Promising avenues in Nanotechnology

What is nanotechnology and why so much buzz about it.

Nanotechnology is about dealing with materials and technology at microscopic levels.

Nanotechnology is a new interdisciplinary field and is gradually gaining focus. It does hold
a lot of potential as it is expected to be able to come up with innovative solutions which
will be useful in multiple domains/industries like:

• Environment management
• Medicine and healthcare
• Renewable energy resources
• New materials for space application, food packaging, sustainable building materials
• Auto and sporting goods
• Forensics

For example, a team from IIT Madras has used nanotechnology for arsenic
decontamination of water. Another team from IIT Delhi has come up with a water based
self-cleaning technology for use in the textile industry.

Being an interdisciplinary field, it has the potential to impact practically every aspect of
our life!

What is being done to promote this field

As stated earlier, it may be noted that this is a rather new area. Some leading institutes,
like IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, Cochin University of Science & Technology are getting into
this by having established nanotechnology schools where PG and research programs are
being undertaken. Worth noting that these are PG courses and high-level research
programs and not UG courses yet.

Inter University Centre for Nanomaterials and Devices (IUCND) at Cochin University of
Science and Technology (CUSAT) is an inter-university research centre formed by the
government of Kerala. The centre is established with a view to provide state of the art
infrastructure to support research and development in the domain of nanotechnology
and also provide a platform for collaborative research involving academia and industry. It
is expected to promote research towards scalable technologies in the emerging areas of
(a) Energy (b) Communication (c) Environment and (d) Medicine.
IIT Kharagpur focuses on

(a) Nanofabrication / Nanoelectronics & Photonic Devices / NEMS / Nano sensors,

(b) Bulk nanostructured materials for structural applications,

(c) Novel nanomaterials: Synthesis, self-assembly and applications,

(d) Nanostructured coatings for energy conversion/storage and surface engineering,

(d) Nano-biotechnology,

(e) Computational nanostructures etc.

The school has recently established two new facilities, viz. Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) of
nano powders for fabrication of compacts and electron Beam Lithography (EBL) System
for fabricating Nanoelectronics devices. In addition, the existing facilities in different
laboratories of the institute are currently being utilized by the faculty members for the
research in the broad area of nanomaterials and devices. The school offers an elective
subject on "Introduction to Nano-Science and Technology".

IIT Kanpur is undertaking projects in

(a) Multiscale Scaffolds as Fabrication Platform for Screening, Analysis and Development
of in vitro 3D platform for Tuberculosis

(b) Development of MEMS Microcantilever Sensors for Detection of Mycobacterium

tuberculosis (MTB)

(c) Polymeric composite grafted with Cu-nanoparticle-dispersed carbon nanofibers: An

efficient electrode of the electrochemical immunosensor for the detection of
Mycobacterium tuberculosis

(d) Ready to use Mycobacterial culture growth media nanofiber mats

(e) Paper Based Microfluidic Biosensors for Early Detection of Oral Cancer from Salivary
Biomarkers Govt initiatives.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has taken several major
initiatives for the promotion of Nanoelectronics research and innovation in the country.
Major Nanoelectronics Centres of international standards have been established at
premier institutes in the country. The state-of-the-art nanofabrication facilities at these
Centres have become very popular both in India and abroad. Also, the Indian
Nanoelectronics Users Program (INUP) initiated by MeitY is being implemented at Centre
of Excellence in Nanoelectronics (CEN) at IISc and IIT Bombay and has provided a great
opportunity for R&D community all over the country for accessing state of the art
nanofabrication facilities for undertaking research and skill development in
Nanoelectronics. About 400 researchers are being imparted hands-on training in
Nanofabrication at these canters every year. The research activities have so far resulted
in a large number of research publications and significant number of innovations for which
patents have been filed.

So, what course should one take up at UG level

As one can infer, to make a career in this field, one needs to take up a specialized PG level
course. However, at UG level, courses like Polymer Engg, Electronics Engg, Material
Science, Biotechnology, Biomedical, Biosciences, Microbiology, Mechanical Engg,
Environmental Science could be a good way to go.