these novel materials to the technology for applications.

Projected Outcome: Next 3-5 years • ~20-30 high impact (IF>5) publications

• ~50-70 moderate impact publications (IF>2)

• ~5-10 patents leading to at least 2-5 technology transfer and commercialization

• ~3-5 National/International conferences

• ~10-15 training courses/workshop

• ~20-30 Industry interaction

• ~20-30 new externally funded research projects

• ~20-30 trained Ph.D. students

• ~100-150 trained M. Tech. students

Key Issues/ Concerns

• Interaction with the industries has been very limited which will be one of our main emphasis in the future.

• The future of the two technical operators and the six PhD students (who are the ones who can make the goals of the project successful) is uncertain if the project is discontinued after October 2016. With this the trained manpower will also be lost suddenly and may have detrimental impact on the success of the CoE’s proposed objectives.

• Uncertainty in terms of funds to support the cost of maintenance of the expensive equipments after three years warranty period expires, if project is discontinued after October, 2016.

Key Issues/ Concerns • A good amount (between 60-90 lakhs) of fund may remain

unspent under the soft components such as I-I-I head and FSD head. If the project is extended and some relaxation is given for spending it for other heads such as procurement/student assistantship/staff salary, this money can be better utilized.

• Due to insufficient fund under procurement head, some equipment (necessary for the research objective of CoE) could not be procured. Additional fund of about Rs. 2-3 Crores) will allow to purchase these equipment (such as Raman spectrometer, RF Sputter coater, Gas Chromatography and EDAX attachment to the SEM).

• Due to prolonged procurement and commissioning process some equipments have just become ready for use. Hence, funding support for manpower for at least three years is a must to achieve the research objectives and the project outcomes.

Opening balance on

1st April 2016

Amount received during

April-Sept 2016

Amount Spent Balance available

Rs. 283.41 lakhs Rs. 6.00 lakhs (Interest) Rs. 105.00 lakhs Rs. 184.41 lakhs

Expenditure and fund position

Deliverables Likely cost (in Rs)

Procurement already completed but payment pending 39 lakhs

New procurement (if the upper limit is raised to 65% of

total fund allocation)

65 lakhs

Assistantship to PhD students 13 lakhs

Industry Institute Interaction 3 lakhs

R&D (characterisation & publication/ patenting of rese 4 lakhs

FSD (organising conference & seed grants) 40 lakhs

Incremental cost (IOC) 20 lakhs

Half yearly Plan for the next half year (October-March 2017)

Break up of procurement with justification

Name of the equipment Approx price

(Rs.)

Justification

EDAX attachments to Scanning

Electron Microscope

30 lakhs Elemental analysis for

chemical composition and

mapping

Integrated sphere attachment

for UV vis spectrophotometer

4 lakhs For measurement of

absorption spectrum of solid

films with rough surface area

Perpetual License extension

for modelling software

Quantum wise

3 lakhs For lifetime validity of the

software

Upgradation of Gas sensor 7 lakhs More precise control of gas

flow and sensing

measurement

AMC for BET, UV, AFM, CVD,

Sputter coater

21 lakhs For three year additional

maintenance after warranty

Total 65 lakhs

Photos of COE LAB

THANK YOU