Project Scope – thematic domains

The centre of excellence will reinforce the on-going efforts in the following specific themes of Ceramic Technologies in IIT Madras:

Scientific objectives

Technological objectives

Project titles:

• Synthesis of oxide and non-oxide ceramic fibres by a novel centrifugal spinning concept

• Oxidation-resistant hard coatings for engineering applications

• Entropy stabilized fluorite structured ceramic nanocrystalline coatings by Spin Coating (SC) & Powder Aerosol Deposition (PAD)

Project titles:

• Development of boron carbide blankets on silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) and boron modified silicon carbonitrides (SiBCN) foams for high energy absorption

Project titles:

• High Temperature Thermoelectric Ceramics

• Flexible high-k (15-100) & low loss (tanD<0.002) dielectric materials capable of withstanding high power (50-200 W) for miniaturized antennas for imaging and therapeutic applications in microwave regime

• Development of novel HER electrocatalysts based on electro-spun niobiumbased nitrides and oxynitrides

Project titles:

• Insulator-to-metal transitions in technologically relevant transition metal oxides

• Exploration of novel super-hard carbides, borides, nitrides and carbonitrides by using DFT-QMC and phonon studies

• Thermophysical and thermochemical characterization of technologically important metal nitrides: first principle calculations and thermodynamic modelling

• Machine learning for prediction of stresses, elastic constants, crack nucleation and propagation

For starting the various research activities within the domain following are the list of equipment that are purchased:

• Impedance analyser (Keysight Technologies Model: E4990A) – Purchase order has been raised

  

• Fast and Precise Dielectric Measurements of Thin Layers (DAK3.5-TL-P: 200 MHz – 20 GHz) – Purchase order has been raised

• High Temperature Thermal Diffusivity and High Temperature DSC and Cp measurement – GTE form has been submitted

• Rotating ring disk electrode setup – GTE form has been submitted

International Collaborations

Prof. Dr. Dr. (hc) Sanjay Mathur

Director of the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry,University of Cologne,Germany,SPARC adjunct Professor,IIT Madras

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. habil. Alexander Michaelis

Institute Director,Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS,Germany

Prof. Olivier Guillon

Director, Institute for Energy and Climate Research,Material Synthesis and Processing,Forschungszentrum Jülich,Chair, Materials Synthesis for Energy Technologies,RWTH Aachen University,GERMANY

Prof. Jochen Schneider

Chair of Materials Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University,Max Planck Fellow, Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH,Guest Professor, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST),GERMANY

Prof. Daniel Chua

Associate Professor,National University of Singapore,Singapore

Prof. Tohru Sekino

Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research,Osaka University,Japan

Prof. Kwang-Ho Kim

President, GLOBAL FRONTIER R&D Centre for Hybrid Interface Materials,Busan National University,Korea

Prof. Ausrine Bartasyte

Deputy Director, Institute FEMTO-ST, University of Franche-Comté, France

Prof. Ryo Maezono

School of Information Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), Japan

Prof. Santi MAENSIRI, D.Phil. (Oxon)

Director of SUT CoE on Advanced Functional Materials, Director of SUT-NANOTEC Research Network on Nanotechnology, Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand

Prof. Maarit Karppinen

Inorganic Materials Chemistry Group, Aalto University, FINLAND

Prof. Monica Ferraris

GLANCE (Glasses, ceramics and composites), Politecnico di Torino, ITALY

Prof. Alberto Vomiero

Industrial Engineering, DSMN Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy

International Advisory Board

Industrial collaborators

The objectives of this centre is extended to create the following societal impacts;

• Novel ceramic solutions and technology development that has direct relevance for the unconventional energy & environmental sectors

• Green energy solutions involving hydrogen energy and energy storage

• Engineering solutions for energy and environment

• Nanostructured ceramics and coatings for the pottery area in the rural sector particularly with respect to use of ceramic pigments

Sustenance statement

• Active-collaborative performance-driven approach.

• Deep scientific research problems - The proposed center envisages several fundamental unresolved scientific issues, that shall be addressed in all the four research domains. Those scientific problems directly qualify for funding from the Dept of Science and Technology (Govt of India).

• Strategic research - One of the domains in the proposed center focuses on the research and development of structural ceramics and composites (Domain – II). This domain primarily focuses on the strategic sector where projects that are envisaged are directly relevant and applicable to either defense, space or atomic energy. Therefore, we expect funding for Domain – II predominantly from DoS (via ISRO), DoAE (via IGCAR, BARC), MoD (via DRDO).

• Bilateral and multi-lateral projects - One of the major objectives of the center is to maintain very high international visibility which requires sustained international environment in the center. This can be enabled via international bilateral projects (for instance DST-DFG with Germany, CEFIPRA/IFCPAR with France, BRICS etc). Since the proposed center has 14 highly accomplished international collaborators from across the globe from prestigious institutes/organization, we expect multiple avenues for several bilateral & multi-lateral projects.

• Target research-oriented industry funding - The principal investigator of the proposed center is in contact with several industries already to take up specific projects (that have already been identified). One of the center leads of the proposed center heads the Fraunhofer Institute in Dresden, Germany and one of the international advisory board members heads he ceramic technologies at ARCI, India.

• Consultancy and testing - The facilities generated in the proposed center will be available for testing and faculty members associated with the center, which includes international collaborators as well will be available for consultancy services. We also hope that we will be attract consultancy assignments from abroad as well through our international partners, primarily with our co-operation with the Fraunhofer Institute and Forschunszentrum Jülich.

• Sustainability model - We expect 60% of the funding from government sources through sponsored projects, 20% of the funding from industries through technology-oriented projects and 20% via testing and consultancy.

New work done in the project

Infrastructure developments

Output

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS

1. Numerical interpretation and experimental investigation of enhanced magnetoelectric effect in Ni/PZT distributed disc structured composite Amritesh Kumar and A. Arockiarajan Composite Structures, 280. 2022, 114958.

2. Evolution of nonlinear magneto-elastic constitutive laws in ferromagnetic materials: A comprehensive review Amritesh Kumar and A. Arockiarajan Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, 546, 2022, 168221

3. Electrical creep and fatigue in 0.5Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3-0.5(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3 ceramics M. Sharma, S. Patel D. Kumar, A. Arockiarajan and Rahul Vaish Functional Material Letters, 2021, 14, 2150033

4. Novel class of precursor-derived Zr–La–B–C(O) based ceramics containing nano-crystalline ultra-high temperature phases stable beyond 1600 °C Gokul Nanda, Ganesh Babu Thiyagarajan, KC Hari Kumar, Renjith Devasia, and RaviKumar Ceramics International Volume 48, Issue 2, 15 January 2022,

5. Enhanced self-biased magnetoelectric response in novel distributed disc structure Ni/PZT composite Amritesh Kumar, Arout Chelvane and A. Arockiarajan Materials letters, 305, 2021, 130834

6. Influence of water content on the mechanical behavior of gelatin based hydrogels: Synthesis, characterization and modeling. Vivek Manish, A. Arockiarajan and Ganesh Tamadapu International Journal of Solids and Structures, 233, 2021, 111219.

7. Bending of hard-magnetic soft beams: A finite elasticity approach with anticlastic bending. Aakila Rajan and A. Arockiarajan European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids, 90, 2021, 104374.

8. Structural, magnetic and magnetoelectric investigations on CoFe2O4 prepared via various wet chemical synthesis route : A Comparative Study K. Venkata Siva, Amritesh Kumar, and A. Arockiarajan Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, 535, 2021, 168065

9. Combustion synthesis of luminescent Eu-doped single phase Mayenite T Kumaresh, Eranezhuth Wasan Awin, Lalith Kumar Bhaskar, Marija Prekajski Djordjevic, Branko Matović, Ravi Kumar Journal of Solid State Chemistry, Volume 302, October 2021, 122420

10. Photoresponse of a printed transparent silver nanowire-zinc oxide nanocomposite Nitheesh M Nair, Mohammad Mahaboob Jahanara, Debdutta Ray and P Swaminathan Flexible and Printed Electronics, Volume 6, Number 4, 2021

11. Estimation of Local Strain Fields in Two-Phase Elastic Composite Materials Using UNet-Based Deep Learning Mayank Raj, Sanket Thakre, Ratna Kumar Annabattula & Anand K Kanjarla Integrating Materials and Manufacturing Innovation, 10, pages444–460 (2021)

12. Thin film metallic glasses for bioimplants and surgical tools: A review S. Thanka Rajan, A. Arockiarajan Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 876, 25 September 2021, 159939

13. TiNb2O7-Keratin derived carbon nanocomposites as novel anode materials for high-capacity lithium-ion batteries Ganesh Babu Thiyagarajan, Vasu Shanmugam, Michael Wilhelm, Sanjay Mathur, Sahana B. Moodakare, Ravi Kumar Open Ceramics, Volume 6, June 2021, 100131

14. Microstructural transitions in camphene-based freeze casted ceria: effect of primary building blocks Raghunath Sharma Mukkavilli, Kousik Papakollu & Ravi Kumar Advances in Applied Ceramics, Structural, Functional and Bioceramics, Volume 120, 2021

15. Microstructure dependent ablation behaviour of precursor derived SiOC ceramic foam for high temperature applications Pradhyun Veerapanaicker Soundaraj, Santhosh Sivan Sembulingam, Ganesh Babu Thiyagarajan, Niraja Moharana, K.C. Hari Kumar, Ravi Kumar Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Volume 42, Issue 3, March 2022, Pages 877-889

16. Multifunctional, environmental coatings on AA2024 by combining anodization with sol-gel process M. Arunoday, K. Pradeep Premkumar, Ravi Kumar, and R. Subasri Ceramics International, Online January 2022 (in Press)

17. Annealing induced changes in optoelectronic properties of sputtered copper oxide films Aarju Mathew Koshy, A. Sudha, Prince Gollapalli, Satyesh Kumar Yadav, P. Swaminathan Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics (under Review)

18. A review of silver nanowire-based composites for flexible electronic applications Neha Sharma. Nitheesh M. Nair, Garikapati Nagasarvari, Debdutta Ray, Parasuraman Swaminathan Flexible and Printed Electronics (under review)

19. Template-assisted synthesis coupled with strong alkali etching to develop Zn/ZnO superstructures for CO2 reduction Manasa Adavalli, Rajendran Rajaraman, Lakshman Neelakantan, Parasuraman Swaminathan RSC Advances - joint work with Dr. Lakshman Neelakantan (under review)

20. Enhancement of the rectification behavior of zinc oxide based Schottky diodes by nickel oxide addition Mahaboob Jahanara Mohammad, Hari Ramachandran, Parasuraman Swaminathan Journal of Electronic Materials (under review)

Highlights:

• No usage of high voltages to produce fibers
• Variable collector distance; Fibres can be collected at various distances (5-20 cm) from the spinneret with simultaneous application of UV radiation.
• High rotation speed up to 24,000 rpm are possible
• Flexible UV light intensity up to 325 W to enhance cross linking of the polymer/preceramic fibre mat.

Highlights:

• The invention can be used as sensors in the form of magnetometers as well as miniature current sensors.
• Since the proposed novel DDS configurations show a significant ME response at a very low field, they can be used to detect weak magnetic fields, of which one of the most potent application is in detectors.
• Can replace the conventional layered ME composites in Pressure based sensors owing to their high sensitivity.

Highlights:

• Anodic aluminium oxide template-assisted synthesis of 1D zinc oxide nanostructures
• Control of morphology by etching to form 3D superstructure with enhanced surface area
• Room temperature CO2 reduction
• Can be extended to other amphoteric single and mixed oxides

Visits planned for PI, co-PIs, international collaborators and students (both inbound and outbound)

Industrial Engagement

University Engagement

VISITORS

Relevant Updates

TECHNICAL TALKS & CONFERENCES

WORKSHOPS

• Pamula Sreekeerthi, Nitheesh M. Nair, Garikapati Nagasarvari, P. Swaminathan, “Combined experimental and computational study of printed capacitive touch sensors”, XXI International Workshop on Physics of Semiconductor Devices (IWPSD 2021), IIT Delhi, December 2021

• Faiz Ali, Lakshman Neelakantan, and P. Swaminathan, “Flexible Electrochromic Displays via Room Temperature Oxidation of Electroless Nickel”, XXI International Workshop on Physics of Semiconductor Devices (IWPSD 2021), IIT Delhi, December 2021

• A. Sudha, A.M. Koshy, and P. Swaminathan, “Role of sintering temperature on the properties of tungsten oxide for gas sensing applications”, XXI International Workshop on Physics of Semiconductor Devices (IWPSD 2021), IIT Delhi, December 2021

• Nitheesh M. Nair, Mohammad Mahaboob Jahanara, Debdutta Ray, and P. Swaminathan, “Photoresponse of a printed transparent silver nanowire- zinc oxide nanocomposite”, XXI International Workshop on Physics of Semiconductor Devices(IWPSD 2021), IIT Delhi, December 2021

• Faiz Ali, Anirban Chakraborty, M. Prahalad, Lakshman Neelakantan, and P. Swaminathan, “Phosphorus Doped Nickel Oxide by Oxidation of Electro-less Nickel Thin Films”, International Conference on Thin Films & Nanotechnology: Knowledge, Leadership, & Commercialization, IIT Delhi, August 2021

• Aarju M. Koshy, A. Sudha, S.K. Yadav, and P. Swaminathan, “Effect of substrate temperature on the optoelectronic properties of DC magnetron sputtered copper(I) oxide films”, International Conference on Thin Films & Nanotechnology: Knowledge, Leadership, & Commercialization, IIT Delhi, August 2021

Awards

RECOGNITIONS