Researchers at Purdue's
Birck Nanotechnology Center are collaborating with Indian colleagues at the
Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research and General Electric
Co.'s John F. Welch India Technology Center to launch a center focused on how
advancements in nanomaterials can address growing energy needs.
 | | Bhuvana Thiruvelu, a postdoctoral research associate at the Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue's Discovery Park, demonstrates her research in which carbon nanotubes are grown from palladium nanoparticles on what's called a "buckypaper" sheet. (Purdue News Service photo submitted by Jeff Goecker) |
The Joint Networked Center on Nanomaterials for Energy, funded by the Indo-U.S.
Science and Technology Forum, is supporting the exchange of four graduate student
researchers, two postdoctoral researchers and two faculty members annually between
Purdue and Jawaharlal Nehru Center's International Center for Materials Science
in Bangalore, India. The international program also is placing two Purdue graduate
student interns at GE's Technology Center each year.
"Students will have the opportunity to spend several months at partner
institutions, formulating and working on joint research projects to solidify
and expand ongoing collaborations between the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced
Scientific Research and Purdue for advancing research in how nanomaterials can
address growing energy needs," said Pankaj Sharma, associate director of
operations and international affairs for Purdue's Discovery Park.
Arbinda Mitra, executive director of the Indo-U.S. Science & Technology
Forum, said: "There also are internship opportunities for Purdue students
to work for up to 20 weeks at GE's Technology Center."
The exchange has already started. Currently, T. Bhuvana, a doctoral graduate
from the Jawaharlal Nehru Center, is at the at Birck Nanotechnology Center researching
nanoscale forms of carbon such as nanotubes and graphene, or ultra-thin flakes
of graphite, for potential use in solar cells and batteries. In Bangalore, Purdue
doctoral student Adina Scott is at the Jawaharlal Nehru Center, and fellow Purdue
graduate student Kevin McMullen is doing research there for GE.
Nanomaterials, defined as synthetic particles or fibers less than 100 nanometers
in diameter, have applications in a wide range of everyday objects. Carbon nanotubes,
for example, are used as conductive wires, and polymer-based nanocomposites
and nanostructured ceramics have fire resistant, conductivity and stiffness
properties.
The joint center's lead coordinating faculty in India are professor G.U. Kulkarni,
chair of JNCASR's Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit; and professor Umesh
Waghmare of Jawaharlal Nehru Center's Theoretical Sciences Unit.
Mano Manoharan, general manager of operations at GE's Bangalore Global Research
Center, and Sunil Murthy, lead engineer with GE, oversee the internship program
in India.
Purdue's team is led by Timothy Fisher, a mechanical engineering professor
at Birck; and Timothy Sands, the Mary Jo and Robert L. Kirk Director at Birck.
Sharma and A.N. Jaychandra, the administrative officer at the Jawaharlal Nehru
Center, are providing administrative leadership for the new joint center.
"This new initiative will focus on providing wonderful new opportunities
for students and postdoctoral researchers to expand their perspectives both
technically and culturally," Kulkarni said.
Said Waghmare, "Our hope is that participants will better conceive new
discoveries and develop them into technologies that offer the promise of breakthroughs
in energy with global impact."
In August 2008, a research team from Purdue's Discovery Park joined colleagues
at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre and GE's Welch Technology Centre for a joint
workshop in Bangalore on how to improve the energy transport, conversion and
efficiency of nanomaterials. That event was co-sponsored by the Indo-U.S. Science
and Technology Forum.
Fisher, who leads the thermalHUB project at Discovery Park, spent five months
in late 2007 and early 2008 in Bangalore collaborating on carbon nanotube research
with professor C.N.R. Rao, honorary president of the Jawaharlal Nehru Center
and a 1958 Purdue graduate. Purdue graduate student Kyle Smith of Birck accompanied
Fisher during the sabbatical visit.
Posted September 28th, 2009
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