# Tblproject

protitle:
Design of highly efficient oxygen deficient catalysts for lean burn CNG vehicles: Recent Advances and Perspectives in vehicular exhaust emission control

prointro:
The problem of air pollution arises as a result of emissions of toxic gases from vehicles driven by fossil fuels, especially in urban areas. The primary pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), unburned hydrocarbons (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and soot or particulate matter  emitted directly into the atmosphere from the conventional fueled vehicles [1]. The primary pollutants are toxic themselves and also play a key role in the formation of more lethal secondary pollutants in the presence of sun light or some other gases such as peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN), peroxyacetyl nitrate , ozone, acid rain etc. To solve the problem of air pollution from fossil fueled vehicles, compressed natural gas (CNG) has attracted much attention due to several merits and becoming an alternative fuel to conventional fuels throughout the world [2]. In spite of all merits, CNG vehicular exhaust consists of significant amount of CO, unburned CH4 and NOx [3]. The CO is well known poisonous gas and silent killer of 21st century, while CH4 is a greenhouse gas and having 21 times more global warming potential than CO2 [4, 5]. These gases are very harmful for human being, environment as well as climate change.
The low concentration of CO and CH4 emission from CNG vehicles can be catalytically converted into CO2 because its emission in permissible limit of atmosphere (0.1% or 1000 ppm) (CO2 toxicity). Thus, to convert these gases into vehicles, a catalytic converted is required. So far an ideal catalytic converter requires low-cost, trouble-free, abundant material resources with good stability and high conversion efficiency. The Three way catalytic converter (TWC)  are one of the most effective approaches to control CO, HC and NOx simultaneously from CNG vehicle in a single unit of tailpipe. Earlier, TWC was used for gasoline engine emission control but it contains platinum group metals (PGM: Pt, Pd, Rh), highly active for oxidation as well as reduction reactions. Nevertheless, PGM catalysts normally show some shortcomings for real application like high sintering rates, volatility, poisoning in the presence of disturbing compounds, high price and limited availability [6]. Consequently, in current era the transition metal oxide catalysts have been appealing rising concern for catalytic combustion of CO as well as CH4. So, the efforts have been put towards the development of low cost and high activity transition metal catalysts. 
A number of studies on the catalytic combustion of separate CO and CH4 over different single or mixed transition metal oxides [7] as well as supported or doped transition metal oxides [8] have been reported in the literature. Cobalt catalysts are the most active among other transition metal oxides for CO oxidation. It has also been shown to be one of the most promising active catalysts for total oxidation of CH4 [9, 10] reported that the high activity of Co3O4/ZrO2 for CH4 combustion at low cobalt concentration. Further, Zavyalova and co-workers [11] found high activity of nano-sized defective structure γ-Al2O3 supported Co3O4 catalyst, prepared by wet impregnation and combustion synthesis. The doping of the promoter in catalyst also enhances its activity by enhancing the oxygen mobility on the surface which is available for reaction. The Mn doped Co3O4 shows the better performance for CH4 combustion at low temperature which resulted due to increased concentration of Co2+ ions[12]. Spinel catalyst such as NiCo2O4 is a low cost material and shows the high activity for CH4 oxidation reported by Tao and co-workers (2015)[13]. However, the maximum conversion of CH4 reported is limited to 90%.

proobj:
1. To design and develop a highly efficient oxygen deficient catalysts for control of CO, CH4 and NOx from CNG vehicles
2. To develop the catalysts nano-composites and modified their properties with dopants

prometho:
Synthesis of Transition Metal Oxides: Non-noble catalysts especially spinel has emerged as a promising catalytic material for low temperature CH4 oxidation with high efficiency and low cost. In our recent report, we demonstrated that the cobalt and nickel oxides based composites constructed from reactive calcination showed low temperature CH4 oxidation and higher efficiency in comparison to conventional calcination route. It was stated that oxidation of CH4 by RC calcined composites occur at low temperature due to the unusual morphology or other catalytic behavior as evidence by various characterization such as N2 adsorption, SEM analysis, etc. The RC route created oxygen vacancy in the catalysts that helps to improve the performance for the reaction. This unique properties of the RC highlights its exceptional quality, however the origin/other facts why the RC gives a better performance compared to other methods synthesized materials has not yet been identified. Thus, in this part of research task, we plan to study thoroughly such system by using various spectroscopic, electron microscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy methods to seek mechanistic insights explaining its interesting physical and mechanical properties. Moreover, we plan to develop the RC approach for the preparation of double layer catalysts for simultaneous oxidation and reduction reactions in a single unit for CNG vehicles emission control. Significantly, we will investigate the impact of RC conditions on compact structure and correlate the performance with structural morphology, particle size, physical and magnetic properties.

prosummary:
Thermal stability and performance in the presence of steam: Instead of activity, the stability is also very important parameter in designing of the catalyst. As we know real engine exhaust consists of several gases along with water vapor. Thus, we will check catalyst in real condition of engine to check the effect of steam on the performance of catalyst. Most of the work has been done on Pd/Al2O3 and its modification by ceria, Pd/SiO2, Pd/ZrO2, and Pd/SnO2 under dry condition. However, such systems sometimes have invariably poor thermal stability, especially under realistic steady state operation at low temperature where steam-induced palladium sintering represents the major reason for deactivation.  For practical situation, researchers have concern to achieve the lowest possible light-off temperature in dry conditions and ignoring the effect of steam on the catalyst performance, although practical applications always involve the presence of large amounts of steam. We will focus on the development of materials which remain high performance during exposure to severe conditions with high steam concentration. Thus, it is very essential to implement the use of natural gas powered vehicles. 
	In this part of the research task, we will conduct a range of RC reactions to design a highly active catalyst resistant to steam-induced sintering under reaction conditions by alleviating the origins of catalyst deactivation. Both issues are solved by the synthetic approach based on the complete removal of the acid sites of the catalyst by post-exchange with sodium with simultaneous confinement of active catalytic nanoparticles (NPs). Additionally, the effects of exposure to humid vapors (in different conditions like temperature and humidity) will also be analyzed on the resulted materials. Additionally, with the help of operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) revealing the properties of the catalyst will be monitor for before and after reaction.

proEoutcome:
Low cost and highly efficient stable catalytic converter development and its application in CNG vehicles


protitle:
Encapsulation of Antidepressants by Cucurbit[7]uril and its effect on the hepatotoxicity of
the drug

prointro:
The liver is a vital organ it supports almost every other organ in the body. It is also the main organ for metabolism and elimination of drugs. Drug-induced hepatotoxicity is a major cause of liver damage. More than 900 drugs, toxins, and herbs have been reported to cause liver injury.[2] It is one of the most important reasons for some of the drugs removed from the market. Drugs like Tolcapone (1997—1998), Troglitazone (1997—2000), Sitaxentan (2007—2010) have been removed from the market in the USA and EU because of their hepatotoxicity. [3] Drug-induced liver injury requires careful history taking to identify unrecognized exposure of the liver to drugs and thus the precise mechanism for hepatotoxicity due to drugs is not fully understood. The hepatotoxic drug can injure hepatocytes directly via a free radical or its metabolic intermediate causing its disruption or may activate components of the innate immune system, stimulate apoptotic pathways, or initiate damage to bile excretory pathways.[5] These effects may be reduced by the inclusion of the drug molecules in a synthetic receptor.

Protriptyline, etc. are a few antidepressants. These drugs can sometimes cause a wide range of unpleasant side effects.[15] It includes nausea, increased appetite or weight gain, dry mouth, constipation, insomnia and many more. Almost all of the antidepressants can induce hepatotoxicity, chemical-driven liver damage, especially in elderly patients.[16] Iproniazid (1956-1961), Amineptine (introduced in 1978) and Nefazodone (1997 – 2003) are few antidepressants which have been removed from the market due to their potential hepatotoxicity. [4]  For hepatotoxicity management, these drugs are combined with hepatoprotective drugs.[17] In this practice, the patient is forced to take additional drugs that may cause allergic reactions or other side effects since the patients suffering depression often consume these drugs for long durations. This calls for new strategies for reducing the hepatotoxic effects of antidepressants. Encapsulation of these drugs by macrocycle may form a significant role in reducing their toxic side effects. Thus, the study of their complexes, both theoretical and experimental, is an important area of research. We are interested in knowing the stability of CB[7] complexes with various antidepressants and characterizing them through DFT and experiments, and the effect of encapsulation to its hepatotoxicity.

proobj:
•	Application of computational methods to sort those antidepressants that may form stable complexes with CB and perform calculations that help in characterizing the interactions between drug and host molecules.
•	Synthesis and characterization of those complexes which are found to be stable through computational methods.
•	Evaluating its hepatotoxicity in the absence and presence of CB[7] by in-vitro and invivo zebrafish models.

prometho:
Our plans to achieve the target in the proposed project area as follows:
1.	Computational assessment of supramolecular complexes: 
This is the very first stage of the project where a comprehensive report of the literature will be generated for the designing of the initial molecular library using a wide range of antidepressant drug molecules that are found to be hepatotoxic. The stability of the complexes formed by the given drug molecule and cucurbituril will be checked and studied using Density Functional Theory. These calculations are used primarily to determine the structure and to characterize the nature between the proposed excipient and the chosen drug molecule.  

2.	Synthesis and Experimental Characterization of the complex:
The host molecule CB[7] will be synthesized and puriﬁed by using a reported method [27]. The experimental characterization would be done through UV-Visible and NMR spectroscopy and Isothermal titration calorimetry experiment. 

3.	Evaluation of liver toxicity:
MTT test - To evaluate the liver toxicity of the drug in the absence and presence of CB[7], L02cell line will be tested by colourimetric 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl) 2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The standard treatments for L02 cells are as follows: the cells are used until they reach 70%–80% conﬂuence and is seeded onto 96-well plates to allow to attach overnight. The test compounds will be added with ﬁnal doses of drugs in the presence and absence of CB[7] and the cells will be incubated. Then, MTT will be added to each well, followed by incubation. DMSO will be then added to each well to dissolve the formazan crystals. The DMSO-dissolved formazan crystals are then read with a multiplate reader.

prosummary:
Supramolecular chemistry, considered to be the chemistry of molecular assemblies held together by non-covalent bonds, is a young field of chemistry. Bioactivity and targeted drug delivery can be enhanced by encapsulation of drug molecules within molecular containers [1]. Work proposed in the project aims to study the supramolecular encapsulation of various antidepressant drugs with cucurbit[7]uril and to evaluate its hepatotoxicity. Antidepressants are a class of drugs that reduces the symptoms of depressive disorders by correcting chemical imbalances of neurotransmitters in the brain. Although they bring relief from many symptoms of depression, they have their own side effects and are hepatotoxic in nature. Liver, which is the principal organ for maintaining an internal balance of our body, can be severely damaged due to the consumption of hepatotoxic drugs and hence it a serious issue to address. Cucurbiturils, a relatively new class of macrocycle, a potential candidate for pharmaceutical excipients.  Supramolecular encapsulation of these drugs might reduce its side effects and hepatotoxicity.  The stability of the complexes formed by the given drug molecule and cucurbituril will be checked and studied using Density Functional Theory.  Experimentally these supramolecular complexes will be examined by  NMR and UV-visible spectroscopy and ITC. The hepatotoxicity of the drug with and without Cucurbit[7]uril will be evaluated using both in vitro and in vivo zebraﬁsh models.

proEoutcome:
1. A computational methodology to study supramolecular encapsulation for antidepressant drugs
2. A working model to hepatotoxicity free drug design
3. experimental verification of drugs under supramolecular encapsulation thus giving away for the new type of delivery systems


protitle:
A study on Damage Modelling and Optimization of Composite Plate subjected to Impact Loading

prointro:
Generally, the aim of armor systems is to provide the protection against identified level of threat at the same time low weight and cost. The study should include the knowledge of various threat level standards, volume and weight parameters of system and cost. Armors that are optimized to one level of threat may not be effective for another. This is a great challenge for any armor manufacturer. Improvement that utilize the strongest characteristic of each fiber of layered composite assembly will leads to optimum ballistic protection device. The response of aramid and glass based woven, non-woven and unidirectional composites will be studied. The effect of stacking sequence will be addressed by varying various threat levels. Continuum damage mechanics model will be used to model the fracture of target plate. The model involves majority of failure modes of laminates, such as fiber and matrix failure in tension/compression and de-bonding of composite plies. The CDM model will be coded in FORTRAN to implement user material VUMAT in ABAQUS to simulate these problems. The results will be validated by manufacturing (by self) and testing of composite materials on ballistic test setup (outsources). To the best of author’s knowledge, there are very limited research articles are available in the area of optimization of composite materials under ballistic loading. The methodology to optimize the composite structure under ballistic loadings will be presented. Considering ballistic vest as an example, the optimum stacking sequence of aramid composite will be obtained using energy absorption as an objective function.

proobj:
1.	The study of response of unidirectional, woven  and nonwoven Aramid and Glass based laminated and metal matrix composites under various levels of ballistic threats based on National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Standards 
2.	Ballistic Vest: To obtain the optimum design of Aramid based Composite Plate subjected to different NIJ based levels of Bullet Impact and Blast Loads considering ballistic limit (energy absorption) as objective function and stacking sequence as design variable
3.	Vehicle Armor/ Spall Liner: To obtain the optimum design of Glass based Composite Plate subjected to different NIJ based levels of Bullet Impact and Blast Loads considering ballistic limit (energy absorption) as objective function and stacking sequence as design variable
4.	Ballistic Materials: To minimize the weight of a Composite Structure subjected to Various NIJ based levels of Ballistic Threats

prometho:
The methodology adopted for the present problem begins with study of previous damage models and their implications on modern models. First, continuum damage mechanics (CDM) model is used to model the fracture of target plate. The model involves different damage parameters for failure modes of laminates, such as fiber failure in tension and compression, matrix failure in tension and compression, fiber-matrix de-bonding of composite plies. The damage parameters of failure modes are internal variables of whole model and couples with stress and strain, thus make the model progressive in nature. Second, a user subroutine is coded in FORTRAN to implement user material VUMAT in ABAQUS to simulate the impact problem. The model is validated using the results of experiments and numerical analysis of previous researchers. The interface developed using Python is coupled with an optimization toolbox of Python to work on the optimization problem. The optimization toolbox used is known as distributed evolutionary algorithms in python (DEAP) in which genetic algorithm is selected as a tool to perform optimization of laminates with stacking sequence as variable and residual velocity as objective function. The interface is responsible to maintain two way contact with optimizer and ABAQUS by giving necessary instructions to ABAQUS for modifying the parameters and giving back the results obtained to the optimizer module for operations. Further, the laminates are also tested for their resistance to blast waves by blast loading them using pressure waves.
The mathematical model of the problem will be as follows:
 
Using this mathematical model, a laminated composite plate is optimized considering residual velocity as an objective function and fiber orientations as design variables. This evaluation process takes place in ABAQUS/Explicit, with python script handling the process of changing orientations, generating various job files and submitting them to generate results. Once the results are obtained, output database (ODB) file is called by the script to fetch velocity time histories of the projectile for the specific stacking sequence.

prosummary:
Literature Survey and Review
Modelling of Impact Problem
Procuring the consumables, Modelling of Blast Problem, Fixture Design and Development
Specimen Making and Testing for calculation of engineering constants,
Result generation and Experimental Validation on Ballistic Test 
Optimization of Impact Problem and Paper writing
Optimization of Blast Problem and Paper writing and Experimental Validation on Ballistic Test
Implementation of Problem to Military Applications, Report Writing

proEoutcome:
1.	Response of unidirectional, woven  and nonwoven Aramid and Glass based laminated and metal matrix composites under various levels of ballistic threats based on National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Standards 
2.	Ballistic Vest: Optimum design of Aramid based Composite Plate subjected to different NIJ based levels of Bullet Impact and Blast Loads considering maximum energy absorption.
3.	Vehicle Armor/ Spall Liner: Optimum design of Glass based Composite Plate subjected to different NIJ based levels of Bullet Impact and Blast Loads considering maximum energy absorption.
4.	Ballistic Materials: Weight best design of Composite Structure subjected to Various NIJ based levels of Ballistic Threats


protitle:
Design and Development of Self-Healing Iron Based Alloys for Turbines

prointro:
High-temperature alloys including steels used for turbine applications, experience loads and temperatures that trigger cracks within the matrix eventually leading to failure. In this project, we propose to develop self-healing iron-based alloys that can self-repair structural damage in the form of cracks resulting from fatigue, creep, deformation commonly encountered in turbine blades. Recently self-healing behavior has been engineered in polymer composites. However, to date self-healing has not been developed to any significant extent for high melting metallic materials except for minimal work on low melting alloys including solders, aluminum and magnesium alloys. Therefore, this proposal will extend to higher temperature metals including iron-based alloys.

proobj:
The proposed research will explore self-healing behavior in high temperature alloys including iron-based alloys.

prometho:
The proposed research will explore self-healing behavior in high temperature alloys by (i) incorporating hollow reinforcements that encapsulate low melting alloys,  the low melting alloys encapsulated in hollow reinforcements will melt on heating of the samples and under optimum conditions, can exude out of the reinforcements into the cracks and seal them(ii) incorporating new high temperature shape memory materials.

prosummary:
The research will have three phases. During the first eight months, the focus will be on theoretical modeling to develop predictive capability to design the processing and microstructure of self-healing iron base alloys by (a) incorporating hollow ceramic microbaloons, encapsulating a low melting healing alloy in the matrix; and by (b) using high temperature shape memory reinforcement. The next eight months will involve synthesis of selected iron-based composites incorporating (a) filled microbaloons and (b) SM particles (c) In the last eight months, demonstration of self-healing behavior in samples made at PDPU. Publications, and follow on proposals for external funding will be developed towards the end of the project, and after completion of the project.

proEoutcome:
Develop a self-healing mechanism for iron-based alloys that can also be applied to high temperature alloys used for turbines.


protitle:
Development of cold metal transfer based additive manufacturing system

prointro:
Additive manufacturing (AM) has attained the status of a mainstream manufacturing process. The AM technique facilitates the fabrication of parts through layer by layer addition of materials using a predesigned computer aided three-dimensional (3D) solid model. Today, several important engineering metallic materials such as steel, aluminium and titanium may be processed to full dense parts with outstanding properties using AM. Recently, wire and arc-based AM (WAAM) processes exhibited promising characteristics for the fabrication of customized and large-scale metal components. This AM systems offers various advantages over existing AM system for metal fabrication such as high deposition rate, relatively low building time and low investment cost. In WAAM process, an electric arc is used as a heat source and metal wire as the feedstock. Different arc welding techniques, such as gas metal arc welding (GMAW), gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), and plasma arc welding (PAW), have been employed to fabricate metal parts. However, limitations such as high energy input, residual stresses in fabricated metal parts and poor part finishing are associated with the aforesaid mentioned WAAM processes. Recently, with extension to AM with arc, researchers introduced new power source with different waveform designs, known as cold metal transfer (CMT). CMT offers a unique advantage of higher deposition rate with lower heat input as compared to other arc-based AM techniques. Hence, it could be hypothesized that CMT process may be effectively used for the development of low-cost AM technique for the manufacturing of metal parts at a faster speed and improved accuracy.

proobj:
Objective 1: Development and feasibility study of CMT based additive manufacturing process for the manufacturing of metal parts.
Objective 2: Experimental investigation to evaluate optimum process parameters for the manufacturing of ferrous and nonferrous materials. 
Objective 3: Case study on the fabrication of customized and complex shaped metal parts using CMT based AM systems.

prometho:
Objective 1: Development and feasibility study of CMT based additive manufacturing process for the manufacturing of metal parts.
i.	The equipment used for performing different experiments is shown in Fig. 4. The main parts of the system include (i) a CMT power source, (ii) Remote control unit, (iii) Cooling unit, (iv) Wire feed unit, (v) Wire buffer and (vi) Push-pull torch.  Equipment is capable of holding deposit wires of diameters 1 and 2 mm respectively. 
ii.	Filler material and mode of arc: Ferrous & non-ferrous alloys and three main arc modes namely (i) CMT pulse, (ii) CMT advanced and (iii) CMT pulse advanced will be used for the study.
iii.	Design of experiments: After choosing filler material, corresponding mode of arc, it is required to choose variable parameters. Main variable parameters considered in present study are: (i) current, (ii) travel speed and (iii) wire feed rate. By varying these three parameters in three levels, an appropriate combination need to be choose in order to capture the effect of these parameters in statistical analysis. 
iv.	Experiments: A specific path for travelling of robot will be programmed. The path performed by robot influences the solidification structure, the thermal gradient and tensions generated by the deposition. Stresses generated during the deposition by thermal gradient also vary depending upon the trajectory. Simple steps involved in doing experiments are: (i) Place the plate on the work space, (ii) turning on robot, (iii) starting the program, (iv) Perform AM, and (v) Remove sample, measure weight.
v.	Performing all post processing test to measure (i) deposition rate, (ii) Deposition efficiency, (iii) weight of electrode used, (iv) volume of electrode used, (v) length of wire used, (vi) measuring hardness and (vii) micro-structure study.
Objective 2: Experimental investigation to evaluate optimum process parameters for the manufacturing of ferrous and nonferrous materials. 
Experimental investigation based on design of experiment technique will be performed to study the effect of current, travel speed and wire feed rate on porosity, surface texture, average width and hardness for single and multi-layer depositions. Furthermore, microstructure characteristics for single and multi-layer depositions will be studied. Finally, optimum process parameters for the manufacturing of ferrous and nonferrous materials using CMT based AM system will be evaluated. Optimization will be performed for achieving maximum accuracy, maximum surface finish and minimum energy input 
Objective 3: Case study on the fabrication of customized and complex shaped metal parts using CMT based AM systems.
A case study on the fabrication of customized and complex shape part will be performed to evaluate the efficacy of the developed CMT based AM system. Morphological characterization of the fabricated metal parts will be performed to evaluate the variation in dimensions, accuracy in design and processing defects such as filled pores. The morphology of the fabricated metal parts will be analyzed using scanning electron microscopy and imaging techniques. Reverse engineering tools like 3D light scanner and 3D reconstruction modelling using micro CT (µCT) scan data will be used to evaluate the design properties. Dimensional properties will be evaluated using Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM).

prosummary:
In the recent past, Additive Manufacturing (AM) of metal has gained substantial importance over existing manufacturing techniques owing to its capability to handle the complexity and customization in the product design. Today, several important engineering metallic materials such as steel, aluminium and titanium may be processed to full dense parts with outstanding properties using AM. The most commonly used AM processes for the fabrication of metal are selective laser melting, electron beam melting, direct metal deposition, laminated objective manufacturing and laser engineered net shaping. However, limitations such as slower manufacturing speeds when compared to conventional manufacturing, difficulty in process control, lack of compatible working material, substrate requirement, requirement of post process finishing and high capital cost of machine as well as tooling restricts the application of existing AM techniques in the manufacturing of metal parts. Researchers are working continuously to improve the technology in AM to overcome the aforesaid mentioned limitations. However, the initial capital cost of above-mentioned AM technologies for metal part fabrications are still on a higher side and high capital cost investment is required for the establishment of these technologies. Hence, for increasing the applicability of AM for the manufacturing of metal parts there exist a need for the development of low-cost AM system with improved process characteristics. Over the past few years, wire and arc-based AM (WAAM) processes exhibited promising characteristics for the fabrication of customized and large-scale metal components. This AM systems offers various advantages over existing AM system for metal fabrication such as high deposition rate, relatively low building time and low investment cost. In WAAM process, an electric arc is used as a heat source and metal wire as the feedstock. Different arc welding techniques, such as gas metal arc welding (GMAW), gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), and plasma arc welding (PAW), have been employed to fabricate metal parts. However, limitations such as high energy input, residual stresses in fabricated metal parts and poor part finishing are associated with the aforesaid mentioned WAAM processes. Recently, with extension to AM with arc, researchers introduced new power source with different waveform designs, known as cold metal transfer (CMT). CMT offers a unique advantage of higher deposition rate with lower heat input as compared to other arc-based AM techniques. Hence, it could be hypothesized that CMT process may be effectively used for the development of low-cost AM technique for the manufacturing of metal parts at a faster speed and improved accuracy. The set up for CMT based AM system will be developed followed by thorough experimental investigation. Finally, a case study will be performed to evaluate the efficacy of the developed AM technique.

proEoutcome:
1)	A low-cost additive manufacturing process for the fabrication of metal parts.
2)	A cold metal transfer based additive manufacturing system.
3)	A manufacturing technique for the fabrication of ferrous metal and its alloys.
4)	A manufacturing technique for the fabrication of nonferrous metal and its alloys.


protitle:
Development of cold metal transfer based additive
manufacturing system

prometho:
Objective 1: Development and feasibility study of CMT based additive manufacturing process for the manufacturing of metal parts.
i.	The main parts of the system for set up development include (i) a CMT power source, (ii) Remote control unit, (iii) Cooling unit, (iv) Wire feed unit, (v) Wire buffer and (vi) Push-pull torch.  Equipment is capable of holding deposit wires of diameters 1 and 2 mm respectively. 
ii.	Filler material and mode of arc: Ferrous & non-ferrous alloys and three main arc modes namely (i) CMT pulse, (ii) CMT advanced and (iii) CMT pulse advanced will be used for the study.
iii.	Design of experiments: After choosing filler material, corresponding mode of arc, it is required to choose variable parameters. Main variable parameters considered in present study are: (i) current, (ii) travel speed and (iii) wire feed rate. By varying these three parameters in three levels, an appropriate combination need to be choose in order to capture the effect of these parameters in statistical analysis. 
iv.	Experiments: A specific path for travelling of robot will be programmed. The path performed by robot influences the solidification structure, the thermal gradient and tensions generated by the deposition. Stresses generated during the deposition by thermal gradient also vary depending upon the trajectory. Simple steps involved in doing experiments are: (i) Place the plate on the work space, (ii) turning on robot, (iii) starting the program, (iv) Perform AM, and (v) Remove sample, measure weight.
v.	Performing all post processing test to measure (i) deposition rate, (ii) Deposition efficiency, (iii) weight of electrode used, (iv) volume of electrode used, (v) length of wire used, (vi) measuring hardness and (vii) micro-structure study.
Objective 2: Experimental investigation to evaluate optimum process parameters for the manufacturing of ferrous and nonferrous materials. 
Experimental investigation based on design of experiment technique will be performed to study the effect of current, travel speed and wire feed rate on porosity, surface texture, average width and hardness for single and multi-layer depositions. Furthermore, microstructure characteristics for single and multi-layer depositions will be studied. Finally, optimum process parameters for the manufacturing of ferrous and nonferrous materials using CMT based AM system will be evaluated. Optimization will be performed for achieving maximum accuracy, maximum surface finish and minimum energy input 
Objective 3: Case study on the fabrication of customized and complex shaped metal parts using CMT based AM systems.
A case study on the fabrication of customized and complex shape part will be performed to evaluate the efficacy of the developed CMT based AM system. Morphological characterization of the fabricated metal parts will be performed to evaluate the variation in dimensions, accuracy in design and processing defects such as filled pores. The morphology of the fabricated metal parts will be analyzed using scanning electron microscopy and imaging techniques. Reverse engineering tools like 3D light scanner and 3D reconstruction modelling using micro CT (µCT) scan data will be used to evaluate the design properties. Dimensional properties will be evaluated using Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM).

proEoutcome:
Expected Outcomes
1)	A low-cost additive manufacturing process for the fabrication of metal parts.
2)	A cold metal transfer based additive manufacturing system.
3)	A manufacturing technique for the fabrication of ferrous metal and its alloys.
4)	A manufacturing technique for the fabrication of nonferrous metal and its alloys.


protitle:
Fabrication of nature inspired-nanohybrid as electrocatalyst for water splitting and CO2 reduction

proarea:
Chemical Science, Material Science and Renewable Energy

prointro:
Continuous removal of fossil fuels from the earth and rapidly growing industrialization, based on such fuel generated
energy are expected to create a crucial problem in terms of environmental imbalance and scarcity of such fuels within
decades. The scientific community now therefore must indulge more in search of alternative renewable energy to comply
with the pace of current civilization. It is expected that within next 30 years the demand of global fossil would become
double and the energy produced from crude oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear energy, will fall short of fulfilling the
increasing demand of energy for sustaining human civilization. Moreover, continuous release of CO2 in the environment
due to combustion of fossil fuels and increasing population is now a major threat to the whole mankind and animal world
on account of global warming and allied consequences. We are now left with no other option, except searching for clean
and renewable alternatives of usable energy and manipulating the utilization of available energy resources such as, solar,
wind, water and biomass. In this direction, hydrogen production from water electrolysis and conversion of CO2 into green fuel are now well accepted concepts, which await necessary implementations

proobj:
1. Development of economically favorable electropolymerization fabrication of nanohybrid for the
water splitting and electrochemical reduction of CO2 into fuels. 
2. To characterize prepared material as describe with XRD, BET surface area analysis, SEM, Cryo-TEM, TGA, TRP, etc.

prometho:
The catalytic molecules used here will be mainly iron and nickel centred, although other transition metals from first and
second row transition metals are being implemented, as inspired by what nature biocatalysts system, coordinated by highly
electron donating ligands, such as dppe (1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino) ethane) and good leaving groups like chlorine and
carbonyl to free up coordination sites at the correct moment. Cheaper transition metals as oppose to the more efficient rare earth metals, such as platinum and palladium, have been chosen not only to down cost, but the idea is that by using much more abundant catalytic metals, these small scale lab based experiments could be converted onto larger scales that would be needed for energy production on the terawatt scale.

prosummary:
In the future, renewable fuels should take a much greater share of the world’s energy production, because they have
amazing promise. Among all solar power has the most potential. Before solar energy can be utilised for the global energy
demand, there are several important goals that need to be met. The energy needs to be converted from solar to a
chemical fuel that can be stored and distributed, independent of the variable energy flux from the sun, due to times of the
day and the year. The greater challenge is whether this can be done in a cost effective way on the terawatt scale.
Collecting and storing solar energy in chemical bonds, as nature accomplishes through photosynthesis, is a highly
desirable approach to solving the energy challenge. The epitome of solar energy conversion and storage is the
photoelectrolysis of water using electrocatalyst as both the light absorber and energy converter, to store solar energy in the
simplest chemical bond, H2. Hydrogen is seen as a clean energy carrier for the future. Several research strategies are
focused on the development of novel, cheap, clean efficient processes for the H2 production and conversely its utilisation
in fuel cells.

proEoutcome:
The benefits to the individual groups may be summarized as follows:
Outcome 1. Transfer of knowledge and experimental expertise on synthesis of nanohybrid for hydrogen production and CO2 reduction into green fuel. The Indian group has expertise in the area of experimental investigation of nanohybrid as electro-catalyst for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reaction in proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer (PEMWE) system. Thus the idea would be shared with Malaysia and Vietnam group.
Outcome 2. Transfer of knowledge from the electropolymerization fabrication of nanohybrid as electrocatalyst for the water splitting and reduction of CO2 into fuels. The Malaysia group (Pei-Meng Group) have experience in electropolymerization fabrication, artificial hydrogenase multi metal ligand as electrocatalyst for the Hydrogen production and reduction of CO2 into fuels. Thus, this idea will be shared with the Indian group.


protitle:
Lignin, a Biopolymer for an Improved Performance of Bituminous Mixture in Road Pavements

proarea:
Development of Greener Processes, Greener Technologies and Cleaner Practices for better Environment 
Waste Utilization

prointro:
The main objective of the project is to utilize the Lignin, a versatile biopolymer and a waste from paper and pulp industry with bitumen for improved pavements. Lignin as an additive to bitumen can also be alternative to conventional polymers, styrene butadiene styrene co polymer (SBS) and alike, for making polymer modified bitumen. Lignin can be seen as a complex matrix that can improve the strength, load bearing capacity and rigidity of the pavement. Certainly, lignin can be seen as a promoter that improves the rheological properties of bitumen and gives thermal stability as well. The work is aimed at the utilization of the lignin towards improving the performance of road pavements and a step towards creating wealth from waste.

proobj:
The project has a higher objective of improving road pavement by using lignin, a biopolymer. Few are the sub-objectives to understand and give fruitful output from the project.
a. Understanding the effect of lignin addition to bitumen on the rheological properties and performance of bituminous mixture in road pavements.
b. Modifying lignin and its effect in improving the antistripping property of bituminous mix.
c. Evaluate lignin as an alternative to the conventional polymers for producing polymer modified bitumen.

prometho:
Project cycle will be majorly having four steps in repetition
1.	Extraction of Lignin from biomass and/or collect from Paper Industry and/or purchase commercially available Lignin
2.	Blending with bitumen as additive along with or without modifications
3.	Testing and Characterization of Bitumen Blend / Aggregates
4.	Analyzing and Incorporating Changes Required

The project propose to use; commercially available lignin and lignin extracted from corn straw, corn cobs, and bagasse using the two different process. These are seasonal crops and widely available, bagasse can be good source for half the year while seasonal crops can serve as source for remaining of the year. We will try to get in touch will the paper mills in Gujarat region as well to get the waste lignin directly from Industry.

Samples will be withdrawn at time intervals to get an insight to the blending process and chemically the changes happening in the blend because of additive. 10-12 tests will be performed to get the information on the rheological properties and physical properties of the bituminous mixture. and effect of additive. if required modification of the additive will be done and its effect will be studied separately.

prosummary:
Work Plan
•	0-6 Months
o	Staff recruitment
o	Setup the project facility – purchase the chemicals and equipment’s required
o	Keep update on the current state of the art in the domain
o	Interact with the Industry to get lignin
o	Start with collecting raw material (biomass) forextraction of lignin.
•	7-12 Months
o	Work on extraction of Lignin from biomass
	Soda process
	Kraft lignin process
o	Blend of extracted lignin and bitumen – proportions (1-5%) with/without SBS
o	Simultaneous testing and characterization of bitumen mixture
o	Publicizing work through conference and journal publications
•	13-18 Months
o	Synthesis of modified l using amine modifiers
o	Blend modified lignin and bitumen – proportions (1-5%) with/without SBS
o	Simultaneous testing and characterization of bitumen mixture
o	Publicizing work through conference and journal publications
•	19-24 Months
o	Documentation and report writing

proEoutcome:
The outcome of the project will give a newer dimension to utilization of lignin in improving road pavement apart from its usage in converting to chemicals. Utilization of lignin, a waste from paper and pulp industry – improving the overall economics of the process.
a. Improvement in the rheological properties and performance of bituminous mixture in road pavements.
b. Conventional polymers used in the synthesis of polymer modified bitumen (PMB) are costly, lignin may act as an alternative to these polymers and thereby affect the cost of PMB significantly.
c. Lignin with modifications can be seen to target improvement in the specific property of bitumen
d. The research output will help other researchers in the area to further explore lignin utilization.

FAScheme:
Gujarat Environment Management Institute - Research & Development Proposals from Researchers


protitle:
Reactive Calcination for Stable and Efficient 2D/3D catalyst: A way towards greener CNG vehicles

prointro:
The aim of the proposal is to develop Reactive calcination (RC) method for the preparation of a variety of 2/3D nano-materials and their composites for the application of catalyst. An integral part of the proposal will be the full physicochemical characterization and determination of stability in complex conditions of temperature and humidity of the resulted 2/3D catalyst. Finally, these materials will be utilized and investigated as catalyst to convert CO and CH4 emitted from CNG vehicles into CO2 under permissible limit of atmosphere (0.1% or 1000 ppm) (CO2 toxicity).

proobj:
a)	Development of 2/3D nano-materials and their composites. 
b)	Altering the surface and bulk property of 2/3D nano-materials.

prometho:
The problem of air pollution arises as a result of emissions of toxic gases from vehicles driven by fossil fuels, especially in urban areas. The primary pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), unburned hydrocarbons (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and soot or particulate matter  emitted directly into the atmosphere from the conventional fueled vehicles. To solve the problem of air pollution from fossil fueled vehicles, compressed natural gas (CNG) has attracted much attention due to several merits and becoming an alternative fuel to conventional fuels throughout the world. However, CNG vehicular exhaust consists of significant amount of CO, unburned CH4 and NOx. The CO is well known poisonous gas and also called as silent killer of 21st century, while CH4 is a greenhouse gas and having 21 times more global warming potential than CO2. These gases are very harmful for human being, environment as well as climate change. The low concentration of CO and CH4 emission from CNG vehicles can be catalytically converted into CO2 by the use of a catalytic converter. The Three way catalytic converters (TWC) are one of the most effective approaches to control CO, HC and NOx simultaneously from CNG vehicle in a single unit of tailpipe. Earlier, TWC was used for gasoline engine emission control but it contains platinum group metals (PGM: Pt, Pd, Rh), highly active for oxidation as well as reduction reactions. Nevertheless, PGM catalysts normally show some shortcomings for real application like high sintering rates, volatility, poisoning in the presence of disturbing compounds, high price and limited availability. Consequently, in current era the transition metal oxide catalysts have been appealing rising concern for catalytic combustion of CO as well as CH4. So, the efforts have been put towards the development of low cost and high activity transition metal catalysts.

prosummary:
The proposed project is expected to pave the way for the more robust and high throughput method for fabrication of low cost, high efficient and stable catalytic converter device for CNG vehicles and it can be tested for other application related to air pollution control. An honest attempt will be made to look for possible large area fabrication of catalytic converter device and its technology transfer to catalytic converter market. It is envisaged that the proposal may pave the way for a novel catalytic converter device which can do highly efficient and stable in a cost effective manner. The applicant will also present their research in National and International conference so that the results of proposed research get highlighted in various platforms. With the completion of project, we believe that RC approach opens up a new avenue for making cheap and highly performed catalytic converter applications.

proEoutcome:
Refined testing procedure: Catalytic converters have emerged as active tool to control pollution from CNG vehicles in last a few years. To become a player in the automobile market, catalytic converters must be able to last for at least 10 years with minimal degradation, which seems difficult. Under this condition RC method derived catalyst material emerge as an alternative of conventional based material. For further understanding of RC method derived catalyst material, robust testing procedures are needed to properly assess stability. Catalyst material will testing under high temperatures and humidity is warranted, as is, for instance, outdoor field testing in order to correlate accelerated indoor testing to real working conditions. However, it is likely that some of these testing conditions are either too strict or too mild to give a current estimation of how the catalytic activity will degrade with time, and therefore they need to be revisited. The present project along with efficient catalytic converters also provides a refined way of testing procedure, which will make sure to look into the device stability more in-depth.


protitle:
Solar Photocatalytic Removal of Heavy-ions and Dyes for Potable Drinking Water

prointro:
One of the most persistent problems affecting people globally is inadequate access to clean water and sanitation. In both developing as well as industrialized nations, great amount of contaminants enter water systems such as, heavy metals, emerging micropollutants (such as endocrine disrupters and nitrosoamines leading to long term health complications in human), and organic pollutants causing bad aroma and carcinogenic contents. The proposed project deals with photocatalytic mode of the removal of heavy metal ions and dyes using heterogeneous semiconductor catalysts in their nanostructures, graphene as well as their composites. In this project, we aim to develop a combinatorial approach based on the adsorption and photocatalytic methods in a prototype reactor which will work in natural sunlight. The reactor can also work in electrically activated white light sources with spectrum close to that of the sun.

proobj:
Our proposed work aims to develop visible (and hence direct solar) light responsive heterogeneous semiconductor photocatalysts (HSPCs) with two-dimensional charge pathways for effective removal of heavy inorganic ions and industrial dyes in potable water without degrading its pH and other recommended factors.

prometho:
The project deals with following pieces of major developments:
•	Modify existing TiO2 and ZnO based HSPCs for visible light absorption through doping and plasmonic effect.
•	Develop other non-toxic and economically viable HSPCs (such as, gC3N4, MXenes, layered double hydroxodes) for their potential in the water decontaminations.
•	Immobilize HSPCs on solid support and electrodes from top-down (e.g. nano-particle loading) and bottom-up (e.g. thin film or nanostructure growth) approach.
•	Demonstrate HSPC based hydrogel, composites and photoelectrodes for removal of heavy metal ions and organic dyes from potable water.

prosummary:
Modify existing TiO2 and ZnO based HSPCs for visible light absorption through doping and plasmonic effect. Above materials will be made to absorb visible light for catalytic effects.
Develop other non-toxic and economically viable HSPCs (such as, gC3N4, MXenes, layered double hydroxodes) for their potential in the water decontaminations. In this part, 2-D materials are focused which have superior electronic properties.
Immobilize HSPCs on solid support and electrodes from top-down (e.g. nano-particle loading) and bottom-up (e.g. thin film or nanostructure growth) approach. This part will be done at final phase of the project. HSPC based hydrogel, composites and photoelectrodes for removal of heavy metal ions and organic dyes from potable water will be demonstrated.

proEoutcome:
The proposed photocatalysts are expected to provide additional purification to pre-filtered water where complete removal of heavy inorganic ions and industrial dyes are not possible.

FAScheme:
Department of Biotechnology (DBT) R&D Demonstration Projects


protitle:
‘Fluoranthene and Squaraines as donor and acceptor in Organic Solar Cells, A combined computational and experimental approach’

prointro:
This proposal aims to inspect both experimentally and theoretically the optoelectronic properties of novel fluoranthene based organic solar cells (OSCs).  
OSCs are attracting much attention as energy sources due to advantages such as mechanical flexibility, low cost, and the use of environmental friendly materials which can be manufactured in a continuous printing process for commercialization. Although, fullerenes and conjugated polymers are known as efficient electron acceptors and donors in OSCs, devices comprising these materials suffer from two major issues: (1) material lifetime and (2) modest power conversion efficiency (PCE) compared to conventional silicon solar cells. To avoid these obstacles, there is a need to develop new materials, such as fluoranthene and squaraine derivatives, to fulfill the above requirements.  
Four major goals for this proposed project are defined here. The first objective is to asses various squaraine and fluoranthene derivatives using Density Functional Theory and then synthesize those squaraine based electron donors and new fluoranthene derivatives which will serve as non-fullerene acceptors. Second, we aim to study the morphological, electrical and optical properties of these new organic semiconductors. Third, theoretical modelling will be used to understand optoelectronic mechanisms associated with these new materials. Finally, guided by our materials characterization and modeling efforts, these molecules will be incorporated into solar cells. This work will open new doors for improving OSC devices for their commercialization.

proobj:
DFT and experimental analysis of fluoranthene derivatives as acceptors and squaraine derivatives as donors in Organic SOlar Cells. Fabrication of OSC’s based on these new molecules guided by the material characterizations and theoretical modelling efforts.

prometho:
1.	Computational assessment of molecules
This is the very first stage of the project where a comprehensive report of the literature will be generated for the designing of the initial molecular library using wide range of fluoranthene and squaraine derivatives. Using Density Functional Theory, these molecules will be optimized and the electronic properties of the same will be studied. Based on the computational screening results the most suitable pairs of donor-acceptor molecules (based on HOMO – LUMO) will be projected towards the next stage.

2.	Synthesis of fluoranthene derivatives 
The fluoranthene derivatives are designed keeping in mind three key parameters needed for an efficient electron acceptor in OSCs i.e., (a) geometry, (b) absorption and (c) energy levels. These parameters will be addressed by chemically modifying fluoranthene derivatives (Scheme 2) with cyano, perfluoro substituents, side-aryl groups [16]. The synthesis of cyano/perfluoro substituted fluoranthene derivatives will involve five stages starting with carbamates formation followed by Aldol condensation, Diels Alder and retro Diels Alder reaction. All the products will be confirmed by 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, Mass spectroscopy, and FT-IR.  
Similarly, squaraines will be selected based on their expected interaction with the fluoranthene in question by studying its blend properties (HOMO-LUMO level, absorption range)
3.	Optoelectronic characterization of synthesized molecules in blend 
To verify the properties of the above proposed fluoranthene derivatives in combination with squaraine, they will be characterized in thin films and solution. The electrochemical properties by cyclic voltammetry will determine the HOMO-LUMO energy levels and band gap of the synthesized fluoranthenes, to observe the effect of substitution on the LUMO energy level. Absorbance, extinction coefficients, fluorescence emission, and excitation will be studied for the blends to probe intermolecular and intramolecular interactions. Nanoscale morphology will be characterized using HR-TEM and FE-SEM and will be compared with squaraine: fullerene and fluoranthene: P3HT blends. Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD), performed at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, will be used to determine the molecular packing structure, molecular orientation, and degree of crystallinity in OSC active layers..
4.	Theoretical Modelling
Using these above experimental studies, an optoelectronic model will be developed to study the dominant charge transfer mechanisms in fluoranthene-based OSCs. In this model we will apply Schockley-Queisser theory. 
5.	Device testing 
Measure electron mobilities for fluoranthene-based electron-only devices assuming space charge limited current. Measure VOC, JSC and fill factor (FF) in OSCs. VOC will be correlated with the donor and acceptor energy levels; JSC and FF will quantify opportunity for optimization. External quantum efficiency measurements will provide supporting data such as the spectral response of the active layer.

prosummary:
Once the project is sanctioned, the PI will start working for the projected goal. The very first steps will be to advertise for research fellow and other necessary steps would be taken regarding purchase of equipment, chemicals and other laboratory supplies. As soon as research fellow joins, he/she will start updating the available knowledge of proposed objective. Molecular library will be designed for fluoranthene and squaraine derivatives. The most effective candidates will be synthesized in laboratory. Synthesized molecules will be characterized by means of its chemical, physical and electrical properties using various analytical tools. Along with the synthesis and characterization, the optoelectronic mechanisms of these materials will be studied via theoretical modelling. After successful synthesis and characterization of materials, they will be fabricated in to suitable device to test its real time efficiency. Based on experimental findings optimization of molecules will be carried out continuously. Finally consolidated results and findings will be recorded in the form of manuscript for publication.

proEoutcome:
It is expected that the projected research work will produce the high performing stable and reliable squaraine based electron donors and new fluoranthene derivatives as non-fullerene acceptors to use as core materials in OSC. An honest attempt will be made to look for a possible large scale production and fabrication of device and trouble shooting of scale up issues associated. The better performing materials will be used extensively for producing a new class of organic electronics with improved performance.
The synthesis and characterization fluoranthene and Squaraine based materials will be done by following systematic approach. Through Computational approach, we expect to develop a protocol for designing these materials for optoelectronic devices. New range of molecules eases the fabrication of device and will be better hosts for OSC. The combination of computational and experimental work is expected to provide us better understanding of structure property relationship and hence providing a guiding principle for fine tuning of properties.


protitle:
Analysing Impact Of Automation On Employment: Assessment And Policy For IT-BPM 
Sector

prointro:
Fourth Industrial revolution (I4.0) is set to change the way
we work in the 21st Century. Invented by us (humans), it is
ironical to not prepare for the technological changes that
have been developed for the greater good of the society.
India has also begun experiencing the waves of I4.0.
Robotics, artificial intelligence, internet of things, automation
is being combined with existing production processes in
many industries. Its magnitude depends on the cost
structure and varying capital deepening in the Indian
industries. The IT-BPM Sector is the prime driver for
automation, artificial intelligence, IoT and analytics. However
it is not only accelerating and playing a key role in
implementing the I4.0 in manufacturing, but also undergoing
changes within its own industry. This research aims to
undertake the impact assessment of automation on the
current work profiles of Indian IT-BPM Sector and
recommend policy suggestions for channelizing automation
towards stable employment growth.

proobj:
Research Questions: 
•	How are the workers in IT-BPM industry getting affected due to Automation of their current jobs? What is the future of work in this industry? Is the technological change leading to increase in labour displacement and productivity effect? 
•	Is the Fourth industrial Revolution also creating new jobs? What are the new skill requirements in the sector?

prometho:
Choice of data collection and data analysis techniques is
guided by twin research strategies; Interpretativism (to
understand the cost-benefit analysis, worker perception and
job-related concerns owing to automation in the Indian ITBPM
sector) and Inductivism (to undertake exploratory study
on impact assessment of I4.0 on labour displacement &
channelize automation towards creation of new
employment). Cross-sectional, mixed method approach to
be used for primary data collection. The random stratified
sample constitutes of 500 IT-BPM workers working in
different IT hubs of India (Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurgaon,
Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad) Techniques of principal
component analysis, cluster analysis, correspondence
analysis, partial correlation analysis and qualitative data
analysis are to be used to examine the key parameters
leading to automation, inter-relationship between sociodemographic
features + type of work and automation and
creation of new employment opportunities. Test of validity
and reliability to be undertaken to examine the relevance of
findings to the Indian labour market.

prosummary:
The 21st century is the age of Fourth Industrial Revolution
(I4.0). Knowledge workers are leading the dynamism of
growth in India. Advances in artificial intelligence,
automation, robotics, etc are evidence to how fast capital
and computer technologies are replacing the repetitive and
monotonous tasks performed by humans since ages;
bringing efficiency and rigor and also making life
comfortable. This research using a cross-sectional primary
survey & mixed-method research approach aims to evaluate
the overall impact of I4.0 on the Indian IT-BPM sector. The
primary objective is to identify the current challenges of ITBPM
industry in adapting to technological progress on
several key variables like labour displacement, productive
efficiency, cost competitiveness, financial requisitions and
new skill requirements. The secondary objective is to
formulate policy suggestions to help the industry deal with
the identified challenges so that the negative impact of
automation may be compromised.

proEoutcome:
•	Knowledge of changing skill requirements due to Automation can help in reformulating Skill India and other related training programmes
•	Unbiased evaluation of the Impact of Fourth Industrial revolution on i) current cost competitiveness , ii) efficiency and iii) shifting IT-BPM base across the globe 
•	Findings hold important relevance for current and future workers in IT-BPM industry
•	Findings hold importance for education policy-makers, employment generation policies, skill development programmes and current science and engineering undergraduates


protitle:
Towards the Development of facilities for Studying the (a) Volatile organic Sensing Characteristics of Chemiresistive samples and (b) defluoridation performances of chemically modified ceramic adsorbents

prointro:
The present proposal aims towards the development of research facilities to study (a) volatile organic sensing characteristics of chemiresistive samples and (b) defluoridation performances of chemically modified ceramic adsorbents. The sensitive/ selective detection of toxic VOCs and the defluoridation of drinking water through cost effective technologies are important for the safety of environment and human health.

proobj:
Development of facilities for Studying the (a) Volatile organic Sensing Characteristics of Chemiresistive samples and (b) defluoridation performances of chemically modified ceramic adsorbents

prometho:
Following methodologies will be adopted to meet the objective

1. Development of VOC sensing measurement set up
2. Preparation of chemiresistive samples in the laboratory.
3. Phase and morphological study of the materials
4. Study the sensing characteristics of chemiresistive samples
5. Preparation of adsorbents for fluoride removal from water.
6. Development of domestic gravity filter for defluoridation of water.

prosummary:
In order to measure the transient resistance change of chemiresistive sensors, a bench top static flow sensing measurement set-up will be developed in the laboratory.

Filtration module for the defluoridation of water using chemically modified ceramic adsorbents (e.g. activated alumina, metal oxide etc.) will be developed

proEoutcome:
	Facilities will be developed to measure the sensing characteristics of chemiresistive sensors and adsorption capacities of chemically modified ceramic adsorbents.
	Research scholar/s will be trained and registered for the PhD program in the due course.
	Research articles are expected to be published in peer reviewed International journal.
	Possibilities for getting fund from external agencies in the related activities.


protitle:
Integrated electro-oxidation, electro-reduction and electrocoagulation process for the degradation of ammoniacal nitrogen in the presence and absence of carbon based pollutants

proarea:
Applied Engineering Research
Treatment of Industrial Wastewater

prointro:
Water in the earth is getting depleted, demand for water is increasing and generation wastewater quantity is getting increased day by day. Due to the realization that water has become a prevailing source of concern and is a precious natural resource, more attention is placed on its maintenance and purification. Environmental pollution increases day by day due to industrial activities which is a worldwide problem. Industries are polluting the environment directly or indirectly. The rapid development and industrialization in India increased the discharge of contaminated wastewater into discharging water bodies. Air, water, land, living organisms, plants, animals etc. get affected due to pollution generated through industrial discharge. When industrial wastewater is discharged in water stream, it is dangerous to aquatic life and human beings. Textile industries are one of the major sources of water pollution. Textile industry produces large amounts of effluents that are not amenable to chemical or biological treatment. High content of dyestuffs, surfactants and additives, generally organic compounds of complex structures, causes non-biodegradability of industrial textile wastewater. Indeed, textile dyes themselves present low or any biodegradability.
Well established technologies are available for treatment of carbon and its derivatives from wastewater in recent years. The issue of removal of nitrogen from wastewater is now a topic of concern. The ultimate goal is to protect the environment by producing cheap, efficient and long lasting solutions to wastewater treatment pertaining to removal of nitrogen in the presence and absence of carbon derivatives.
The common effluent treatment plants (CETP), which treats the carbon based pollutants in the secondary treatment plant neglect the removal of nitrogen derivatives, which becomes a thread to the environment. And it becomes very tedious and lengthy process to remove the Ammoniacal nitrogen in the absence of carbon. The present project proposal commits to address the problem concern with Ammoniacal nitrogen removal in the presence and absence of carbon derivatives.
Nitrogen in various forms, such as Nitrate Nitrogen, Nitrite Nitrogen, Organic Nitrogen and Ammoniacal Nitrogen, is an important pollutant in textile industrial wastewater that has to be removed for safe discharge into the discharging water bodies. Various industries including chemical, intermediate manufacturing, textiles, fertilizer manufacturing, pharmaceutical industries are producing high strength Ammoniacal Nitrogen. Nitrogenous wastewater not only affects chlorine disinfection efficiency but also severely reduces or eliminates oxygen in receiving water. Its discharge into water bodies is toxic to aquatic life, causes oxygen depletion and eutrophication. 

Eutrophication reflects in an increase of algae, aquatic plants, decrease in the amount of dissolved oxygen, and increase of taste and odour and harmful for aquatic environment. Hence it has adverse effect on aquatic life as well as human being.
Free ammonia (NH3) and ionized ammonia (NH4 +-N) in a water body are two forms of ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) that mainly come from the biodecomposition of nitrogen-containing organic compounds in municipal wastewater, industrial wastewater, and farmland drainage. In particular, ammonia, even in dilute concentration, may lead to severe toxicity in fishes and plants. With extensive uses in high-tech industry, the management of ammonia based pollution has become an important issue for protecting natural environments.
 Thus there is need for producing cheap, efficient and long lasting solutions to wastewater treatment pertaining to removal of Ammoniacal Nitrogen [Kumar et.al., 2010, Raboni et.al., 2013, Radhika et.al., 2013].

proobj:
1.	To investigate the detention time and efficiency of combined electrochemical process for removing Ammoniacal Nitrogen in the presence and absence of carbon pollutants.
2.	To rank the various operating conditions based on their role in removal of Ammoniacal nitrogen for electro-oxidation, electrocoagulation and electro-reduction process.

prometho:
The proposed methodology will be done in the following manners:
Collection of sample will be done from textile industries and CETPs. 
The characteristics will be done categorically in presence/absence of carbon based pollutant by using Apha method. Setup of three different reactors will be done for oxidation, coagulation and reduction process electrochemically. Integrated Electro-Fenton, Electrocoagulation and Electro Reduction methods will be performed by using different types of electrodes. The efficiencies will be calculated.

prosummary:
Water in the earth is getting depleted, demand for water is increasing and generation wastewater quantity is getting increased day by day. Due to the realization that water has become a prevailing source of concern and is a precious natural resource, more attention is placed on its maintenance and purification. Environmental pollution increases day by day due to industrial activities which is a worldwide problem. Industries are polluting the environment directly or indirectly. The rapid development and industrialization in India increased the discharge of contaminated wastewater into discharging water bodies. Air, water, land, living organisms, plants, animals etc. get affected due to pollution generated through industrial discharge. When industrial wastewater is discharged in water stream, it is dangerous to aquatic life and human beings. Textile industries are one of the major sources of water pollution. Textile industry produces large amounts of effluents that are not amenable to chemical or biological treatment. High content of dyestuffs, surfactants and additives, generally organic compounds of complex structures, causes non-biodegradability of industrial textile wastewater. Indeed, textile dyes themselves present low or any biodegradability.
Well established technologies are available for treatment of carbon and its derivatives from wastewater in recent years. The issue of removal of nitrogen from wastewater is now a topic of concern. The ultimate goal is to protect the environment by producing cheap, efficient and long lasting solutions to wastewater treatment pertaining to removal of nitrogen in the presence and absence of carbon derivatives.
The common effluent treatment plants (CETP), which treats the carbon based pollutants in the secondary treatment plant neglect the removal of nitrogen derivatives, which becomes a thread to the environment. And it becomes very tedious and lengthy process to remove the Ammoniacal nitrogen in the absence of carbon. The present project proposal commits to address the problem concern with Ammoniacal nitrogen removal in the presence and absence of carbon derivatives.
Nitrogen in various forms, such as Nitrate Nitrogen, Nitrite Nitrogen, Organic Nitrogen and Ammoniacal Nitrogen, is an important pollutant in textile industrial wastewater that has to be removed for safe discharge into the discharging water bodies. Various industries including chemical, intermediate manufacturing, textiles, fertilizer manufacturing, pharmaceutical industries are producing high strength Ammoniacal Nitrogen. Nitrogenous wastewater not only affects chlorine disinfection efficiency but also severely reduces or eliminates oxygen in receiving water. Its discharge into water bodies is toxic to aquatic life, causes oxygen depletion and eutrophication. 

Eutrophication reflects in an increase of algae, aquatic plants, decrease in the amount of dissolved oxygen, and increase of taste and odour and harmful for aquatic environment. Hence it has adverse effect on aquatic life as well as human being.
Free ammonia (NH3) and ionized ammonia (NH4 +-N) in a water body are two forms of ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) that mainly come from the biodecomposition of nitrogen-containing organic compounds in municipal wastewater, industrial wastewater, and farmland drainage. In particular, ammonia, even in dilute concentration, may lead to severe toxicity in fishes and plants. With extensive uses in high-tech industry, the management of ammonia based pollution has become an important issue for protecting natural environments.
 Thus there is need for producing cheap, efficient and long lasting solutions to wastewater treatment pertaining to removal of Ammoniacal Nitrogen [Kumar et.al., 2010, Raboni et.al., 2013, Radhika et.al., 2013].
For removal of nitrogenous content from industrial effluent other than conventional methods, chemical, biological, physicochemical and advanced oxidation processes are used. Biological treatment of high strength ammonium wastewater is more effective and relatively inexpensive has been widely adopted in favour of the physicochemical processes and other methods.
At present, there are various methods for NH3-N removal, each with its own advantages, disadvantages, and application scopes: physicochemical processes (aerated stripping, adsorption, reverse osmosis, distillation, and ion exchange), chemical processes (electrochemical processes, chemical precipitation and break-point chlorination), and biological processes (microorganism nitrification, denitrification, and algae culture). Compared with biological processes, electrochemical processes allow for a higher efficiency and a lesser sludge quantity in refractory organic compound degradation, and can be controlled automatically, without being affected by toxic biological substances, pH, and the environmental temperature of wastewater.
The task of providing proper treatment facility for removal of NH4-N is difficult and also expensive; hence there is a pressing need in researching new technology to overcome the drawbacks of conventional methods. The High Retention Time is the major drawback associated with existing biological processes. The present study will be extended to check the possibility of combining different Electro-oxidation process for nitrification of NH4-N to reduce retention time.
During the last few decades, research has been done on electo-Fenton’s process in order to optimize its efficiency in the degradation of liquid contaminants including Ammoniacal Nitrogen.

proEoutcome:
•	According to recent studies N2O which is an intermediate product while performing nitrification and denitrification is a study of concern as it is a harmful gas. The proposed mechanism of the present study will be solving the problem of emission of N2O through electrofenton and electro-oxidation.
•	 Nitrification is a two-step process and a lengthier but partial nitrification/oxidation follows through one step which is effective in removal of ammoniacal nitrogen. The proposed methodology will be shortening the steps and eliminating the addition of organic carbon sources.
•	Environment-friendly, cost-effective treatment technology.


protitle:
Application of Ionic Liquids as Alternatives of Surfactants for Enhanced Oil Recovery

prointro:
The fact that most of the oil fields worldwide already reached maturity and entered into the post-plateau stages, in addition to the lack of large fields discoveries in the last two decades, raise significant concern about the fossil fuels market demand, regardless of the oil prices fluctuations. Hence, to meet this growing and continuing global crude oil demand, innovative enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques are required to emerge and currently implemented ones need to revisit and optimization to recover more residual oil trapped in the reservoirs. The surfactant flooding is one of the most favourable chemical EOR methods in which interfacial tension (IFT) reduction between oil and water phases and microemulsion formation takes place to displace the oil trapped in the reservoir due to capillary effect. But the drawbacks of these commercial surfactants are due to their costs, chemical loss due to adsorption onto a rock surface, and unfavourable environmental effects upon using for EOR purposes. Therefore, the current needs of the oil industry are focusing on cost-effective green chemicals for EOR even at high temperature and high salinity harsh reservoir conditions. Recently, ionic liquids are gaining much attention as green chemicals due to their unique properties such as extremely low vapour pressure, high thermal and chemical stability, low toxicity and the possibility of tuning their cation and anion moieties to make them task-specific. Ionic liquids are compounds of ionic-covalent crystalline structures containing only ions at room temperature. They are mainly salts but differ from molten salts as they have a melting point ranging from -100 °C to 200 °C, whereas molten salts generally have higher melting points. Selection of available commercial ionic liquids for potential application in EOR is very important. Current literature shows that the imidazolium-based tetraborate ionic liquids are actively producing 10-15% additional oil after water flooding in lab scale.

proobj:
The key objectives of the project proposal can be depicted as follows:
1.	Selection and screening of ionic liquids based on interfacial tension measurement between the oil and ionic liquid solutions at different concentrations
2.	Stability study by precipitation method at high salinity and high-temperature environments
3.	Phase behavior study of the ionic liquids with crude oil at different salinity and temperatures
4.	Wettability alteration of rock surfaces by synthesized ionic liquids
5.	Adsorption study onto the rock surface 
6.	Core flooding experiment to investigate the additional oil recovery by ionic liquids

prometho:
The following methodology will be used for the project:
•	The reservoir rock samples will be characterized based on porosity and permeability measurements. The fluid samples will be characterized by analysis of SARA compositions, measurements of viscosity, density, and API gravity. 
•	The stability of the test solutions will be performed by visual observation of precipitation after preparation of the sample. High salinity and high temperature will be applied to examine the stability of the sample. 
•	The surface activities of the ionic liquids will be determined by surface tension measurement using Easy Dyne Tensiometer. The interfacial tension between crude oil and test fluids will be measured by spinning drop video tensiometer. 
•	Wettability alteration of rock samples will be performed by specially designed equipment after taking photographs of each oil drop beneath the rock sample. The corresponding contact angle will be measured by drawing the angle of contact of crude oil drop to rock surface after capturing the images of oil drops.
•	The phase behavior of crude oil and the ionic liquid solution will be studied by test tube shaking method. 
•	Adsorption of ionic liquids onto rock surface will be performed by common shaking method with measurements of initial and final concentrations of the test solution.
•	The core flooding experiment will be performed for determination of additional oil recovery by ionic liquids after water flooding.

prosummary:
The project has been scheduled for 24 months. First three months will be utilized to hire manpower, literature review, procurement of chemicals, collection of reservoir rock and fluid samples, glassware, and necessary equipment. After that next three month will be used for characterization of reservoir rock and fluid samples. Next three month will be used for interfacial tension between crude oil and ionic liquids solution with a variety of different parameters. After that next three months will be utilized to work on phase behavior study which is a very important part of the project. The analysis of the collected data has been started from the begging once the first data has been received. After one-year, the wettability alteration test will be started and will be continued for three months. Next three months adsorption of ionic liquids onto rock surface will be studied and thereafter the core flooding experiments will be conducted to investigate the performances of ionic liquids in oil recovery. In this way, a series of ionic liquids will be identified for enhanced oil recovery. The produced results from the project will be communicated from time to time for publication in reputed journals.

proEoutcome:
This project will have the following deliverables:
•	Establishment of a screening procedure for ionic liquids application in EOR 
•	Proposing the mechanism responsible for oil recovery by ionic liquids if there will be any new paths responsible for the same
•	Suitability of application of the ionic liquids at high salinity and high-temperature reservoirs
•	Economic feasibility evaluation for pilot application of ionic liquids in oil reservoirs


protitle:
Analysing Impact Of Automation On Employment: Assessment And Policy For IT-BPM Sector

prointro:
Fourth Industrial revolution (I4.0) is set to change the way we work in the 21st Century. Invented by us (humans), it is ironical to not prepare for the technological changes that have been developed for the greater good of the society. India has also begun experiencing the waves of I4.0. Robotics, artificial intelligence, internet of things, automation is being combined with existing production processes in many industries. Its magnitude depends on the cost structure and varying capital deepening in the Indian industries. The IT-BPM Sector is the prime driver for automation, artificial intelligence, IoT and analytics. However it is not only accelerating and playing a key role in implementing the I4.0 in manufacturing, but also undergoing changes within its own industry. This research aims to undertake the impact assessment of automation on the current work profiles of Indian IT-BPM Sector and recommend policy suggestions for channelizing automation towards stable employment growth.

proobj:
Research Questions: •	How are the workers in IT-BPM industry getting affected due to Automation of their current jobs? What is the future of work in this industry? Is the technological change leading to increase in labour displacement and productivity effect? •	Is the Fourth industrial Revolution also creating new jobs? What are the new skill requirements in the sector?

prometho:
Choice of data collection and data analysis techniques is guided by twin research strategies; Interpretativism (to understand the cost-benefit analysis, worker perception and job-related concerns owing to automation in the Indian ITBPM sector) and Inductivism (to undertake exploratory study on impact assessment of I4.0 on labour displacement & channelize automation towards creation of new employment). Cross-sectional, mixed method approach to be used for primary data collection. The random stratified sample constitutes of 500 IT-BPM workers working in different IT hubs of India (Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad) Techniques of principal component analysis, cluster analysis, correspondence analysis, partial correlation analysis and qualitative data analysis are to be used to examine the key parameters leading to automation, inter-relationship between sociodemographic features + type of work and automation and creation of new employment opportunities. Test of validity and reliability to be undertaken to examine the relevance of findings to the Indian labour market.

prosummary:
The 21st century is the age of Fourth Industrial Revolution (I4.0). Knowledge workers are leading the dynamism of growth in India. Advances in artificial intelligence, automation, robotics, etc are evidence to how fast capital and computer technologies are replacing the repetitive and monotonous tasks performed by humans since ages; bringing efficiency and rigor and also making life comfortable. This research using a cross-sectional primary survey & mixed-method research approach aims to evaluate the overall impact of I4.0 on the Indian IT-BPM sector. The primary objective is to identify the current challenges of ITBPM industry in adapting to technological progress on several key variables like labour displacement, productive efficiency, cost competitiveness, financial requisitions and new skill requirements. The secondary objective is to formulate policy suggestions to help the industry deal with the identified challenges so that the negative impact of automation may be compromised.

proEoutcome:
•	Knowledge of changing skill requirements due to Automation can help in reformulating Skill India and other related training programmes •	Unbiased evaluation of the Impact of Fourth Industrial revolution on i) current cost competitiveness , ii) efficiency and iii) shifting IT-BPM base across the globe • Findings hold important relevance for current and future workers in IT-BPM industry •	Findings hold importance for education policy-makers, employment generation policies, skill development programmes and current science and engineering undergraduates


protitle:
Salt induced dissipation of energy in synthetic cells as a power source

proarea:
Chemistry & Materials-Soft materials for energy applications

prointro:
Natural cells thrive on dissipation of energy. In a similar fashion, I propose here to design experiments that could prepare soft material systems such as artificial/synthetic cells from polymers and lipid molecules and harness them as power sources by converting their potential energy and mechanical energy into electrical energy to power devices such as soft material based electronic systems. During my postdoc at Harvard I have devised a simple method to induce membrane fission in giant polymer vesicles by inducing osmotic pressure change in and out of the polymer vesicle lumen so that each polymer vesicle splits into two daughter polymer vesicles. After achieving this I was wondering if energy component could be incorporated into this process. Thoroughly examining the literature gave me the hope that such artificial cell like systems could act as potential energy carriers that could be utilized as power sources. Following literature reports that specifically address the challenge of generating energy from the artificial cell like systems such as liposomes and polymersomes, I devise here a project/method to extract potential energy from such synthetic cellular material systems by inducing ordered membrane fission in such systems and extending the process at least up to two generations and subsequently harness them as power sources during these fissions or divisions.

proobj:
Utilization of soft materials made up of polymers and lipids for energy conversion applications.

prometho:
Preparation of vesicles
Di-block copolymer based vesicles will be prepared through interfacial chemistry by employing toluene as the block copolymer dissolving solvent and de-ionized water as the polar solvent for the interfacial chemistry. The vesicles at the interface would be collected via employing a micro-centrifuge. Similarly, lipid-based vesicles would be prepared by the electro-formation method, where a function generator and a multimeter will be utilized along with two ITO slides with the help of gaskets and putty to make a sandwich type architecture that can hold the as-formed lipid vesicles. These vesicles will be collected through surgical syringes into centrifuge tubes and stored for further use.
Characterization of the as formed vesicles
Optical microscopy will be used to confirm the formation of the vesicles and to record their average diameter by measuring diameters from several groups of vesicles.
Description of the experimental set up to measure flexoelectricity
A probe station mainly comprising an electrochemical set-up will be employed to measure the flexoelectricity from the vesicles while simultaneously tracking the vesicles and their shape transformations with the optical microscope. By this way, flexoelectric currents measured could be related to the vesicle's shape transformation over time. The set-up consisting of two electrodes could be prepared by aligning and joining two ITO coated glass slides with each other via gaskets and putty leaving a small opening so that later additions of external agents such as salt could be possible. The electrodes are also inserted and held intact in this structure. The vesicle solution to be probed could be placed in between these two slides such that the set up looks like sandwich of vesicle solution between two slides. The two electrodes would be connected to the external circuit via which reading of the flexocurrent is obtained. Temperature will be maintained constant throughout the experiment via a temperature controller. Now, even simple thermal fluctuations induced in the vesicles at ambient conditions could result in net mechanical strain gradients in the vesicles due to the fluctuating vesicle membrane leading to electrical polarization. This could be recorded via the electrical output measurement system consisting of the two electrode system connected to the amplifier and function generator. Next, we will see how flexoelectric output from the vesicles under osmotic gradients induced by adding salt solution from outside via a pipette at known concentrations of salt would change, and accordingly observe changes in the flexocurrent while simultaneously observing the shape transitions in these vesicles. The contribution of ions from the salt solution to the overall current could be subtracted from the overall current generated by obtaining a baseline ionic current. This will result in the flexoelectricity only from the vesicle samples.

prosummary:
In this project, soft membranous structures like bilayers and most importantly vesicles made of lipids and polymers would be studied for their flexoelectric activity under external forces such as temperature and osmotic pressure gradients that could induce membrane strain in such soft systems. A library of lipid and polymer based membranous structures like polymer vesicles or polymersomes and lipid vesicles or liposomes along with mixed lipid-polymer systems would be prepared and employed to test and establish their flexoelectric coefficients. Gaining from the previous experience of the principle investigator in the field of preparation and self-replication of polymer vesicles where one polymer vesicle divides into two on application of osmotic gradient across the membrane, the project is expected to take a unique direction in which the self-replicating polymer vesicles undergoing gradual alteration in their spontaneous curvatures effected by factors such as gradual temperature or osmotic pressure variation in the system could lead to higher flexoelectric coefficients over time during the division process. The project also would be dealt keeping in view realization of second generation production of daughter vesicles in such self-replicating systems which would again induce extra membrane curvature and in turn increased flexoelectric effects. Another possible work would be on the effect of multiple budding transitions in polymer vesicles on the outcome and magnitude of the flexoelectricity. Multiple budding is a process which generates several bud like structures on the outer membrane leaflet of the polymer vesicle bilayer, on subjecting them to external factors such as an osmotic pressure gradient. In this case, due to many buds emanating from the polymer vesicle, there is a possibility of induction of several strain gradients across the vesicle's bilayer leading to increase in the magnitude of the flexoelectric coefficients and thus drastic increase in the flexoelectricity. Even simple thermal fluctuations are induced in vesicles at standard atmospheric conditions. This will also be dealt with in this project.
A general example of soft membranes is a lipid membrane. A lipid membrane is constituted by a bilayer of amphiphilic lipid molecules, for example, phospholipids. An amphiphilic molecule contains water loving head group represented by the phosphate group in the phospholipid and a water hating part usually comprised of hydrophobic C–H chains. This results in an intrinsic dipole moment due to charge separation in the lipid membrane. Application of non-uniform mechanical stress produces strain gradients across a lipid membrane which induces onset of a potential difference due to the electrical polarization of the charges in the membrane. This in turn generates a type of current called flexoelectricity. Flexoelectricity is similar to piezoelectricity in which applied strain causes current generation via electrical polarization when a suitable material is put between two electrodes. But piezoelectricity is limited to some materials such as quartz and other brittle crystallites such as barium titanate which possess non-centrosymmetry. Flexoelectricity could be achieved in dielectrics that are not non-centrosymmetric, through non-uniform applied pressure that causes a marked potential difference.

proEoutcome:
The main output will be the conversion of mechanical energy into electrical energy. Flexoelectricity in soft materials is harvesting apparently piezoelectric current in non-piezoelectric materials. Observation of increased flexoelectricity in vesicles made from soft matter as in the case of lipids and polymers based vesicles due to increased electrical polarization resulting from shape fluctuations and shape transformations that drastically change the membrane curvature opens up new avenues of applications. Most prominent applications include soft electronics and nanogenerators and sensors and actuators which will utilize the shape change (and thus increase in mechanical strain) dependent rise in magnitude of the flexoelectric coefficient in such systems. Soft materials are less explored for energy harvesting even in the flexoelectricity area, even less explored are the vesicle like structures that can deform and transform into other interesting shapes such as in the case of self-replication and multiple budding. Also, this research would inspire to explore the underlying factors relating shape change with the flexoelectricity. Shape change dependent fluctuation or specifically the rise in the magnitude of the flexoelectricity would have applications in wearable technologies. Flexible materials that could undergo electrical polarization vouch for wearable electronics. And, in this changing world, wearable technologies are garnering much interest. This can be fostered by flexible materials such as flexoelectric soft materials. As smart electronics are taking over the world rapidly, soft materials such as vesicular systems assume their place as the primary source materials for the preparation and thus utilization of soft and flexible electronics for wearable technologies.


protitle:
Semantic Person Retrieval in Surveillance

proarea:
Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence

prointro:
Due to large number of CCTV deployment in the city, it is difficult to monitor minutest details by a human operator. It can be even more tedious and time consuming when looking for  a  particular  person  in  the  video.  The  human  describable  features  can  be  used  to automatically retrieve person from the recorded surveillance video.

proobj:
i)  Identifying and extracting most discriminative soft biometric features from an input image or a video frame. 
ii)  Integrating and minimizing semantic gap between human descriptions and soft biometric traits by developing suitable vocabulary. 
iii)  Localizing multiple subjects in the frame.  
iv)  Retrieving person(s) matching the human description from a surveillance video. 
v)  Creating an architecture for the implementation.

prometho:
Ist Year: Study and Analysis Phase  
Planned work  
1.  Review  state-of-the-art:  It  is  necessary  to  study  state of  the  art  algorithms  utilizing  soft biometrics for the surveillance applications to understand the domain.  

2. Segment level understanding of the surveillance scene: It is also necessary to study suitable video  segmentation  techniques  which  separates  moving  individuals  (foreground)  from  the static background. This understanding will help to place surveillance scene in the context.  

3.  Correlation  among  traits:  Biometric  traits  should  exhibit  low  variance  in  the  multiple observations for the same subject and large variance across multiple subjects but, soft biometric exhibit low variance across multiple subjects. This fact remains true for the single modality but when combined they generate quite a unique signature. In the first year statistical analysis will be carried out to identify suitable combination of the traits and check their potential for the application in surveillance. Each trait should discriminate among the persons in the database.  

4. It will be necessary to understand various performance measures for the soft biometrics for quantification.  

5. Study linguistic terminology for each of the biometric traits for human understandable labels  

IInd Year:  
Planned work: Implementation Phase  

1. Creation of the test bed and data base: The idea is to create a video sequence database. Each sequence  will  contain  the  single  target  subject,  and  a  metadata  that  describes  the  subject. Multiple  cameras  will  be  used  to  capture  the  subject  with  only  one  camera  used  in  each sequence.  The  data  will  be  collected  at  Institute  of  Engineering  and  Technology  for  the experimentation in this project.
  
2. Specific advantage with soft biometrics is that it fills the semantic gap between the biometric traits  and  their  human  descriptions.  They  use  the  human  understandable  description  and therefore can be naturally understood by the humans. So video can be searched based only on the  description  of  the  person.  The  important  job  will  be  to  create  a  suitable  linguistic terminology for each of the biometric traits. Each trait will be described by the set of multiple linguistic labels which are understood by the users.  

3.  A  relationship  between  the  primary  biometric  trait  and  semantic  term  describing  soft biometric terms will be evolved and the noisy data will be pruned.  

4. Next a semantic vector space is created which consist of both soft biometric features and subjects. It can be queried to derive the information.  

5. Creation of the customized database containing training and testing video sequences for the search mechanism.  

IIIrd Year:  
Planned work: Strengthening Phase  
1. Occlusion is a major issue in the surveillance videos. Several features are occluded due to many reasons. Soft biometrics also contains some structure due to social, genetical reasons. Such structures can be utilized to predict the missing soft biometric term. Human descriptions can also be corrected by using such structures.  

2. Strengthening the description based search and re identification algorithm. 

3.Comparing with the state of the art algorithm and deriving the results.
  
4. Deriving various test scenarios for the algorithms with complex scenarios.

prosummary:
The project is bridging the semantic gap that exist between the human descriptions and the retrieval  of  the  person  from  the  database.  The  project  requires  following  core  concepts  of computer vision: 
a.  Localizing a person(s) in the given video frame. This part will segment foreground (person) and background (every other component) in the frame. This may require some preprocessing of the frame for effective segmentation. The localization can be done by either using non Neural network techniques or deep learning techniques. 
b.  A vocabulary with descriptive query and its mapping to the numbers for machine quantification will be developed. E.g., Height of a person is categorized into; short (135 cm – 150 cm), medium (145 cm – 165 cm) and tall (> 160 cm). The range of numbers will also be quantized to accommodate the range. 
c.  Each soft biometric trait has to be identified from the frame using deep learning or conventional approaches. 
d.  The  implementation  pipeline  for  each  trait  will  use  combination  of  hardware (mostly) workstation and GPUs with software component as an open source deep learning library. This requires the learning of Python and open source framework for  deep  learning  libraries.  The  pipeline  can  be  developed  to  process  each  trait sequentially to retrieve the person(s) or the pipe line can be executed in parallel for each trait and fusion at the decision level can retrieve the person. 
e.  Use of  natural  language processing along with computer vision will ensure that search can be done directly using a common English like statements. 
f.  The statistical analysis will allow to compute the confidence measure for each score and it can be used to compute fusion score for each classifier.

proEoutcome:
a.  The open source based software architecture. 
b.  The modular framework for adding different modules for trait recognition post project submission. 
c.  The commented codes for all the soft biometrics traits. 
d.  Reproducible research through GiTHuB repository. 
e.  Papers (Journals and conferences), case studies.

FAScheme:
SUPPORTING R&D IN EMERGING FIELDS OF S&T
ON STATE PRIORITY AREAS UNDER STI FUND


protitle:
Signs and Symbols in Political Communication (with special reference to Prime Minister 
Narendra Modi’s campaign during 
the Lok Sabha election in 2014)

prointro:
This study aims to study the then Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s use of signs and symbols in his election campaign speeches to connect to the Indian people, and voters in particular. This study was carried out in the conceptual framework of the semiotic approach. The proliferation of modern means of communication has made leaders’ job easier as they have communication tools and vehicles at their command these days. Prime Minister Modi is widely seen as an astute communicator. His choice of words, idioms, phrases in speeches seems to have paid rich dividends in the Lok Sabha election in 2014. Not that other leaders did not use idioms and phrases in speeches, but the overwhelming majority that Modi’s party and his National Democratic Alliance, won in the election underlines his oratory. The study identified the oft-repeated words, idioms and phrases in Narendra Modi’s election campaign speeches, traced the context in which he used these words, idioms and phrases, and studies how these words, idioms and phrases stood for something other than themselves, thus getting converted into signs and symbols. Emergence of an alternative to the “grand old party” of Indian politics at the national level has brought democracy in India into an interesting phase. An analysis of the oratory of the leader of the emergent alternative party thus evinces keen interest of scholars and laypersons alike. The outcome of the study could help political parties and their leaders in India to connect to their constituencies more efficiently.
Keywords: Sign, Symbol, Political communication, Narendra Modi, BJP, Congress

proobj:
(i) To study which signs and symbols BJP’s the then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi used in his campaign speeches to connect to the Indian electorate, and 
(ii)	To study if the electorate generate any meaning from those signs and symbols?”

prometho:
To meet the objectives of the study, as stated above, the researcher carried out the study in three stages. The first stage involved identifying the oft-repeated words, idioms and phrases in Narendra Modi’s election campaign speeches. While the second stage involved tracing the context in which Modi used these words, idioms and phrases, and how these words, idioms and phrases got converted into signs and symbols.
The first stage of the research involved Content Analysis of the speeches, as reported in the newspapers of those months, website archives, and any other source from where these speeches could be accessed.
The second stage involved Semiotic Analysis of those signs and symbols. 
The third stage involved Survey Method of the electorate to find out the meaning they generated from those signs and symbols. A questionnaire based on the signs and symbols emerging from the first stage research was developed for this stage. The languages used in the questionnaire were Gujarati and Hindi. While Hindi version of the questionnaire was used at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, the Gujarati version was used at Vadodara in Gujarat. The English translation of the questionnaire has been presented in Annexure I. The second and the third stages of research were conducted almost simultaneously. 
The study was limited to the speeches made by Narendra Modi, though while explaining the signs and symbols, references have been made to speeches or any other communication issued by his rivals or his own party leader and allies.  The next chapter discusses in detail the research methodology employed.

prosummary:
This study aimed at studying the then Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s use of signs and symbols in his election campaign speeches to connect to the Indian people. The research was conducted under the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of the semiotic approach to the study of communication. Research question, research problem, objectives, conceptual and theoretical frameworks, limitations have been discussed in the introductory chapter. The research methodology, as explained in the second chapter, used were both quantitative and qualitative in order to fulfil the objectives of the study. To recall, the objectives of the study were
(i)	To identify the oft-repeated words, idioms and phrases in Narendra Modi’s election campaign speeches,
(ii)	To trace the context in which he used these words, idioms and phrases,
(iii)	To see how these words, idioms and phrases stood for something other than themselves, thus getting converted in signs or symbols.
(iv)	To see to what extent the electorate understood and interpreted these signs and symbols.
First a content analysis of the speeches made by Modi in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election was conducted to identify the terms and phrases that he used more often to connect to his audience. Several such terms and phrases emerged which, as explained in chapter 2, qualified as Signs or Symbols. Twenty-five of these sings/symbols were selected for semiotic and quantitative analyses. The outcomes of these analyses were presented in Chapters 3 and 4. 
The BJP has had a rich pool of orators. Modi has emerged as one of the star demagogues from among them. 
The terms and phrases that emerged from Modi’s speeches, make it clear that Modi used various signs and symbols to attack the Nehru-Gandhi family and the UPA government at the Centre. Modi liberally used terms and phrases with negative connotation to refer to the Nehru-Gandhi family and the UPA government. By association, the Nehru-Gandhi family and the government of the day were painted in a negative manner. 

Analyses show that Modi is an astute communicator. His choice of words, idioms, phrases in speeches seems to have paid rich dividends in the Lok Sabha election in 2014. Not that other leaders did not use words, idioms, phrases in speeches, but the overwhelming majority that Modi’s party and his political grouping, the National Democratic Alliance, won underlines his oratory. 
Besides, quantitative analysis, as presented in chapter 4, shows, people readily understood and connected to the words, idioms and phrases he used in his speeches to evoke the kind of imagery in their mind that he intended. There were a couple of exceptions, though, such as “Pink revolution” and “Secularism”. 

Semiotic analysis gives a good insight into his mind and sense of purpose as well. It shows how focused he was in his speeches: constantly attacking the Gandhi-Nehru and Mulayam Yadav families and their parties. These parties were his main adversaries, at least in northern India which sends an overwhelming number of parliamentarians to Lok Sabha or the Lower House of Parliamentary. Winning these states is important to forming the government in New Delhi. Modi understood this well. A look at the number of times he made reference to Maa-bete ki sarkar, Baap-bete ki sarkar, Damad ki sarkar, Bete ki sarkar, Dilli ki sarkar, etc, shows how he went whole hog in attacking the two families and their parties. Indeed his alliance, National Democratic Front went on to win 74 of the 80 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. This is 13.5 per cent of the total seats from one state alone. In other words, his alliance could capture more than 27 per cent of the seats required to form government at the Centre!

proEoutcome:
The results of the study, in no manner, should be interpreted to conclude that there is an automatic connection between the ability of a political leader to identify and use sings and symbols in speeches and win election. However, it can safely be said that leaders can use signs and symbols to connect to the electorate better, and by extension leaders in other fields too can use signs and symbols to reach out to their target audience.


protitle:
bIo-mimetic and phyto-techNologies DesIgned for low-cost purficAtion and recycling of water

prointro:
The overall aim of INDIA-H2O is to develop, design and demonstrate high-recovery low-cost water treatment systems for saline groundwater and for domestic and industrial wastewaters. The focus for developments will be in the arid state of Gujarat, where surface water resources are very scarce. Cost-effective technologies and systems are proposed with the aim of lowering energy costs through dramatic improvements in energy efficiency, new bio-based approaches to water recycling, and use of renewable energy. Reject waste streams will be minimised or reduced to zero, thus protecting the environment.

proobj:
1.	Develop and introduce novel batch-reverse osmosis technology for a 4-fold reduction in specific energy consumption with high, 80%, recovery ratio
2.	Develop forward osmosis based on revolutionary biomimetic membrane technology, for use in wastewater recovery applications including hybrid arrangements with reverse osmosis for further reduction in energy consumption, resulting in an order of magnitude overall reduction in SEC.
3.	Pilot small-scale (5‒50 m3/day) rurally-relevant low-cost systems for brackish groundwater treatment to provide safe drinking water at costs below €0.35/m3 (<30 rupees/m3).
4.	Develop phyto-technology solutions for rural domestic wastewater treatment to remove emerging pollutants (e.g. agricultural products), manage rejected brines, and recover energy from the resulting biomass.
5.	Develop and demonstrate cost-effective high-efficiency FO/BRO systems with complementary hybrid technologies for industrial desalination, wastewater treatment and recycling with minimum liquid discharge (up to 80% water recovery).
6.	Create a Centre of Excellence in water treatment membrane technologies, design operation, piloting, demonstration, training and dissemination in India.
7.	Develop and support the evolution of business models to exploit the developed solutions to mutual EU/India economic advantage
8.	Brief and influence policymakers on economic models and governance arrangements for viable adoption of these technologies in India.

prometho:
Advanced membrane processes, including biomimetic FO and RO and layer-by-layer assembly of ultra/nano-filtration membranes, will be developed and combined to provide new methods of purifying water from saline groundwater and from municipal and industrial wastewaters, providing water that is safe for drinking or suitable for irrigation. They will be implemented in cost-effective modes in systems incorporating phytoremediation and complementary processes.
Low-cost sensors for real-time monitoring of the key parameters important for efficient operation of membrane processes will be integrated with monitoring and management systems to ease maintenance of performance and ensure sustainability of these systems which have previously suffered from a lack of robust and reliable operational data, leading to frequent early failure and redundancy. The remote monitoring will also make possible collection of data to enable knowledge to be built up about long term performance, feeding into decision support tools for design and operation.

prosummary:
Focusing initially on the arid regions of North-West India, where water is most scarce due to limited and seasonal rainfall, this project will develop solutions for widespread applications and perform pilot system demonstrations to improve levels of quality water available for re-use and resource recovery - thus addressing the urgent challenge of increasing water-scarcity across India as a whole.
Systems will be developed and integrated to TRL6 as advanced prototypes that will be integrated with renewable energy sources under real operational conditions in the arid and industrialised state of Gujarat, with prospective applications in many other water-stressed and salinized areas such as Rajasthan, Punjab and Tamil Nadu. The development of business models will maximise the use of indigenous supply chains to reduce costs and ensure sustained implementation of the technologies.

proEoutcome:
The project targets water-scarce areas of India where freshwater resources are most constrained and where there are very few surface water bodies and perennial rivers in which to dispose of effluents safely. As explained in the next section, the groundwater aquifers in such areas are typically saline and often polluted. The technologies proposed here, for use in both rural and industrial applications, will protect surface water and soil by reusing waste water. Resource recovery will be implemented to achieve minimal or zero liquid discharge (ZLD) for industries. Salinity, which normally presents a problem in these areas, will instead be used to advantage in providing the driving force for newly available biomimetic-FO technology.

FAScheme:
Horizon 2020 scheme under EU- India collaboration


protitle:
Towards the development of efficient adsorbents for defluoridation of water and adjunct gravity filtration module for domestic purpose

prointro:
Groundwater, an inevitable source of drinking water for the rural India, is often contaminated with excessive fluoride (permissible limit 1.5 ppm) which causes severe degeneration of bone and teeth to consumers. Removal of excess fluoride from groundwater has thus become an important research challenge. Adsorption based techniques are considered promising and activated alumina as well as chitosan are already known to be cost effective, user-friendly adsorbents for fluoride uptake. However, improvement in the defluoridation capacity of these adsorbents is required to treat larger volume of water. It is identified that the affinity of multivalent cations in metal oxides / hydroxides towards electronegative F- improves defluoridation capacities. 
In the proposed research activities, activated alumina and chitosan cryogel adsorbents will be modified chemically with environment friendly multi-metallic metal oxides / hydroxides and characterised in term of their composition and microstructural features. Batch type experiments using ion meter will be carried out by varying pH/concentration of F- in sample, type/dose of adsorbents to know the best working conditions of optimized adsorbents. The kinetics of fluoride adsorption over the prepared adsorbents will be studied by modeling the transient adsorption capacities using suitable algorithms.  The life cycle of the adsorbents will be studied under dead end flow mode by varying the flow rate of F- contaminated water. Multistage gravity filter will be developed employing the optimized adsorbents along with commercially available adsorbents towards obtaining 2000 L fluoride safe water (< 1.5 ppm F-) from a source of 5 ppm fluoride contaminated water.

proobj:
The goal of the proposed research activity is to develop efficient adsorbents for defluoridation of water and adjunct gravity filtration module for domestic purpose.

prometho:
	Modify the commercially available activated alumina beads and chitosan adsorbents with varying doses of environ-friendly multivalent metal oxides/ hydroxides (e.g. Fe / Zn / Mg / Mn oxide / hydroxide) through simple wet chemical methodologies. 
	Identify the compositional and microstructural characteristics of the modified adsorbents using Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and N2 adsorption desorption isotherm. The interaction of the F- with the modified and unmodified adsorbents will be studied by performing zeta potential measurement tests at different pH.
	Study the effect of chemical modification on the defluoridation capacities of prepared adsorbents by performing standard batch type experiments using ion meter by varying type / dose of adsorbents. 
	Identify the best working conditions of optimized adsorbents by studying the adsorption experiments with the variation of pH / concentration of F- in sample water.
	Understand the adsorption kinetics of fluoride over the prepared adsorbents by analyzing transient adsorption capacities established with suitable algorithms. 
	Determine the life of the adsorbents by studying their defluoridation performance through dead end flow mode by varying the flow rate of F- contaminated water. 
	Explore possible methodologies for safer regeneration/ disposal of developed adsorbents. 
	Develop multistage gravity filter for case study employing the optimized adsorbents along with commercially available adsorbents towards achieving 2000 L fluoride safe (< 1.5 ppm F-) water from a source of 5 ppm fluoride contaminated water.

prosummary:
Technologies for efficient fluoride removal from groundwater have substantial demand in India. Various methods e.g. precipitation, membrane filtration, adsorption and ion exchange are already studied for defluoridation purpose [1-2]. Among these, adsorption based techniques are most versatile due to its high efficiency and simple, low cost operation. Activated alumina as well as chitosan is already known to be cost effective adsorbents for defluoridation purpose [1, 3-4]. Improvement in the adsorption capacity of these adsorbents is still required to treat large volume of fluoride rich water. 
In this regard, impregnation of metal oxides / hydroxides into porous activated alumina is found advantageous [5-9]. Cations in metal oxides / hydroxides impart affinity towards electronegative F-, which helps to improve defluoridation capacity. As reflected from the literature, mainly simple metal oxides (having one metal cation with single valence state e.g. Mg(II)O, La2(III)O3) are impregnated into activated alumina at laboratory scale. The precursor materials for the impregnation of some rare earth metal based oxides (e.g. La2O3, Y2O3) are costly. In some cases, impregnation methodologies are complicated and involve multiple steps. 

On contrary, present proposal targets to improve defluoridation capacities of both activated alumina and chitosan adsorbents by impregnating low cost complex multivalent metal oxides / hydroxides through simple wet chemical methods. Once the composition of best performing adsorbents is identified, methodologies will be adopted to upscale the production of modified adsorbents towards developing water filter for domestic purpose. 

Principal Investigator (PI) of the proposal has the expertise to: a) prepare modified activated alumina adsorbents [10], b) measure defluoridation capacities of adsorbents. Co-PI has expertise in manufacturing chitosan adsorbents for water purification [11-12]. The successful execution of proposed work should produce defluoridation module accompanying with efficient adsorbents. The experience of PI and Co-PI in related fields will be effective in facing future anonymous research challenges.

proEoutcome:
1.	Activated alumina and chitosan based adsorbent with improved defluoridation capacity.
2.	Domestic type water filter towards the removal of fluoride from water.
3.	2 publications from the joint R & D effort between Indian PI and Canadian Co-PI.
4.	Training program (by Highly Qualify Personnel) for students on water purification, analytical and environmental chemistry.

FAScheme:
Shastri Indo-Canadian Collaborative Research Grant


protitle:
An exploratory study on employability of Transgenders in Gujarat

proarea:
Employment skills and Rural Transformation

prointro:
As per the census 2011, the population of the transgender or rather known as third gender is over 5 lacs, in February 2014 supreme court gave the community of the transgender a gender identity. In the Transgender Bill 2016, a loophole was being identified which did not address the reservations required for the community. There is a strong requirement in management to have an inclination towards flexible legislation. For recruitment, in order to breed innovation and growth there is a strong urge to create varied diversity. Diversity which suffices and enhances the knowledge, skill and attitude of human resource. Till date we have observed a healthy inclusion of various diversity like race, religion and to the researcher’s delight females in workforce. But one section of the society which is lagging behind in acceptance is the transgender community. The main aim of the research will be focused to study the inclusion of transgender in order to create diversity in the organizations

proobj:
The main objective is to analyze the flexibility of any workplace department towards recruiting this newly noticed segment of the society which mainly includes ‘trans’ people. The secondary objective is to understand the struggles and barriers faced by transgender on the employment front

prometho:
Data would be collected from 200 transgenders through snowball sampling method across the Gujarat state.
Both quantitative and qualitative data would be analysed

prosummary:
The research project will be focusing on the untapped segment (transgender) of the indian society, to be precise Gujarat from an employability perspective. The transgender community is always a victim of strong stereotyping from the society. There will be an attempt to understand the readiness of the educated portion of the community to join the workforce as normal employees and the organization's perspective those who have initiated the recruitment of transgender. Through a semi structure questionnaire, there will be a survey conducted on 200 transgender approx. An interview would be conducted with the recruiting officer to ascertain the approach towards the recruitment of transgenders. The results will be analysed statistically and the outcome will be formulated from a policy making perspective.

proEoutcome:
International and national research papers, reports of the employment status of transgender and would also help in formulation of latest employment policy in terms of diversity

fAhead:
Indian Council of Social Science Research


protitle:
Dynamic Traffic Light Management considering Communication and Security Aspects

prointro:
Road transport is the primary mode of transport in developing countries like India. It plays an important role in the conveyance of goods, passengers, and linking the centers of production, consumption, and distribution. As per the recent report by the National Transport Development Policy Committee and Planning Commission [1], Government of India, the road network carries more than 56% of total freight traffic in the country. The sustained economic growth, increasing disposable income, and rising urbanization have led to a rising demand for road transport and personalized mode of transport (cars and two wheelers), in particular. The total number of registered motor vehicles have increased from 55 million in 2001 to 141.8 million in 2011 at the growth rate of 9.9% per year. On the other hand, the road network in the country has developed at the rate of 3.4% during the same period. That is, the vehicle population has grown three times faster than the road network during the period. Even though the road
network density in India (1.42 km/square km) compares favorably with many countries, the road network growth could not cope up with the explosive growth in the vehicle population. 

Effective utilization of available road network is the key to mitigating the traffic congestion and related side effects. The traffic flow in the road network of urban areas is highly dependent on the coherence of traffic lights at signalized
road junctions. The controlled optimization of traffic light phases at junctions can mitigate congestion and its related problems [2]. All the traffic light controlled junctions in India use static Traffic Light Control (TLC). The static TLC
uses the manually-set fixed phase duration and cycle time. A phase is defined as the green interval plus the change and clearance intervals that follow it. A signal cycle is the one complete rotation through all of the indications provided
by a traffic light. These timings are optimized based on the traffic profile of the junction and are pre-configured at the time of deployment. However, they are not responsive to the real-time traffic conditions at a junction worsening the
congestion specifically during peak-hour traffic conditions. Further, the Static TLC does not support the priority vehicle movement (of VIP, ambulance, fire, Police) and requires manual support in such cases. 

The implementation of Adaptive TLC is the key to address this issue. It uses real-time traffic information of the road network to alter the phase duration and cycle time of the traffic lights. We observe that the Intelligent Transportation
System (ITS) infrastructure, for generating the real-time traffic information at a large scale, has not evolved enough to the required level [3]. Further, the solutions used in the western world are not relevant in the Indian scenario due
to the prevailing less-lane-disciplined heterogeneous traffic. For example, the induction loops are widely deployed in the western world for monitoring lane-disciplined traffic. However, these perform poorly in monitoring heterogeneous
traffic. In an attempt to address this issue, Ali et al. [4] designed a prototype of a multi-loop detector system for monitoring heterogeneous traffic. The system can detect and classify vehicles moving over the loops and provide speed estimation. However, the large scale deployment of this system is very costly due to the requirement of multiple-loops per lane. Further, the deployment of loop
detectors is intrusive and hence, difficult to maintain.

As a part of the smart city initiative, the Indian government has initiated the deployment of CCTV / Traffic cameras for surveillance and traffic-rule enforcement. The feeds from these cameras can be processed to compute the required traffic information in real-time. The same can be processed to implement Adaptive TLC. The resultant solution is expected to be low-cost as it leverages the already deployed infrastructure. This project aims to propose solutions for upgrading the Static TLC infrastructure to the more efficient Adaptive TLC leveraging already deployed (Static TLC and cameras) and minimal additional infrastructure.

proobj:
1. Design and develop the solution for automatic counting and classification of vehicles enqueued at a junction to compute PCU count by processing the traffic/surveillance camera feeds. 2. Design and develop the Local Adaptive TLC algorithm that will compute the phase duration and cycle time of the traffic lights using the locally computed PCU counts. The effect on waiting time at the junction, trip
duration, and junction throughput will be assessed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposal. 3. Design and develop the Global Adaptive TLC algorithm that will compute the phase duration and cycle time of the traffic lights using the PCU counts computed locally and received from the other junctions using communication infrastructure. The communication requirement will be assessed and
effect on the aforementioned traffic parameters will be evaluated. 4. Design and develop the algorithm to adapt phase duration and cycle time of the traffic lights to enable uninterrupted movement of a priority vehicle with minimal disturbance to the routine traffic. Further, suggest the
optimal route and movement speed to the priority vehicle.
5. Design and develop communication protocols to enable secure and efficient communication among all the infrastructure elements in the proposed system.

prometho:
This project proposes the design and implementation of the Adaptive Traffic Light Control (TLC) to optimize the performance of a junction. The design of an Adaptive TLC is further categorized as the Local Adaptive TLC and
the Global synchronization based Adaptive TLC. The Local Adaptive TLC uses the historical and real-time traffic information gathered at a junction to adapt the phase and cycle time of the TLC at the junction; whereas the Global
synchronization based Adaptive TLC uses the historical and real-time traffic information gathered at all the junctions in a road network to adapt the phase and cycle time of the TLC at a junction. We aim to develop both the variants in the interest of assessing the feasibility of incremental deployment. Following are the key features of the proposal.

Heterogeneous Vehicle Counting: As mentioned earlier, the CCTV / traffic surveillance cameras are (being) deployed at junctions across the road network as a part of the smart city initiative by the government of India. The proposal involves the processing of images captured from traffic surveillance videos to calculate the Passenger Car Unit (PCU) count. The PCU is a measure of the impact that a mode of transport has on traffic variables (such as
headway, speed, density) compared to a single standard passenger car. The typical PCU values defined in the literature [5] are 0.5, 1 and 3.5 for bike, car and truck/bus respectively. We aim to leverage the existing Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based  object detection algorithms. Some of these algorithms include one state detectors (such as YOLOv3 [6], SSD [7]) and region based detectors (such as Faster RCNN [8], Mask RCNN [9]). The challenge here is that the benchmark datasets for object detection such as MS COCO [10] do not capture the less-lane-disciplined heterogeneous traffic scenarios, prevailing in developing countries, like India. Recently, Intel India compiled such a dataset named Intel Driving Dataset (IDD) [11]. We aim to get access to this dataset and use it in our study.
The aforementioned CNN based models will be trained using the dataset. Considering the computation intensiveness of the operation, we propose the use of
GPU enabled the high-end server. The performance of CNN based algorithms will be evaluated for the computation requirement and accuracy of the computed PCU count to chose the appropriate algorithm for the prototype development. The PCU count computed for all the approaches of junctions will be provided as an input to the
Adaptive TLC algorithm.

Design of Local Adaptive TLC algorithm: As mentioned earlier, the local adaptive TLC uses the traffic information gathered at a junction to adapt the phase and cycle time of the TLC at the junction. It does not require any additional communication infrastructure. We aim to design and implement two variants of the Local Adaptive TLC algorithm namely the round-robin scheduling algorithm and the micro auctionbased priority scheduling algorithm (motivated by Covell et al. [12]). The round-robin scheduling enforces a pre-fixed order of phase transitions and ensures fairness among competing for traffic flows of different approaches. The micro-auction based Local Adaptive TLC algorithm conducts a decentralized micro-auction to determine the phase which is to be instantiated next along with its duration. Both these algorithms have their advantages. Due to the prefixed order of phase transitions in the round-robin algorithm, the commuters can turn off their engines while waiting for green time, reducing wastage of fuel and pollution level at junctions. The micro-auction based scheduling may perform better under the scenario when a specific approach at a junction has a significantly high arrival rate of vehicles compared to the other approaches.
The prototype system will be deployed at a few junctions for assessing its effectiveness in mitigating the congestion at the junction in peak-hour traffic conditions. Further, the computation infrastructure requirement and the associated operational cost of the system will be determined. 

Design of Global Adaptive TLC: The Global synchronization based adaptive TLC uses the historical and real-time traffic information gathered at all the junctions in a road network to adapt the phase and cycle time of the TLC at a junction. Hence, the communication infrastructure is required to communicate the real-time traffic information from all the junctions. The phase and cycle time for all the junctions can be computed centrally (SCOOT - Split Cycle Offset Optimization Technique [13]) or in a distributed manner (SCATS - Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System [14]). We aim to design and develop both the central and distributed variants of the Global Adaptive TLC to compare their pros and cons with reference to the communication requirement, responsiveness, and effectiveness in reducing the traffic congestion on the road network. To validate the idea, initially, we plan to conduct the simulation study herein the models will be implemented in the controlled but realistic environments. Based on the conclusions derived from the simulation study, the appropriate prototype system will be developed. The system will be deployed at a few junctions for assessing its effectiveness in mitigating the congestion in the road network specifically during peak-out traffic. Further, the computation and communication infrastructure requirement and the associated operational cost of the system will be determined.

Priority Vehicle Movement: The solution will be developed to adapt the traffic light phases to enable the uninterrupted movement of the priority vehicles (e.g., VIP, ambulance, fire, police). The issues related to the real-time communication between emergency vehicle and the TLC infrastructure, and adapting phase duration and cycle time of traffic lights with minimal disturbance to the ongoing traffic will be addressed. Initially, we will use simulations to build the solution and tune the required parameters. Subsequently, the prototype will be built and the pilot run will be carried out to validate the proposal.

Communication and Security protocols for the Global Adaptive TLC: As we go for the Global TLC system, communication among various IoT devices (installed at distributed locations) is an essential component which shares the local traffic information to the global devices. Each local IoT device generates a huge amount of traffic data and may involve intense computation to filter it. In a global traffic management system, it also involves the communication of traffic information with other global devices. Therefore, we need an efficient and robust communication protocol which carries a limited amount of data, requires less computation cost at the two ends, and fulfill the global traffic management objectives. Such protocols may involve in fulfilling multiple traffic objectives such as finding the shortest path, fastest path, way to an emergency vehicle, etc. The important characteristics of such protocols are less computation requirement at the two ends, carrying less data but more information, and the limited number of communication cycles between the two communicating entities. Since such protocols are dealing with centralized traffic management in big cities, the security of the communicating protocols is a big concern. An adversary even getting access to only one device at one junction can significantly impact the health of traffic control management system. Also, an adversary may manipulate the messages in communication without having physical control over the devices. For example, an adversary controlling only one junction device can send very heavy or no traffic information at that junction which will impact adversely on corresponding protocols such as fastest path searching protocol, movement of emergency vehicles, etc. It may even divert more traffic towards that junction fooling the system and create chaos. Therefore, we need  secure IoT devices and communication protocols which can handle the security issues such as integrity of the communicating messages, avoid message injection attacks, etc. Proper access control mechanism needs to be defined for the installed IoT devices so that an unauthorized user cannot get access to a device

prosummary:
Work Plan:

0 – 6 months:
acquire equipments
Setup the project facility
Staff recruitment
study the relevant solutions in the literature

7 – 12 months
Work on tasks related to Objective 1
Study the available data sets of homogeneous and  heterogeneous traffic e.g., MS COCO, Intel Driving Data set (IDD), etc..
Study convolution neural network based algorithms such as YOLOv3, SSD, Faster RCNN and Mask RCNN for object detection and classification.
Start designing object detection and classification solutions.
Work on tasks related to Objective 2
Study the algorithms for local adaptive TLC available in the literature.
Start designing the proposed local adaptive TLC algorithm.
Keep up with the current state of the art in the domain.
Document the updates and findings from the previous two steps

13 – 18 months
Work on the tasks related to Objective 1
Design and develop the vehicle detection and classification solution on the Raspberry PI / FPGA platform.
Evaluate its performance for accuracy and computation requirement.
Compute PCU Count.
Work on the tasks related to Objective 2
Design and develop the proposed local adaptive TLC algorithm.
Prepare a realistic simulation setup and evaluate the performance of proposed Local adaptive TLC for improvement in vehicle flow through junction, waiting time and travel time of commuters for the given input accuracy of the PCU count.
Develop the local adaptive TLC algorithm on the Raspberry Pi  (RPi)/ FPGA platform, build the hardware system and assess its functionality.
Keep up with the current state of the art in the domain.
Document the updates and findings from the work done so far.

19 – 24 months
Work on the tasks related to Objective 3
Study the algorithms for Global adaptive TLC available in the literature.
Start designing the proposed local adaptive TLC algorithm.
Work on the tasks related to Objective 4
Study the algorithms available in literature to support priority vehicle movement by adapting traffic light schedules.
Start designing the proposed priority vehicle movement algorithm.
Work on the tasks related to Objective 5
Study the communication requirements of Global adaptive TLC and the priority vehicle movement. 
Study the secure communication related solutions to address the need.
Start working on the secure communication protocol design.
Keep up with the current state of the art in the domain.
Document the updates and findings from the work done so far.

25 – 30 months
Work on the tasks related to the Objective 3 
Design and develop the proposed Global adaptive TLC algorithm and deploy it on a server. The server should receive PCU count from all the junctions in real time, compute the traffic light schedule and send to each junction.
Prepare a realistic simulation setup and evaluate the performance of proposed Global adaptive TLC for improvement in vehicle flow through junction, waiting time and travel time of commuters for the given accuracy of the PCU count. Further, assess the communication requirement and evaluate the improvement in aforementioned traffic parameters compared to the Local adaptive TLC. 
Build the Raspberry Pi  (RPi) / FPGA platform based system for a junction to communicate with the server to send the real time count of PCU and receive the traffic light schedule, and assess its functionality.
Work on the tasks related to the Objective 4
Design the proposed  algorithm for supporting uninterrupted movement of priority vehicles  in the road network; the algorithm will compute the route and optimal speed of the priority vehicle, and compute changes to the traffic light schedules required to support the priority vehicle movement.
Work on the tasks related to the Objective 5
Design and develop the secure communication protocols required for the Global adaptive TLC.
Keep up with the current state of the art in the domain.
Document the updates and findings from the work done so far.

31 – 36 months
Work on the tasks related to the Objective 4
Prepare a realistic simulation setup and evaluate the performance of proposed algorithm with respect to the movement speed and travel time of the priority vehicle, amount of change required in the traffic light schedule and its effect on the route traffic movement. Further, assess the communication requirement of the proposal.
Develop the proposed  algorithm for supporting uninterrupted movement of priority vehicles and deploy it on a server. 
Design and develop the Raspberry Pi  (RPi)/ FPGA based device that will be carried in the emergency vehicle. The device will send the periodic location updates and destination information to the server, and receive the route and movement speed related suggestion from the server.
Work on the tasks related to the Objective 5
Design and develop the secure communication protocols required for  the priority vehicle movement.
Prepare the final  report detailing all the solutions and findings of the work.

proEoutcome:
The output of the project will be an Adaptive Traffic Light System consisting of
1. the solution for computing PCU count from heterogeneous traffic stream in real-time;
2. the solution for computing phase duration and cycle time for Local Adaptive Traffic Lights along with its performance assessment (vehicle flow, waiting and travel time of commuters);
3. the solution for computing phase duration and cycle time for Global Adaptive Traffic Lights along with its performance assessment (vehicle flow, waiting and travel time of commuters, communication requirement);
4. the solution for uninterrupted movement of priority vehicles and its assessment (waiting time and speed of priority vehicle, amount of disturbance created to the normal TLC schedule and its effect on the routine traffic - change in vehicle flow, waiting time and trip duration);
5. the secure communication protocols for the Adaptive TLC along with their assessment (communication latency, computation requirement and the effectiveness in addressing the security vulnerabilities).

FAScheme:
SCHEME FOR SUPPORTING R&D IN EMERGING FIELDS OF S&T ON STATE PRIORITY AREAS UNDER STI FUND


protitle:
Mechano-Chemistry A way for cm2 to m2 perovskite Modules

prointro:
The aim of this proposal is to develop mechanochemical methods for the preparation of a variety of organic-inorganic hybrid 2D perovskites and their composites. An integral part of the proposal will be the full physicochemical characterization and determination of stability in complex conditions of temperature and humidity for the resulted perovskite materials. Finally, these materials will be utilized and investigated as light-absorbing materials to fabricate solar cells.

proobj:
c)	Perovskite solar cells fabrication and measurements characterization.
d)	Stability in complex conditions of temperature, humidity and light soaking.

prometho:
An easy fabrication procedure having capability to stabilize 2D perovskites against long-term structural integrity and achieving high power conversion efficiency will become the major research focus in this field. The applicant’s previous experience on 3D perovskites will definitely help to resolve these issues. The use of mechanochemical approach applied as a ‘green’ method in solid state offers a significant advancement by avoiding the use of solvent, dramatically shortening synthesis times and simultaneously increasing the end product. Also, to improve the device performance the proposed surface treatment and absorber layer modification is expected to improve device performance. Moreover, the strategic construction of 2D/3D heterojunction perovskite solar cells is expected to enhance both device performance and moisture stability.

prosummary:
This presented approach opens up a new avenue for making cheap and high performance 2D perovskite materials for solar cell applications, and will be extended to prepare a range of inorganic-organic hybrid 2D perovskites and their composites. An honest attempt will be made to fabricate large area solar cells.

proEoutcome:
All the above-mentioned features open new radical opportunities for a more sophisticated control over properties of PV materials, in particular improves charge transport and separation. Also, mechanical milling approach, as a solvent-free method, is an effective approach to minimize the presence of water. Thus, developing a solvent-free synthetic procedure based on grinding in solid state can provide novel highly advanced PV absorbers.


protitle:
Sustainability Assessment on Different Welding Processes

prointro:
Introduction:
The global governments, institutions, and policymakers are keeping a major focus on impact due to the manufacturing and service sectors on the environment and human health. Sustainable manufacturing of products is the ultimate solution for manufacturers to survive these stringent rules. Manufacturing sustainability and optimum resource utilization have become a topic of research. Sustainability works on triple bottom line theory which recommends companies to focus on environmental, economic, and social aspect [1]. Welding plays a crucial role in modern manufacturing such as vessel production, construction, automobile, shipbuilding, railway industry, oil & gas, maritime industry, etc. Welding is a major greenhouse gas emitter and energy consumer in wind turbine and forklift manufacturing [2].  Despite knowing the fact that, welding have environmental and human health issues, its life cycle assessment (LCA) is studied to less extent particularly for large thicknesses. Improving the environmental performance of joining technologies by deploying sustainable manufacturing strategies has potential to improve the sustainability of welding processes. Life cycle assessment is a standardized method governed by International standard ISO 14040:2006 Life cycle Assessment-Principles and Guidelines for analyzing the environmental impact of service or product. This method compiles inputs and outputs of material and energy consumption and analyse it for its environmental impact.  LCA works in four phases as – (i) goal definition and scope setting (ii) life cycle inventory (iii) life cycle impact assessment (iv) interpretation.    
Conventional fusion welding processes such as Manual metal arc welding (MMAW), Gas metal arc welding (GMAW), Tungsten inert gas welding (TIG), Laser beam welding (LBW), Plasma arc welding (PAW),  Flux-cored arc welding (FCAW), Submerged arc welding (SAW) are widely used techniques. Most of the fusion processes produce hazardous gases along with dangerous fume particles. The magnitude of fumes emitted and its health risks depend on the chemical composition of shielding gases, filler metal, base metal, constituents of coating, welding time [3]. Friction stir welding (FSW) is receiving great interest in the welding field due to its solid-state joining nature. FSW is a preferred joining technique for joining of low melting metal alloys such as aluminium, magnesium, etc. FSW has many advantages over fusion welding of these alloys such as it avoids the formation of solidification cracking, high residual stresses, and oxidation. Other advantages are no arc, no fumes, no filler wire or shielding gas requirement, and no spatter, ease of material recycling making the process “Green” in nature. 
This study attempt to study LCA of Manual metal arc welding, Gas metal arc welding, Tungsten inert gas welding, Laser beam welding, Plasma arc welding,  Flux-cored arc welding, Submerged arc welding, Friction stir welding in its two variants (Conventional FSW and bobbin tool FSW). Comparative LCA of such large fusion welding processes with solid-state welding processes is found missing in the literature. 
Literature Review:
The use of sustainability approach in welding was studied by many researchers. Mehta et al. [4] systematically summarized sustainability concerns in various fusion welding and friction-based welding processes and also suggested solutions to overcome them in order to achieve sustainability. He suggested novel approaches such as the use of optimization techniques, hybridization of conventional welding processes, adapting technological development, and promoting awareness of sustainability as solutions towards sustainability.  
Bevilacqua et al. [5] compared the environmental impact of the friction stir welding with gas tungsten arc welding and laser beam welding for joining AA5754-H114 aluminium alloy sheets. They defined a new performance index by considering midpoint category impact and UTS of joints. They found that FSW offers a great environmental advantage over GTAW and LBW. Bobbin tool friction stir welding (BTFSW) is one of the variants of conventional friction stir welding (CFSW). It has many advantages over CFSW.  Fuse and Badheka [6] suggested BTFSW as a potential welding method from a sustainability point of view. Shrivastava et al. [7] quantitatively compared the energy consumption for creating full penetration weld in Al6061-T6 workpieces with FSW and GMAW. They carried out the analysis for the design criteria of similar maximum ultimate tensile force. They found that FSW consumed 42% less energy & 31% less greenhouse gas emissions as compared with GMAW.  Bevilacqua et al. [8] studied the environmental impact of the FSW process as a function of rotational and welding speed in butt joining of AA5754 aluminium alloy sheets. IMPACT 200+ life cycle assessment methodology was used. The defined two indexes namely environmental impact index for unit UTS, and environmental impact index for unit UE. They obtained the lowest environmental impact index at 1200 rpm and 100 mm/min. In another sustainability study on FSW, Azeez and Akinlabi E. [3] linked heat input, tensile properties, and Weibull modulus to the sustainability of FSW during  6 mm thick AA6082-T6 butt joining. They found reliable joints when Weibull modulus increases.  
Zukauskaite et al. [9] studied the environmental and human health impact of MMAW, SAW, MIG, and FCAW. Their study revealed that FCAW consumes the least energy but it cannot recommend, as FCAW emits 91% more emissions than other studied processes. SAW has low toxicity and less emission in kg per 1 m of welding and hence can be used as much as possible. Chang et al. [1] applied LCA and Social LCA for joining 20 mm thick high strength structural steel using MMAW, manual GMAW, automatic GMAW, and Automatic Laser-Arc Hybrid Welding (LAHW). They found MMAW contributing the highest in terms of environmental impact. They studied relative potential risk on human health considering fumes generated in considered welding technologies. They neglected other factors such as noise, radiation, heat due to lack of quantitative data. Drakopoulos et al. [10] studied welding processes such as SMAW, FCAW, SAW by considering materials, fumes, electricity, shielding gas and heat along with oxy-acetylene cutting and Plasma arc cutting for their environmental impact analysis. They used Environmental Priority Strategy (EPS)” and the “Eco-Indicator 99” impact assessment methods. They found FCAW and OAC as most environmentally hazardous joining and cutting techniques respectively. Stavropoulos et al. [11] presented a comparative analysis of the environmental impact of manufacturing of cylinder heads of petrol and diesel engines. They found petrol cylinder head manufacturing process chain having a more environmental impact than diesel cylinder head. They also compared impact assessment methods Eco-indicator 99 and IMPACT 2002+ along with ReCiPe. They concluded that each method can’t be compared directly to another method. 
Sproesser et al. [2] applied LCA to different welding technologies and compared their environmental impact in the selected four impact categories like eutrophication potential, acidification potential, global warming potential (100 years) and photochemical ozone creation potential. They found LHAW as most superior technique due to its high process performance and overall low weld volume. Vimal et al. [12] studied five sustainable manufacturing strategies as energy modeling and optimization studies, employee skill training (green strategies) and involvement program, process emission studies (control aerosols and fumes), process parameter optimization considering sustainability aspects (sustainable selection of process parameters for improving environmental performance), and waste minimization and disposal strategies (to avoid and adopt environmentally friendly disposal). They found employee skill training (green strategies) and involvement program and waste minimization and disposal strategies helpful in improving environmental performance and materials conservation.

proobj:
Proposed project is falling into the state priority research and development area of Sustainable habitat. Specific objectives:
1.	Environmental impact assessment of MMAW, MIGW, TIG, A-GTAW, HGTAW,  FSW, BTFSW considering carbon steel and aluminum base materials. 
2.	Social life cycle assessment of MMAW, MIGW, TIG, A-GTAW, HGTAW, FSW, BTFSW considering carbon steel and aluminum base materials.
3.	Comparison between different impact assessment methods such as Eco-indicator 99, CML, EPS, IMPACT 2002+ for least impact fusion welding and least impact solid state welding

prometho:
The Life cycle assessment of different welding processes needs to follow systematic steps given in ISO 14040:2006 Life Cycle Assessments–Principles and Guidelines. The steps to be followed during project are as follow:
Step1: Defining goal of the study – Goal of the current project is to investigate environmental impact of different welding processes using LCA methodology. 
Step 2: Defining function unit – It is the base to compare effect of considered processes on environmental impact. This can be in terms of maximum tensile force sustained by welded joint during service or in terms of meters of weld seam. Further, system boundaries need to be specifying as per Goal of the project.
Step 3: Collection of the data – Data of input and output of the considered welding process needs to be collected.  Decide collection methods like actual measurement / calculation / from product
data sheet etc. in this step.
Step 4: Selection of impact categories – In this step, appropriate impact categories are need to select. We can use Midpoint impact categories, End point impact categories or combination of both. 
Step 5: Model development in LCA software – Develop the LCA model using relevant databases 
Step 6: Finally, results from LCA analysis are need to interpret and modification can be suggested

prosummary:
Literature Survey
Appointment of Project staff (JRF/SRF)
Procuring the consumables and work
piece materials
Workstation and software procurement


Experimental work (Welding procedure and performance of sustainability)

Analysis after experiments 
establishment of process parameters
Report writing and publications
mechanical testing.

proEoutcome:
Since welding is an important manufacturing process as far as fabrication industries are concerned, the sustainability assessment of welding processes will provide data and analysis to form policies for its usage. Therefore, the data and analysis of results of proposed project will be having direct impact on governmental policies for sustainable manufacturing. The targeted materials of carbon steel and aluminum alloys are widely applied in heavy engineering, aerospace, marine, petroleum and chemical industries. This assessment is intended to provide selection criteria of specific welding technique on basis on sustainable assessment. The principle objective of proposed project is to provide support to an industry with selection of eco-efficient process and development.

FAScheme:
SUPPORTING R&D IN EMERGING FIELDS OF S&T ON STATE PRIORITY AREAS UNDER STI FUND


protitle:
Improving the Stability of Perovskite Solar Cells (>1000 Hrs)

prointro:
The recent years have witnessed the unprecedented rapid development of a new class of 3D hybrid metal halide perovskites for optoelectronic applications.[1] Perovskites belong to a class of compounds with the general formula of ABX3 and exhibits a 3D cubic crystal structure, in which A is a monovalent cation (methylammonium, MA, CH3NH3+; formamidinium, FA, CH(NH2)2+), B is a divalent cation (Pb2+, Sn2+), and X is a halide anion (I-, Br-, Cl-). The 3D network of perovskite is comprised of corner-sharing BX6 octahedra with in between voids occupied by A cations to achieve charge neutrality (Figure 1). The size of the A cation suitable for the octahedral voids is experimentally evaluated by the Goldschmidt tolerance factor, which is defined as follows:
t=  (r_A+r_X)/(√2(r_B+r_X) )
,where RA and RB are the ionic radii of A- and B-site cations, while Rx is the ionic radius of the anion.[2] The value of t between 0.8 and 1.0 is favorable for most stable 3D perovskite structures. Currently, the most commonly studied perovskite compound is methylammonium lead iodide MAPbI3, which structure has an octahedral coordination around the Pb ions, and the methylammonium cations occupy the interstices (the A sites) within the perovskite lattice. The perovskite compositions can be easily tuned by forming various multication and/or mixed-halide systems, e.g. (MA)0.80(Cs)0.20PbI2Br where the part of methylammonium and iodide ions were replaced by cesium and bromide ions, respectively. These semiconductor materials have attracted increasing attention and exhibit unique physicochemical properties such as low band gaps, high light extinction coefficients, long charge carrier diffusion lengths, long charge carrier lifetimes and high charge carrier mobility.[3,4] Moreover, due to their ease of thin film fabrication process lead halide perovskites appear as excellent materials for the fabrication of new generation of solar cells.[5]

proobj:
•	Rational design and preparation of new 2D layered perovskites
•	The preparation of new 3D/2D-mixed lead halide perovskites
•	The preparation of new lead halide CsPbI3−xBrx perovskites
•	Development and optimization of procedures for the fabrication of efficient and stable perovskite solar cells

prometho:
The recent years have witnessed the unprecedented rapid development of a new class of 3D hybrid metal halide perovskites for optoelectronic applications.[1] Perovskites belong to a class of compounds with the general formula of ABX3 and exhibits a 3D cubic crystal structure, in which A is a monovalent cation (methylammonium, MA, CH3NH3+; formamidinium, FA, CH(NH2)2+), B is a divalent cation (Pb2+, Sn2+), and X is a halide anion (I-, Br-, Cl-). The 3D network of perovskite is comprised of corner-sharing BX6 octahedra with in between voids occupied by A cations to achieve charge neutrality (Figure 1). The size of the A cation suitable for the octahedral voids is experimentally evaluated by the Goldschmidt tolerance factor, which is defined as follows:
t=  (r_A+r_X)/(√2(r_B+r_X) )
,where RA and RB are the ionic radii of A- and B-site cations, while Rx is the ionic radius of the anion.[2] The value of t between 0.8 and 1.0 is favorable for most stable 3D perovskite structures. Currently, the most commonly studied perovskite compound is methylammonium lead iodide MAPbI3, which structure has an octahedral coordination around the Pb ions, and the methylammonium cations occupy the interstices (the A sites) within the perovskite lattice. The perovskite compositions can be easily tuned by forming various multication and/or mixed-halide systems, e.g. (MA)0.80(Cs)0.20PbI2Br where the part of methylammonium and iodide ions were replaced by cesium and bromide ions, respectively. These semiconductor materials have attracted increasing attention and exhibit unique physicochemical properties such as low band gaps, high light extinction coefficients, long charge carrier diffusion lengths, long charge carrier lifetimes and high charge carrier mobility.[3,4] Moreover, due to their ease of thin film fabrication process lead halide perovskites appear as excellent materials for the fabrication of new generation of solar cells.[5]

prosummary:
The recent years have witnessed the unprecedented rapid development of a new class of 3D hybrid metal halide perovskites for optoelectronic applications.[1] Perovskites belong to a class of compounds with the general formula of ABX3 and exhibits a 3D cubic crystal structure, in which A is a monovalent cation (methylammonium, MA, CH3NH3+; formamidinium, FA, CH(NH2)2+), B is a divalent cation (Pb2+, Sn2+), and X is a halide anion (I-, Br-, Cl-). The 3D network of perovskite is comprised of corner-sharing BX6 octahedra with in between voids occupied by A cations to achieve charge neutrality (Figure 1). The size of the A cation suitable for the octahedral voids is experimentally evaluated by the Goldschmidt tolerance factor, which is defined as follows:
t=  (r_A+r_X)/(√2(r_B+r_X) )
,where RA and RB are the ionic radii of A- and B-site cations, while Rx is the ionic radius of the anion.[2] The value of t between 0.8 and 1.0 is favorable for most stable 3D perovskite structures. Currently, the most commonly studied perovskite compound is methylammonium lead iodide MAPbI3, which structure has an octahedral coordination around the Pb ions, and the methylammonium cations occupy the interstices (the A sites) within the perovskite lattice. The perovskite compositions can be easily tuned by forming various multication and/or mixed-halide systems, e.g. (MA)0.80(Cs)0.20PbI2Br where the part of methylammonium and iodide ions were replaced by cesium and bromide ions, respectively. These semiconductor materials have attracted increasing attention and exhibit unique physicochemical properties such as low band gaps, high light extinction coefficients, long charge carrier diffusion lengths, long charge carrier lifetimes and high charge carrier mobility.[3,4] Moreover, due to their ease of thin film fabrication process lead halide perovskites appear as excellent materials for the fabrication of new generation of solar cells.[5]

proEoutcome:
Rational design for 2D perovskites
Preparation methods of #D/2D perovskites
Perovskite cells with higher stability uo to 1000 hours with constsnt performance


protitle:
Selective Removal of Cationic and Anionic Heavy Metals From Contaminated/Industrial Water Using 1D And 2D-Carbon Structures Decorated With Magnetic Nanoparticles: Performance and Mechanism

proarea:
Waste management, Heavy Metal, Nanoparticles, Carbon, wastewater

prointro:
The main objective of the proposed work is to study to access the performance of maghemite nanoparticle decorated with two different carbon materials including 1D (Carbon nanofibers) & 2D (porous graphene) will synthesis and use Cationic and Anionic Heavy Metals From Contaminated/Industrial Water Using 1D And 2D-Carbon Structures Decorated With Magnetic Nanoparticles.

In view to achieve this objective following work will be carried out:
1.	Synthesis of maghemite nanoparticle decorated with two different carbon materials.
2.	The synthesize materials will characterize (including FTIR, Raman, XRD, BET, FESEM, FETEM, EPR, Zetasizer, TGA, XPS etc) to understand their physico-chemical properties.
3.	Focus to increase the nanoparticle selectivity for heavy metal removal.
4.	Column Study
5.	Adsorption studies
6.	Effect of several parameters such as effect of time; effect of pH and adsorbent dosages etc.
7.	Kinetics study
8.	Thermodynamic study
9.	Desorption and regeneration studies.
10.	Process optimization.

proobj:
The main objective of the proposed work is to study to access the performance of maghemite nanoparticle decorated with two different carbon materials including 1D (Carbon nanofibers) & 2D (porous graphene) will synthesis and use Cationic and Anionic Heavy Metals From Contaminated/Industrial Water Using 1D And 2D-Carbon Structures Decorated With Magnetic Nanoparticles.

prometho:
The main objective of the proposed work is to study to access the performance of maghemite nanoparticle decorated with two different carbon materials including 1D (Carbon nanofibers) & 2D (porous graphene) will synthesis and use Cationic and Anionic Heavy Metals From Contaminated/Industrial Water Using 1D And 2D-Carbon Structures Decorated With Magnetic Nanoparticles.

In view to achieve this objective following work will be carried out:
1.	Synthesis of maghemite nanoparticle decorated with two different carbon materials.
2.	The synthesize materials will characterize (including FTIR, Raman, XRD, BET, FESEM, FETEM, EPR, Zetasizer, TGA, XPS etc) to understand their physico-chemical properties.
3.	Focus to increase the nanoparticle selectivity for heavy metal removal.
4.	Column Study
5.	Adsorption studies
6.	Effect of several parameters such as effect of time; effect of pH and adsorbent dosages etc.
7.	Kinetics study
8.	Thermodynamic study
9.	Desorption and regeneration studies.
10.	Process optimization.

prosummary:
The current project helps in the development of an efficient process for heavy metal removal with novel maghemite nanoparticle decorated with. In order to develop a process a lot of work needs to carry out on laboratory scale. This lab scale data requires generating at institute level with the available expertise. In the present project, PDPU has all the facilities to carry out the lab scale studies, and pilot scale facilities can be developed either in PDPU or in support with any R & D organization or Industry. 

International status
Several internationally renowned groups were working in the area of Nanomaterial synthesis and applications. Very few of them were working on selective removal heavy metals from Contaminated water by with Magnetic Nanoparticles such as: Prof. Mika Sillanpaa and group, Department of Green Chemistry, Lappeenranta University of Technology Finland; Prof. Chen and group, Chemical Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Hong kong. Recently, B. Hou and his group National Engineering Research Center of Industrial Crystallization Technology, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China working on Nanomaterials for the Removal of Heavy Metals from Wastewater.

National status
In India, Dr. Manoj Sharma, Centre for Rural Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam and his group working in the area of Study on Magnetic Materials for Removal of Water Pollutants. Also, Prof. T. Pradeep and his group, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras have done vast research in the area of nanoparticles and its application in water purification. Dr. Vinodkumr Garg and his research group from Centre for Environmental Sciences and Technology, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda working on grapheme and nonmaterial’s applications.

proEoutcome:
After the completion of project, selective Removal of Cationic and Anionic Heavy Metals From Contaminated/Industrial water by 1D and 2D-Carbon Structures Decorated With Magnetic Nanoparticles will be developed in a laboratory scale which will be later commercialize with support of industries such as plating factories, petroleum, electrolytic refining plants, acid mining industries. A business plan will be prepared establishing techno-economic viability. The beneficiary from the proposed work will be:
i)	Researchers working in the field of wastewater treatments, petroleum, advanced materials etc.
ii)	ii) Industries which are interested to efficient process for heavy metal removal From Contaminated/Industrial water by Magnetic Nanoparticles.
There would be a strong potential to file a US patent and published 5-7 international referred SCI/SCIE journal publications along with few national journal/conference’s publications. Also, the technology may be implemented for energy efficient process for heavy metal removal From Contaminated/Industrial water purpose by studying commercial aspects. Long Term Goals would be continuing research collaboration with the Srilankan counterpart and other countries R & D Institutions. Try to solve the industrial issues and minimize the environmental pollution problems.

FAScheme:
Indo Sri Lanka Joint Research Programmes


protitle:
Development of Low Cost Flexible Perovskite Solar cells

prointro:
The use of solar energy to generate electricity through photovoltaic (PV) effect has a potential to replace available limited fossil fuels. Global increasing energy demand has created a thrust of solar power to be economical, wider availability of raw material resources with strong stability, high power conversion efficiency (PCE) and last and most important it’s competency for the integration in large area module. Since the first discovery of organic– inorganic halide perovskites solar cells (PSCs) in 2009, the PCE of has crossed a milestone of 25 % in such a short time span. It has already exceeded the PCEs of multi-crystalline Si (22.3%), CIGS (22.6%), and CdTe (22.1%) based thin-film solar cells. Moreover, the higher Si PV fabrication cost leads to a financial burden on our government while implementing subsidiary policies. However, it will be a big challenge soon in a highly populated country like India and therefore it is strong thrust to find an alternative to full fill our prime minister dream of clean energy.

proobj:
Development of new layered RRP compositions and thin film on flexible substrate
Recombination dynamics by ultrafast spectroscopy.
Development and testing of a prototype of stable and large area flexible PSC

prometho:
(a)	This project is expected to result in the development of a low-cost fabrication process (vacuum-free) to achieve stable high-performance large-area PSCs devices on flexible substrates. Based on the study and optimization of crystal structure and growth mechanisms of layered RPP, prototype PSCs devices are expected to be realized.
(b)	This project expected to establish the design rules for the selection of the subsequent conducting layers and electrodes to develop fully flexible PSCs. 
(c) A new organic spacer for the layered perovskite film and understanding of the physical/chemical interfacial interaction with subsequent layers for efficient charge transport.
(d) This project will uncover the role of RPP thin films's mechanical strength to control the trap density and charge carrier recombination losses and therefore solar cell efficiency limiting factors.  
 (e) At least three Doctoral and three Masters level students are expected to be trained in the fabrication and characterization of flexible layered perovskite solar cell.

prosummary:
Inorganic-organic hybrid Perovskites possesses a generic perovskite AMX3 chemical formula (cations A, M and anion X) that forms a three-dimensional (3D) network of corner sharing [MX6]4- octahedral with the A cation residing at the eight corners. Despite success in boosting their efficiency, PSCs are still facing several critical challenges. Primary challenge is the scale-up on flexible substrate because highest PCE is achieved using small area devices on rigid glass substrates. The instability of perovskites at high relative humidity is the secondary issue that needs to be urgently addressed. Lots of efforts have been employed to scale up the technology and improve the stability of PSCs.

proEoutcome:
The primary aim of this project proposal is to develop prototype of a large area flexible solar cell at lower fabrication cost in first phase. Doctor blade technique will be used to prepare the hybrid perovskite and subsequent electron/hole transporting layers on flexible (PET) substrate to reduce the fabrication cost. While, the light weight of the flexible PSC (F-PSC) would also make it promising candidate for niche applications such as large-scale roofing, electronic textile, portable electric chargers, and power source in space


protitle:
Advanced surface alloying for improving corrosion and wear resistance of water and cutting tool industry components during manufacturing

prointro:
The water and cutting tool industry has relied on using expensive corrosion resistant alloys like stainless steels, HSS or other highly alloyed steels. Alternatively, corrosion resistance can be enhanced on the surface of the components used in water and cutting tool industry through low cost coatings or treatments of metallic parts. Recent patents, summarized in the project narrative, generally describe very costly methods of surface modifications that cannot be readily applied to large and complex geometry components used by industries. Also, publications are available (see narrative) on different surface alloying methods including CVD, PVD, laser treatment, micro-electric discharge machining (micro-EDM) and friction-stir processing. These are expensive and not easy to apply on large industrial components especially in cutting tools and water components. The low-cost casting methods for surface modification were described in couple of papers suggesting their feasibility, but they are not available commercially yet, and not been developed for alloys and components used by water and cutting tool manufacturing industries. There is no prior work to enrich the surface of low cost tool steel with Chromium, Nickel, Tungsten Carbide (WC), Titanium Nitride (TiN), Titanium Aluminum Nitride (TiAlN or AlTiN), Chromium Nitride (CrN), Titanium Carbo-Nitride (TiCN), cubic Boron Nitride (cBN), Silicon Nitride (SiN), Silicon Carbide (SiC) and increase corrosion and wear resistance comparable to currently used materials under both laboratory and industrial casting conditions using conventional industrially reliable casting process. In the proposed project, the specific target will be exploring the possibilities of using lower cost atomized powders (including Chromium, Nickel, Tungsten Carbide (WC), Titanium Nitride (TiN), Titanium Aluminum Nitride (TiAlN or AlTiN), Chromium Nitride (CrN), Titanium Carbo-Nitride (TiCN), cubic Boron Nitride (cBN), Silicon Nitride (SiN), Silicon Carbide (SiC)) and machining chips instead of expensive, chemical grade powders to increase corrosion and wear resistance. Coatings will be produced on industrial prototypes (e.g. cutting tools, valves and fixtures) using casting process. Robust and reproducible industrial scale technology for producing required shapes will be developed using design of experiments. Corrosion and wear testing under simulated field conditions will be done and techno economic analysis will be computed. This will eliminate the need for using expensive coating techniques of limited productivity like CVD, PVD and laser surface alloying for components with a considerable cost benefits.

proobj:
• To improve and enhance properties such as wear resistance, surface hardness, and corrosion resistance of steel components used in the water industry and cutting tool manufacturing industry to such a level comparable to that used in present scenario using conventional casting techniques. • To replace the use of expensive alloys (like SS) in water industry and use of solid tungsten carbide (WC), ceramics components in cutting tool manufacturing industry by cheaper, surface-alloyed tool steel. • To develop low cost, reproducible surface alloying during casting and demonstrate improved corrosion and wear resistance for steel, cast iron and brasses. • To solve the problems including the durability of the coatings, high cost, and the potential for leaching of toxic elements in water, and the difficulty of applying a coating to the complex geometries and inner surfaces of components used in the water and cutting tool manufacturing industry.

prometho:
Experimental plan for this proposed project is divided into two stages. Stage 1 mainly concentrates on proving a new coating strategy using casting method and stage 2 focuses on extending this coating method to coat two industrial applications; (i) for coating water components (ii) for coating cutting tools Stage 1:  Prepare a sand core and coat it with metal powder (Chromium, Nickel, Tungsten Carbide (WC), Titanium Nitride (TiN), Titanium Aluminum Nitride (TiAlN or AlTiN), Chromium Nitride (CrN), Titanium Carbo-Nitride (TiCN), cubic Boron Nitride (cBN), Silicon Nitride (SiN), Silicon Carbide (SiC)).

prosummary:
Experimental plan for this proposed project is divided into two stages. Stage 1 mainly concentrates on proving a new coating strategy using casting method and stage 2 focuses on extending this coating method to coat two industrial applications; (i) for coating water components (ii) for coating cutting tools

proEoutcome:
Quarterly reports, annual reports, publications, posters, webinars,Course module • Process design of optimal desired surface coating and report on outcome of testing • Industrially cast component with higher corrosion resistant surface alloyed layer • Improve coating techniques and composition of slurry and alloying element particles to increase robustness and reproducibility of the process and decrease costs • Identify opportunities for industry members for incorporating surface alloying in specific components • Training of master and PhD students in developing coatings and characterization • Report on techno-economic analysis and commercial viability of manufacture and use of prototype • Website providing updated information on results of the project, including recommendations for adoption of the developed technology by other foundries • Final report


protitle:
Development of visible light sensitive inexpensive thin film photocatalysts for removal of inorganic and organic contaminants for drinking water

prointro:
The project will develop cost effective heterogeneous semiconducting materials as visible light responsive photocatalyst for removal of heavy metal ions and dyes from water for the purpose of potable drinking water. The major focus associated to the development is the application of solar light instead of UV lamps for the purpose of the decontamination. The heterogeneous semiconductor catalysts in their nanoforms including nanoparticle, thin films, nanostructures, graphene as well as their composites will be used in the development. In this project, we aim to develop a combinatorial approach based on the adsorption and photocatalytic methods in a prototype reactor which will work in natural sunlight. The reactor can also work in electrically activated white light sources with spectrum close to that of the sun. Our proposed work aims to develop visible (and hence direct solar) light responsive heterogeneous semiconductor photocatalysts (HSPCs) with two-dimensional charge pathways in some cases for effective removal of heavy inorganic ions and industrial dyes in potable water without degrading its pH and other recommended factors.

proobj:
Develop visible light active photocatalysts for water decontamination. 
Use solar radiation to remove organic dyes and heavy ions from water.

prometho:
The whole project work has been planned to address our set objective in following blocks of implementation: 
A. Modification of wide band gap semiconductor photocatalysts
B. . Development of small band gap heterogeneous semiconductor photocatalysts
C. Synthesis of 2D layered materials as co-catalyst
D. Catalyst immobilization
E. Demonstration
F. Standard characterizations, including structural, morphological, optical, surface analysis, water quality test.

prosummary:
The work has been divided in milestones as below:
0-6 months: Purchase the proposed equipment, Recruit the JRF, Purchase all chemicals for 1st year, Experimental set up and calibrations
0-12 months: Synthesis of nano-TiO2 and ZnO to prove its standard potential of water decontamination; Developing visible light responsive nano-TiO2 and ZnO based photocatalysts; Communication of new results; First year APR
13-18 months: Development of non-toxic and economically viable HSPCs with higher figure of merit; Co-catalytic performance study
13-24 months: Demonstration of wide and small band gap HSPCs in prototype heavy ion removal ; Reporting new results; 2nd year APR
21-30 months: Fabrication of hydrogel, photo-electrodes and mesoporous frameworks of HSPCs; Reporting new results
31-36 months: Demonstration of all type of HSPCs in industrial dye removal; Reporting new results; Patenting and 3rd year APR

proEoutcome:
Following outcomes are expected from the project:
(i) Inexpensive visible light responsive photocatalysts for water purification
(ii) Direct sunlight/ outdoor demonstration of developed photocatalysts
(iii) Technology patenting
(iv) PhD thesis – Two

FAScheme:
R&D IN EMERGING FIELDS OF S&T ON STATE PRIORITY AREAS


protitle:
FABRICATION OF INTERMEDIATE TEMPERATURE SOLID OXIDE FUEL CELL (IT-SOFC) USING NANOMATERIALS

prointro:
The electrolyte is a principal element for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC).  An ideal SOFC electrolyte should have some basic characteristics such as high ionic conductivity, low electronic conductivity, good thermal and chemical stability in relation to the reactant environment and the contacting electrode materials, fully dense structure to maximize conductivity and minimize reactant cross-over, be low cost and environmentally benign.  Currently, fluorite structure materials, such as zirconia-based oxides, and perovskite materials are most widely used materials as electrolytes for SOFC show how the specific ionic conductivity of solid oxide electrolytes varies with temperature.
The development of intermediate-temperature SOFC (IT-SOFC) or low-temperature SOFC (LT-SOFC) is now a world tendency for SOFC commercialization.  However, with decreased operating temperature, the internal resistance of SOFC increases tremendously results in decrease on the performance of the cell.  Therefore, how to reduce the internal resistance of SOFC is a key point for LT-SOFC.  There are several factors leading to SOFC internal resistance: first and foremost, it’s from the large resistance of electrolyte, due to low oxygen ion conductivity of current electrolyte materials at low temperature. Second, polarization resistances of electrodes, especially cathode, are magnified with the decrease of temperature.  There are two main ways by which SOFCs can be operated at lower temperatures, while still attaining comparable performance to the higher temperature technology. The dimensional thickness of the electrolyte can be reduced in order to reduce the area specific resistance of the fuel cell, and/or materials development can bring about the same result by improving the ionic conductivity of the electrolyte at lower temperatures and bring about improvements in the performance of electrodes.

proobj:
i)	Preparation of nanostructured electrolyte materials having properties such as ionic conductivity > 0.1 S/cm at 300-600°C by chemical method
ii)	Processing of those materials to make them suitable for IT-SOFC application
iii)	Evaluation of ionic conductivity of the ceria based electrolyte materials at temperature between 300-600 °C
iv)	Compare the results with commercially available high temperature  electrolyte, such as YSZ under same experimental condition
v)	Fabrication of single cell fuel cell using ceria based nanostructured materials
vi)	Compare the results with commercially available SOFCs, where YSZ has been used as electrolyte under same experimental condition

prometho:
A. Materials Synthesis
In the present proposal the materials, which will be used as electrolyte, would be synthesized are ceria based fluorite oxides, samarium doped ceria (SDC), gadolinia doped ceria (GDC) and yttria doped ceria (YDC).  Likewise, the composite materials, Ni/SDC, Ni/GDC and Ni/YDC, which would be used as anode materials will be synthesized.  The cathode materials, Lanthanum strontium manganate (LSM)/SDC, LSM/GDC and LSM/YDC would also be synthesized.  Apart from those materials, a new set of electrolytes will be prepared by incorporating CeO2 into the YSZ matrix. Likewise, the anode and cathode materials will be prepared using CeO2 incorporated YSZ materials. All the materials will be prepared by simple coprecipitation method by using easily available metal salt precursors, such as nitrate, chloride and sulphate.  During the synthesis, no additional water will be used from outside to minimize agglomeration due to the hydrogen bonding. Simply, the experiment will be performed at water free environment.  The coprecipitated materials will then be heat-treated at different temperatures to get the desired phase and the green body will be sintered at comparatively higher temperature to achieve the dense body.
To compare the performance of synthesized doped ceria materials, we will make a series of samples, where trivalent metal to Ce mole ratio starting from 0 to 100 mole % on metal basis.
A complete cell will be fabricated using the dense electrolyte for impedance measurement.  A thin silver paste will be applied on both side of the electrolyte disk, which will act as electrodes.  Silver wire will then be connected with both the electrodes.
Similarly, a single cell SOFC will be fabricated using the synthesized materials, SDC, GDC, YDC, Ni/SDC, Ni/GDC, Ni/YDC, LSM/SDC, LSM/GDC and LSM/YDC.  For comparison purpose, the single cell SOFC operated at high temperature (800-1000°C) would also be fabricated.  The materials, which will be used for this purpose, are YSZ, CeO2/YSZ, Ni/YSZ, Ni/CeO2/YSZ, LSM/YSZ and LSM/CeO2/YSZ. 
 
B. Particle Characterization
Bulk chemical composition will be determined by using the atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS).  XPS will be used to determine the oxidation state, and concentration of the atoms in the surface region.  Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) will be used to determine the particle size and morphology of the materials and to qualitatively investigate the dispersion and crystallinity of the samples via selected area electron diffraction (SAED).  High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) will be used to look in detail at the nanostructure in the particles and to obtain the lattice parameters, to compare the X-ray diffraction results. Thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (TGA/DSC) will be used to determine the minimum temperature needed to make the materials.  Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) will be used to determine the atomic number, distance and coordination number of the atoms surrounding the element whose absorption edge is being examined.  An automatic physisorption analyzer will be used to determine multi-point BET surface areas of the materials.  The ionic conductivity of the synthesized and commercial electrolyte materials will be performed at different temperature and different atmosphere (both air and H2).  Separate experiments will be performed using commercial YSZ electrolyte materials in order compare the results with the synthesized materials.  The complete fuel cell testing will be carried out by using pure hydrogen as well as liquid fuel, such as methane and butane in a realistic condition.

prosummary:
There are two components in this current project.  The first part is the synthesis of electrolyte, anode and cathode materials and the other part is the fabrication of a complete single cell. The materials will be synthesized using a simple co-precipitation process where the molecular water will be utilized to generate hydroxyl ions, which react with the metal ions to form hydroxide.  In this process, since no additional water is used, the particles have uniform distribution, because there will be minimum agglomeration, which is caused by hydrogen bonding.  This uniform distribution of particles reduces the sintering temperature and increases the density of the electrolyte, which is prerequisite for the fuel cell to be working at realistic condition.
Second part is the cell fabrication and testing of the same.  The main objective of the current proposal is to reduce the operating temperature without compromising the ionic conductivity of the electrolyte and open circuit voltage of the cell.  The conventional SOFC is made with YSZ materials and the operating temperature is quite high (800-1000°C) and in this high temperature, the ionic conductivity of YSZ is also not satisfactory.  Ceria based electrolyte materials (SDC, GDC and YDC) show much higher ionic conductivity at much lower temperature compared to YSZ electrolyte. However, in the reducing atmosphere, Ce4+ transforms to Ce3+, which restricts its application commercially.  To overcome this problem as well as to increase the open circuit voltage, some barium oxide based protective layer between the anode and electrolyte will be applied to stop the electron flow from the anode to electrolyte.  Other way is to use a suitable scavenging agent (suitable metal ion) in the ceria lattice to restrict the reduction process, which is one of the major objectives of the current proposal.

proEoutcome:
Generally, the conventional SOFC, operates at high temperature (800-1000°C), comprises of YSZ as electrolyte, Ni/YSZ as anode and LSM/YSZ as the cathode materials.  There are several advantages of this kind of SOFCs such as stable at high temperature, Zr4+ does not get reduced in the reducing atmosphere, ionic conductivity is at par, can utilize both hydrogen and liquid fuel.   The major drawback is the high operating temperature.  The cell faces high Ohmic loss and poor ionic conductivity below 800°C.  To avoid those hurdles, ceria based electrolytes and the other components (cathode and anode) could be the better choice.  The cell functions at low temperature (300-600°C) without compromising the ionic conductivity.  However, one problem we face with ceria based electrolytes is the conversion of Ce4+ to Ce3+ in the reducing atmosphere.  This problem will be solved either by using a suitable scavenging agent or a protecting layer. In the current project, the PI and his team will put efforts (to improve the ionic conductivity of ceria based materials and the cell performance) to make sure that both would be accomplished.

FAScheme:
Scheme for Technology Demonstration and Pilot Deployment under Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Fund


protitle:
Occupational health and safety in the healthcare industry of Gujarat

proarea:
Behavioural Based Safety; Safety Climate and Culture; HR Issues

prointro:
Healthcare is an emerging sector in India. Medical tourism is a priority industry for enhancing export revenues in India. Among the states of India, Gujarat is emerging as a front runner having tremendous potential to generate huge employment and boost medical tourism in India (Rana & Bhayani,2015).  Despite the bright employment opportunity, candidate resists entering the sector largely because of occupational hazards (e.g., biological hazards, physical hazards, ergonomic hazards, psychological hazards, chemical hazards, radiological hazards, etc.) and unsatisfactory working conditions (Martin, Murgai, Chaterjee, & Chaterjee, 2015). Occupational health hazard such as respiratory tract diseases, gastro intestinal diseases, infections and safety issues related to lifting and moving patients, slips, dealing with upset or aggressive patients, etc. are common in the sector (India Brand Equity Foundation, 2018). ILO reports that every year 2.3 million people die owing to work-related accidents or illness, and 350,000 of these deaths are attributable to occupational hazards. This requires urgent attention to failing which employees, patient, management, government, and society may suffer.

proobj:
The proposed study seeks to study the work culture and climate prevalent in the health care sector to find a solution to the OHS issues.

prometho:
The concept of safety culture broadly refers to how organizational management and human factors shape health and safety outcomes (Flinet al., 2000). Further, influenced by the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention of ILO, we propose a research framework aiming at measuring the beliefs, attitudes, and values of the health care staff for OHS and the structures, practices, controls, and policies of the health care organisations related to OHS. 
The exploratory research shall be conducted using questionnaire and semi structured interview techniques to collect quantitative and qualitative data. The collected data to be analysed using software such as SPSS to understand the dominant characteristics of safety culture.

prosummary:
The health care industry is struggling hard to attract and retain talented work force largely because of occupational hazards (e.g., biological hazards, physical hazards, ergonomic hazards, psychological hazards, chemical hazards, radiological hazards, etc.) and unsafe working conditions. This requires an in-depth study of occupational health and safety (OHS). Research on OHS pre dominantly concentrates on adopting engineering approach to manage OHS. It is only recently that researchers have started recognising the human behaviour approach for addressing the OHS issues. Specifically, since the revised definition on occupational health by WHO and ILO(2016), countries have started emphasizing on the psychological and physical health of employees through a co-operative work culture, and conducive working climate and hence requires an in depth study of all those aspects. Hence, influenced by the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention of ILO, we propose a research framework aiming at measuring the beliefs, attitudes, and values of the health care staff for OHS and the structures, practices, controls, and policies of the health care organisations related to OHS. The exploratory research shall be conducted in public and private healthcare organisations in Gujarat by using questionnaire and semi structured interview techniques for collecting quantitative and qualitative data. Research on safety culture for improving OHS performance is rare in Indian health care organisations. Hence, the result of the study may have important implications for society, healthcare organisations, and policy makers.

proEoutcome:
•	Indigenous solutions to OHS problems in healthcare organization in India. 
•	Identifications of unique characteristics of OHS Culture in Indian healthcare organizations.
•	Exploration of barriers and facilitators of OHS performance.
•	Points for improving OHS policies and practices by the organisations and policy makers.


protitle:
Mechano-chemical synthesis of low cost and Efficient  Perovskite Solar cells

prointro:
Solar cell technology based on silicon has advanced considerably, but still suffers from high fabrication costs. Thus, in the last two decades, a variety of photovoltaic technologies were under intensive research, including dye-sensitized solar cells, polymer solar cells, molecular solar cells, and quantum dot solar cells. More recently, a research interest from the photovoltaic community has concentrated on organic–inorganic halide perovskites and nowadays PSCs represent an emerging photovoltaic technology. Despite success in boosting their efficiency, perovskite solar cells (above 25%) are still facing several critical challenges. The instability of perovskite at high relative humidity is one issue that needs to be addressed. Another profound limitation is to form a homogeneous perovskite thin film, which is crucial to reproduce high efficient PSCs.

proobj:
Fabrication of 2D Perovskite solar cells fabrication and measurements characterization.
Stability of fabricated devices will be tested under complex conditions of temperature, humidity and light soaking.

prometho:
Low cost, high efficiency and stable perovskite solar cells: The proposed project is expected to pave the way for the more robust and high throughput method for fabrication of low cost, high efficiency and stable 2D perovskites solar cells. An honest attempt will be made to look for possible large area fabrication of solar cells and its technology transfer to photovoltaic market. It is envisaged that the proposal may pave the way for a novel solar cell device which can do highly efficient and stable in a cost effective manner. The PI and Co-PI will also present there research in National and International conference so that the results of proposed research get highlighted in various platforms. With the completion of project, we believe that mechanochemical approach opens up a new avenue for making cheap and highly performed 2D perovskite materials for solar cell applications.

prosummary:
Lead organohalide perovskites: Organic–inorganic lead halide 2D and 3D perovskites have emerged as a promising material for the next generation solar cells with both high efficiency and low cost. In our recent report, we demonstrated that the device constructed from mechanosynthesized 3D perovskite material showed almost no hysteresis and higher efficiency in comparison to device made from solution-based synthesized perovskite.1-3 It was stated that hysteresis in perovskite solar cells fabricated with mechano-synthetically prepared perovskite particles was reduced due to the presence of lower amount of defects in particular electron or hole traps. This unique property of mechano-perovskite highlights its exceptional quality; however, the origin why the mechano-perovskite gives a better performance compared to other methods synthesized materials has not yet been identified. Thus, in this part of research task, we plan to further extend this study by synthesis 2D perovskite and by thoroughly studying such system by using various spectroscopic and electron microscopy methods to seek mechanistic insights explaining its interesting physical properties. Moreover, we plan to develop mechanochemical approach for the preparation of 2D CH3NH3PbBr3 perovskite compound by substitution of higher ionic cation (EA, PEA, BA), that recently attracted considerable interest as an absorbing layer for solar energy conversion applications. Importantly, we will investigate the impact of mechanochemical conditions on occurring structural morphology, particle size and physical properties of the resulted perovskite materials.

proEoutcome:
Refined testing procedure: 3D PSCs have made remarkable advances in just a few years. To become a player in the power market, 3D PSCs must be able to last for at least 20 years with minimal degradation, which seems difficult. Under this condition 2D perovskites emerge as an alternative of 3D perovskite absorber material.
For further understanding of 2D and 3D perovskite, robust testing procedures are needed to properly assess PSC stability. MPPT under light soaking and high temperatures and humidity is warranted, as is, for instance, outdoor field testing in order to correlate accelerated indoor testing to real working conditions. Accelerated testing procedures designed in the past for Si or organic PV are currently being applied to PSCs. However, it is likely that some of these testing conditions are either too strict or too mild to give a current estimation of how the PCE will degrade with time, and therefore they need to be revisited. The present project along with efficient 2D perovskite solar cell also provides a refined way of testing procedure, which will make sure to look into the device stability more in-depth.


protitle:
Hybrid mixed-dimensional perovskite memristor on flexible substrate for non-volatile memory application

fAgencyNo:
PDPU/Seed Fund/Dr Ankur Solanki dated 14 Oct 2019

prointro:
To develop a memristor with reliable and reproducible characteristics, a wide range of materials such as inorganic metal oxides, chalcogenides, and several inorganic perovskite oxides have been used. Even though these devices show good performance, they require complex and high-temperature processing, which limits their suitability for commercial product realization. Organic materials, on the other hand, are advantageous owing to the fact that they are easily obtainable and processable at low temperatures and at relatively lower costs. Among the materials currently being used for organic electronic device fabrication, Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Perovskite (HOIP) bears some outstanding optoelectronic properties. The efficiency of solar cells made out of these materials has already reached 25% within a short span of time. The properties that make these materials stand out include strong optical absorption, tunable band gap, ambipolar charge transport, long electron and hole diffusion lengths, higher charge carrier mobilities than purely organic semiconductors etc. Two dimensional layered HOIPs are preferred over their 3D counterparts because of their added benefits such as better ionic conduction, higher exciton binding energy, and improved stability.

proobj:
•	Development of process for fabricating stable memristor devices on flexible substrate using Ruddlesden–Popper layered HOIPs 
•	Engineer the perovskite composition to achieve the best performance from flexible memristor device. 
•	Performance comparison of standard 3D HOIP devices and Ruddlesden–Popper layered HOIP devices with respect to endurance and stability over repeated cycles of operation.
•	Understanding the growth mechanism of semiconducting Ruddlesden–Popper layered HOIP thin films, and thereby control their nanomorphology.

prometho:
A.	Fabrication of perovskite memristor
Perovskite solution is to be prepared from its precursors by mixing them at a certain molar ratio to obtain desired solution concentration. Then it is kept on stirring at a particular temperature for a particular duration. Once the solution is prepared, the active layer of perovskite is coated on properly cleaned conducting and flexible substrates by spin casting method. The speed and time of spinning are chosen according to the desired thickness of the active layer. Finally, the counter electrodes and other interfacial layers, if any, are deposited using thermal evaporation technique at high vacuum. As perovskites are very sensitive to oxygen and moisture, the whole process needs to be carried out in inert ambient inside a glovebox.
B.	Characterization of fabricated devices
The most important step for a high performing device fabrication is to obtain a smooth and uniform perovskite film. To characterize the deposited film quality and crystalline phase obtained SEM and XRD techniques are required. 
To check the fingerprint of the memristor, which is the pinched hysteresis loop, we need to take I-V of the fabricated devices. Linear voltage sweep and pulsed voltage sweep under different condition gives important device information like effective mobility, endurance, and stability of the device. Capacitance-voltage measurements on these devices will further allow us to investigate the origin of the strong and reversible switching between low and high resistance states by separating the different contributions of conduction by the coupling of resistances and capacitances.

prosummary:
•	Once perovskite memristor is fabricated and well optimized, it will help to realize memristors with much reliable and reproducible switching characteristics. In addition to excellent moisture stability, 2D perovskite memristors have high on/off ratio and ultralow power consumption. High on/off ratio is desirable for robust memory design with higher error margin whereas low power memristors are suitable to realize artificial synapse in neuromorphic circuits. This low power consumption is due to suppressed electronic conduction resulting from the lack of thermally generated carriers in these wide band gap materials.
•	This project will help to put light into those ambiguous areas of perovskite memory devices to have a better understanding of the device physics. With a complete understanding of underlying physics, we can have simple yet generic analytical model for memristors. Such a model is necessary to use memristors in circuit simulation tools and for predicting device behavior before indulging into experiments.
•	With the rapid development of perovskite solar cells and perovskite TFTs, all perovskite processors are around the corner of innovation. Multistate resistive switching memristors may pave the way to realize compact and dense commercial non-volatile memory to integrate with a processor.

proEoutcome:
1.	This project is expected to result in the development of a low-cost fabrication process to achieve stable high performance memristor devices on flexible substrates. Based on the study and optimization of crystal structure and growth mechanisms of 2D layered HOIPs, prototype memristor devices are expected to be realized.
2.	A clear understanding of the mechanism of charge storage, switching and their relationship with materials engineering in memristor devices.


protitle:
Prototype development of a low cost and stable perovskite solar
cell for flexible applications

prointro:
The use of solar energy to generate electricity through photovoltaic (PV) effect has the potential to replace available
limited fossil fuels. Global increasing energy demand has created a thrust of solar power to be economical, wider
availability of raw material resources with strong stability, high power conversion efficiency (PCE) and last and most
important it’s competency for the integration in large area module. Since the first discovery of organic– inorganic halide
perovskites solar cells (PSCs) in 2009, the PCE of has crossed a milestone of 25 % in such a short time span. It has
already exceeded the PCEs of multi-crystalline Si (22.3%), CIGS (22.6%), and CdTe (22.1%) based thin-film solar
cells. Moreover, the higher Si PV fabrication cost leads to a financial burden on our government while implementing
subsidiary policies. However, it will be a big challenge soon in a highly populated country like India and therefore it is a
strong thrust to find an alternative to full fill our prime minister dream of clean energy.

proobj:
1: Development of new layered RRP compositions and thin film on the flexible substrate Task T1: Synthesis
of new organic spacer and develop the thin film on flexible substrate using doctor blade techniques
2: Recombination dynamics by ultrafast spectroscopy.

prometho:
his project aims to the development of stable large area flexible solar cells at the lower fabrication cost using RP
perovskite photoactive layer. Based on this, optimized stable large-area PSC will be developed on flexible substrates.
These devices will be used for optical/electrical characterizations and to understand the underlying mechanism for the
further development of the flexible solar module. The most conventional perovskite thin-film preparation methods for
large-area modules are screen-printing and ink-jet printing. However, these methods are not reliable and lead to poor
stability and lower PCE. Here, we propose the low-cost doctor blade technique to synthesis the mixed dimensional
polycrystalline perovskite thin film by a facile single-step deposition method for flexible perovskite solar cells.

prosummary:
The progress of the project will be reviewed internally quarterly. PIs are planning to divide the project in subgroups to
monitor the success closely. Other than the equipment procurement and installation, scientific research will be
monitored as follows: (a) Synthesis of the new organic spacer: XRD and FTIR spectroscopy will be the litmus test for
the successful synthesis of the compound. The integration of compound with lead iodide and organic cations and
complete dissolution to form the perovskite solution will be the second stage to be tested. The spin coating technique
will be used primarily to grow the perovskite layer with different conditions and will be tested using XRD pattern
further for the success of the synthesis part. (b) Uniform perovskite film development on flexible substrate: Thin will be
developed using blade coating and the required thickness (330-500 nm) will be achieved by processing optimization.
The quality of the fill will be evaluated using AFM/SEM to achieve uniform film with higher grain size. Morphology of
the thin-film obtained by spin coating will be the reference. (c) Adjacent transport layers: Furthermore, the success of
this project will also be reviewed by developing the efficient transporting layers on the flexible substrate. The efficiency
of the stack will be evaluated using ultrafast spectroscopy and also be tested the environmental stability of these layers.
(d) Small area solar cell devices: At the initial stage, small area devices (~0.07 cm2) will be developed. The
demonstration of photovoltaic characteristics in such devices will be the partial success of the project. The process will
be reviewed by the experts if low PCE is obtained and suggestions will be implemented. (e) Large area devices:
Furthermore, large-area solar cells be fabrication with the modification of the cell design and devices will be electrically
characterized for the performance and stability testes.

proEoutcome:
1. This project is expected to result in the development of a low-cost fabrication process (vacuum-free) to achieve stable
high-performance large-area PSCs devices on flexible substrates. Based on the study and optimization of crystal
structure and growth mechanisms of layered RPP, prototype PSCs devices are expected to be realized. 2. This project
expected to establish the design rules for the selection of the subsequent conducting layers and electrodes to develop
fully flexible PSCs. 3. A new organic spacer for the layered perovskite film and understanding of the physical/chemical
interfacial interaction with subsequent layers for efficient charge transport. 4. This project will uncover the role of RPP
thin films' mechanical strength to control the trap density and charge carrier recombination losses and therefore solar
cell efficiency limiting factors. 5. At least two Doctoral level students are expected to be trained in the fabrication and
characterization of flexible layered perovskite solar cells.


protitle:
Study of Metallurgical Feasibility of Friction Stir Weld of Wing Panel to the Wing   Stringer  Aircraft Applications

prointro:
The skin of the wing fuel tank 3 of Sukhoi-30MKI aircraft of IAF made of Russian V-95 alloy forms a boundary of the tank. The skin of the bottom panel is stiffened by stringers of Russian aluminum alloy D-19 which is riveted to the Wing skin panel. There have been a number of cases of leakage of fuel through the rivet holes of the skin to stringer joint. The rectification of the defect is a very time consuming process. This problem could be overcome if the riveted joint is replaced by a welded joint. There is no research presently documented which indicates that the feasibility of friction stir weld of these two aviation aluminum alloys of Russian alloy has ever been analyzed. The welding if feasible will significantly help in replacement of a number of  riveted joints with friction stir welded joints on many of the aircraft fleets of IAF. Research exists indicating the technical and economical benefits of welding over riveting. Conventional fusion weld of V-95 and D-19 aluminum alloy is very difficult and that is the reason for using riveting as the mode of joining of these metals in most of the Russian fleet aircraft designs of IAF.   The proposed research aims at evaluating the metallurgical feasibility of friction stir welding (FSW) of the wing skin on to the stringer stiffening it.  Also, the weld parameters that would provide the best mechanical properties to the welded joint are proposed to be established. A comparison of the weld strength parameters with the riveted joint parameters for the alloy combination will also be made. However, actual implementation of this proposal on the aircraft will involve sophisticated multi-disciplinary studies and other higher level trials which are beyond the scope of this project owing to the limited facilities available. These aspects can be separately handled post satisfactory conclusion by the proposed study that the friction stir weld of V-95 and the D-19 alloys is metallurgically feasible.

proobj:
(a)    To establish the feasibility of friction stir lap weld of Russian V-95 aluminum alloy to D-19 alloy  

(b)   To identify and freeze the FSW parameters that result in the best weld results

(c)    To compare the joint efficiencies and other strength parameters of the welded joint to the riveted joint.
(d)     To demonstrate the metallurgical suitability of replacing the riveting of the stringer to the skin of the wing in the Sukhoi-30 aircraft with a FSW joint

prometho:
The work is  planned to be conducted as follows:
(a)	  Literature survey to identify similar studies which would guide the selection of the FSW parameters.
(b)	Tool design and fabrication.  The tool for the weld has to be selected based on the best weld result by physically friction stir welding coupons with different tool profiles and freezing the profile providing the best weld output. 
(c)	Freezing of Lap weld parameters   Lap FSW of a number of coupons with different weld parameters to identify and freeze the parameters providing the best weld output.  
(d)	Fabrication and welding of the test  coupons using the selected weld parameters  
(e)	Fabrication and riveting of coupons    Rivetting of coupons in the same configuration as in the aircraft fuel tank
(f)	Testing of coupons.   Conduct of a series of tests on the welded and riveted coupons like tensile test, shear test, compression test, micro hardness test, hot wear resistance test, microstructure analysis, corrosion resistance test of the joint and fatigue analysis and comparison of the results for both the type of joints. 
(g)	Preparation of technical report  Bringing out the conclusions.

prosummary:
The skin of the wing fuel tank of Sukhoi-30MKI aircraft of IAF forms a boundary of the tank. The skin is made of Russian V-95aluminium alloy sheets of thickness varying between 4mm – 6mm . The skin of the bottom panel is stiffened by stringers made of Russian aluminium alloy D-19 of thickness 4mm  riveted to it. The wing fuel tank is pressurized to ensure positive fuel feed. A sealant is applied to the fuel tank interiors and the rivets to prevent fuel leak. However, the sealant deteriorates over prolonged use and results in fuel leak from the rivet holes and joints.  The joint is designed to be riveted since the two metal sheets are not weldable by other conventional weld techniques. 
FSW is a weld technique developed in 1991 much after the design of the aircraft had been finalized. The replacement of the riveted joint with a FSW joint in the fuel tank skin/ stringer will resolve the serious problem of fuel leak from the rivet holes. Also, the replacement of rivets will enable significant saving of weight which is of vital importance in aviation. FSW being an automated process, the new process will also result in significant saving of man-hours spent on riveting. FSW is a proven and tested technique of welding which has been adequately researched. The technique has also been utilised as a joining process in the aviation industry. The Eclipse-500 and Eclipse 550 aircraft had most of the panels welded with the stringers by FSW. Literature exists which indicates that the technique can be used to weld most of the alloys of aluminum. FSW is being utilized to replace riveting in many applications since it has been demonstrated that FSW welded joints are stronger than riveted joints. However, very few cases of FSW of Russian material have been revealed in the literature survey undertaken.  No study has been reported so far on the feasibility of friction stir weld of V-95 and D-19 alloy. AA7075 is the western equivalent to Russian aluminum V-95. However, there is no equivalent reported for Russian aluminum D-19. AA2024 has been reported as a western equivalent to Russian aluminum alloy D-16 which is similar in composition to D-19 alloy. Literature survey has brought out several studies that undertook successful FSW of AA7075 to AA2024.  These studies will be used as the basis for the proposed study.

proEoutcome:
The aim of the project is to study the metallurgical feasibility of replacement of the present   riveted  joint of the wing skin  and stringer in a Sukhoi 30 MKI aircraft with a friction stir welded joint. The project would aim to undertake the study to evaluate the metallurgical feasibility of friction stir welding of the V-95 and D-19 aluminum alloy combination used for fabrication of the two parts which till date has not been attempted. The manufacturing  parameters that would deliver the best mechanical properties for the welded joint of the two metal configurations at the specimen test level will also be identified. The project would also aim to compare the basic strength characteristics of the welded joint against the rivet configuration presently used in the aircraft in order to justify further tests / manufacturing line alterations that may be entailed before the final implementation of the proposal. These additional   requirements are beyond the scope of the proposed study considering the limitations in resources available for exploitation.


protitle:
Applications of Ionic Liquids as Alternatives of Surfactants for Enhanced Oil Recovery

prointro:
The fact that most of the oil fields worldwide already reached maturity and entered into the post-plateau stages, in addition to the lack of large field discoveries in the last two decades, raise a significant concern about the fossil fuels market demand, regardless of the oil prices fluctuations. Hence, to meet this growing and continuing global crude oil demand, innovative enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques are required to emerge and currently implemented ones need to revisit and optimize to recover more residual oil trapped in the reservoirs. The surfactant flooding is one of the most favorable chemical EOR methods in which interfacial tension (IFT) reduction between oil and water phases and microemulsion formation takes place to displace the oil trapped in the reservoir due to capillary effect. But the drawbacks of these commercial surfactants are due to their costs, chemical loss due to adsorption onto a rock surface, and unfavorable environmental effects upon using for EOR purposes. Therefore, the current needs of the oil industry are focusing on cost-effective green chemicals for EOR even at high temperature and high salinity harsh reservoir conditions. Recently, ionic liquids are gaining much attention as green chemicals due to their unique properties such as extremely low vapor pressure, high thermal and chemical stability, low toxicity and the possibility of tuning their cation and anion moieties to make them task-specific. Ionic liquids are compounds of ionic-covalent crystalline structures containing only ions at room temperature. They are mainly salts but differ from molten salts as they have a melting point ranging from -100 °C to 200 °C, whereas molten salts generally have higher melting points. The selection of available commercial ionic liquids for potential application in EOR is very important. Current literature shows that the imidazolium-based tetraborate ionic liquids are actively producing 10-15% additional oil after water flooding in the lab scale.

prometho:
The following methodology will be used for the project:
•	The reservoir rock samples will be characterized based on porosity and permeability measurements. The fluid samples will be characterized by analysis of SARA compositions, measurements of viscosity, density, and API gravity. 
•	The stability of the test solutions will be performed by visual observation of precipitation after the preparation of the sample. High salinity and high temperature will be applied to examine the stability of the sample. 
•	The surface activities of the ionic liquids will be determined by surface tension measurement using Easy Dyne Tensiometer. Interfacial tension between crude oil and test fluids will be measured by a spinning drop video tensiometer. 
•	Wettability alteration of rock samples will be performed by specially designed equipment after taking photographs of each oil drop beneath the rock sample. The corresponding contact angle will be measured by drawing the angle of contact of crude oil drop to rock surface after capturing the images of oil drops.
•	The phase behavior of crude oil and the ionic liquid solution will be studied by the test tube shaking method. 
•	Adsorption of ionic liquids onto the rock surface will be performed by a common shaking method with measurements of initial and final concentrations of the test solution.
•	The core flooding experiment will be performed for the determination of additional oil recovery by ionic liquids after water flooding.

prosummary:
The project has been scheduled for 24 months. The first three months will be utilized to hire manpower, literature review, procurement of chemicals, collection of reservoir rock and fluid samples, glassware, and necessary equipment. After that next three month will be used for characterization of reservoir rock and fluid samples. The next three months will be used for interfacial tension between crude oil and ionic liquids solution with a variety of different parameters. After that next three months will be utilized to work on phase behavior study which is a very important part of the project. The analysis of the collected data has been started from the begging once the first data has been received. After one year the wettability alteration test will be started and will be continued for three months. Next three months adsorption of ionic liquids onto rock surface will be studied and thereafter the core flooding experiments will be conducted to investigate the performances of ionic liquids in oil recovery. In this way, a series of ionic liquids will be identified for enhanced oil recovery. The produced results from the project will be communicated from time to time for publication in reputed journals.


protitle:
To study distribution, status and threat level of various tree species in the state of Gujarat.

prointro:
Forests are important to mankind as they provide various ecosystem related services such as a habitat for plants and animals prevention of soil erosion, etc. (Li et al. 2003; Armenteras et al. 2009). Forests consist of different types of tree species. The composition of tree species in a forest is largely determined by the environment, (Billings 1952) i.e., vegetation is largely determined by the effects of the total environment. The type of trees (species) that grow in a specific ecosystem are not only related but also controlled by the local environment (Mishra et al. 1997).
Of late, because of environmental and spatial disturbances like fire, earthquakes, floods and biotic interferences (e.g. timber felling etc.), many tree species are on the verge of extinction (Kobayashi 2004). In this context, the understanding of the effects of the environment and spatial variables is very important for taking decisions related to the conservation of tree species. 
In the present research proposal, an attempt is being made to develop a comprehensive Forest Adviser software for understanding the effects of environment and spatial variables on the extinction of tree species and thereby recommend action points for the conservation of tree species. By using in-house developed software, data about tree species can be analyzed in real time, i.e., it provides different types of graphs, tables, charts and dashboards for a comprehensive understanding of the situation. The software will also provide recommendations for taking decisions.  This would help the decision maker in policy formulation.

proobj:
	To study the composition of the vegetation
	To study the bio-diversity
	To understand the ecological and environmental problems- (viz., soil degradation, soil erosion, etc.)
	To study the effects of climatic factors on status and threat level of various tree species in the state
	To understand the effect of social resources on vegetation
	To identify spatial temporal patterns of the vegetation of the ecosystem
	To understand the effect of temperature, moisture, sunlight on the threat level of tree species
	To figure out the rate of extinction of the tree species 
	To come out with the action plan (both short & long term) for preserving tree species

prometho:
i.	Setting Research Infrastructure- Hiring research personnel ( Junior research fellow), Buying a high end computer server for performing data warehousing and data mining.
ii.	Literature review
iii.	Data collection with the help of Forest department
iv.	Software Development ( in three stages, as explained below)
v.	Data Pre-processing
vi.	Data warehouse development
vii.	Data mining and Analysis
viii.	Report generation
ix.	Software Testing at P.D.P.U 
x.	Installation & testing at the Forest Department.

prosummary:
i). At Project Investigator (PI)  Institution (Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University)

I Year: Prototype- Stage I

II Year: Prototype -Stage II

III Year: Prototype –Stage III

ii). At project coordinator (PC's from Forest Department) Institution.

I Year: Testing of Prototype- Stage I

II Year: Testing of Prototype- Stage II

III Year: Testing of Prototype- Stage III

proEoutcome:
Comprehensive Software along with a detailed report


protitle:
Investigation on the use of Submicron/Nanoscale Powder Waste from Industries (Ceramic Tiles Waste and Bottom Ash) as A Cement Replacement for Concrete/Construction Applications

proarea:
Nano, Construction Materials and Waste Management


prointro:
With the rapid development of urban economy and the enormous increase of urban population, a series of problems arise, including safety, health and security protections of citizens, emergency events responding and management, monitoring and maintaining of urban infrastructures, and urban environment pollution treatment, etc.  
Smart city uses information and communication technology to sense, analyse and integrate key information of core systems in running or managing cities. Core systems may include Safety, health, Security etc. With the advent of low cost and high-performance computers, many of these systems are being automated. Many of these systems work well with simple problems. 
General issues and challenges in representation, processing, analysis and mining of spatiotemporal data are described below. 
1. Design and development of robust spatiotemporal representation and data structures is the fundamental issue for spatiotemporal data handling, analysis and mining. 
2. The unique characteristics of spatiotemporal datasets are that they carry distance and topological information which require geometric and temporal computation. 
3. Spatial and temporal relationships like distance, topology, direction, before and after are information bearing. They need to be considered in spatiotemporal data analysis and mining. 
4. Spatial and temporal relationships are implicitly defined. They are not explicitly encoded in a database. These relationships must be extracted from data. There is a  trade-off between preprocessing them before the actual mining process starts and computing them on-the fly as and when they are actually needed. 
5. Scale effect in space and time is a challenging issue in spatiotemporal data analysis and mining. Scale in terms of spatial resolution or temporal granularity can have a direct impact on the kind and strength of spatiotemporal relationships that can be discovered in datasets. 
6. The unique characteristic of spatiotemporal datasets requires significant modification of data mining techniques so that they can exploit the rich spatial and temporal relationships and patterns embedded in the datasets. 
These problems undoubtedly hinder the development of cities and the quality improvement of residents' lives, whereas a novel and efficient management method is absent for solving of these problems. 
In this context, the proposed method assumes special significance. The proposed method uses a relatively low cost and high-performance computer for processing data obtained from multiple sensors (Collaborative sensing) and subsequently analyse and makes an effort to predict about future. These future predictions can be (a) Emergency events responding (b) Environment state prediction.

proobj:
Proposed Research Project addresses the following objectives. 
a. Collecting data through heterogeneous sensors over wireless network 
b. Designing the appropriate infrastructure to capture and store the huge amount of heterogeneous sensor data, finding practical use of the collected sensor data, and managing IoT communities in such a way that users can seamlessly search, find, and utilize their sensor data. 
c. Analysing data and delivering services ranging from environmental pollution monitoring, disaster management and recovery, improving the quality of life in homes, to enabling smart cities to function.

prometho:
A. Hardware Purchase, Installation & Configuration
B. Data collection 
C. Data pre-processing-
D.Data modelling and Software development 
E Construction of Data warehouse

prosummary:
A. Hardware Purchase, Installation & Configuration
B. Data collection 
C. Data pre-processing-
D.Data modelling and Software development 
E Construction of Data warehouse

proEoutcome:
Comprehensive Software for Data mining and a detailed report


protitle:
A smart telemedicine facility for auto characterization of pathological disorders

prointro:
Proper diagnosis is the primal of prevention as well as cure. However, millions of people are suffering due to lack of appropriate diagnosis. Majority of which are due to the inadequate access to enough facility and expert. Particularly, in resource limited parts of the world.  The rural parts of India are among them. Most of which are struggling with the pathological disorders such as anaemia, malaria, dengue and etc.
Successful project output will help in improving the health quality of the resource limited parts of the world by providing a cost effective and smart telemedicine facility that will automatically diagnose the pathological disorders. According to National Family Health Survey 2015–2016, almost 53% woman in India are suffering from anaemia. The North East India is also one of the severely affected areas, where more than 50% children, in between age of 0-6 years are suffers from anaemia.  The ministry of health and family welfare, government of India, acknowledges this problem as a burden for the nation.
Again, malaria and dengue are the causes of repeated epidemics.   According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2017 there were 219 million cases of malaria in 87 countries. Moreover, recent dengue outbreak put 3.9 billion people at risk and India is among the severely affected countries.
All these diseases creates pathological disorders, particularly in blood. These infections demand separate measures for diagnosis, which include sophisticated and bulky devices, such as high-resolution transmission microscope, flow cytometer, PCR and etc. These processes include various chemical reagents which are expensive and need experts to analyse. This make the diagnosis process expensive and inaccessible for common masses.
All these problems can be addressed by providing a portable and affordable telemedicine facility that can automatically diagnose the diseases and can sent the result to a remote expert for further analysis (if needed). 
In this regards the digital inline holography (DIH) based automated complete blood analysis system can play an important role.

proobj:
To develop artificial intelligence (AI) powered smart and portable telemedicine device for auto characterization of anaemia, malaria, dengue and etc.

prometho:
Recently, we have established that the DIH based lens-less microscope can automatically count and classify the red blood cells, white blood cells and their sub populations. The DIH microscopy is based on the analysis of the diffraction patters of the cells that are generated by the coherent lights passing through it. Since the diffraction patterns are govern by the physical and optical properties of the cells, any changes in the cell physiology or refractive index will reflect in their diffraction patterns. Therefore, any physiological changes that are causes by infection or any other means to the cells can be detected by analysing the diffraction patterns in the DIH micrograph. In this regards we require an analytical model and algorithm that can be implemented as a software. In our previous work we have demonstrated this possibility using a custom developed mathematical model, which was incorporated as an Android App.
However, this mathematical model is subject to cell types, therefore needs fine tuning for additional cell lines.  In this propose project we will try to overcome this problem by implementing deep artificial neural networks (DNN), which are well known for their adaptability and ability to transfer learning. Since the DIH system doesn't include any lens, it requires only a coherent light source and a CMOS image sensor, therefore the cost of the system come down dramatically. Moreover, this process doesn't require any kind of labelling reagents and all the characterization are done automatically using an algorithm, therefore per unit test cost reduces significantly (also subjective errors decreases). Integrating this with wireless/mobile technology, this proposed compact system can be used as a mobile diagnosis facility that may be helpful in the remote and resource limited settings, such as remote parts of north-east India.

prosummary:
In conclusion, in this proposed project we will try to develop a compact telemedicine system, which will be based on DIH. This facility will automatically identify various pathological diseases by analysing their diffraction patterns (of cells) with the help of a deep neural network (DNN) architecture. The outcome of this project may help in democratizing the quality healthcare.

proEoutcome:
Outcome: 

1.	A laboratory set-up for the development of biomedical and bio inspired systems.
2.	Dataset of various cell lines and pathological attributes of various diseases (both in terms of DIH and conventional light microscopy).
3.	Artificial Intelligence knowledge bank and expertise.
4.	Training and Human resource development: This project will help the students of PDPU to learn to develop artificial intelligence-based schemes to solve some of the real-world problems, such as health care.  They will also learn to deploy these models in actual hardware to fabricate workable telemedicine device. Moreover, they will learn to handle some biological assays in the context of medical device arrangements. This work demands amalgamation of computer engineering, electronics engineering, Information engineering, Physics, and biochemistry, which will encourage the students to pursue multidisciplinary research in future.

5.	Finally, the successful outcome may help in improving the health quality of rural parts of India and other resource-limited settings.


protitle:
Development of Nanomaterials for Energy Storage Applications

proobj:
Nanomaterials for Energy Storage Applications in Batteries and Supercapacitors

prosummary:
Study the structure-property-performance correlation studies of nanomaterials for energy storage applications

proEoutcome:
Study the structure-property-performance correlation studies of nanomaterials for energy storage applications


protitle:
Technology development for printing electrochemical sensors using Additive Manufacturing

prointro:
There are many different measures which help farmers to understand about the quality of soil in-terms of micro nutrients, fertility and health of the soil with respect to the decision on crop selection. In soil, electrical conductivity is a measure of the ability of the soil to conduct an electrical current and provide an information about the presence of nutrients in the soil. The higher is the electrical conductivity, more negatively charged sites (clay and organic particles) means that more cations are held in the soil. Cations include Na+, NH4+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, H+, Fe2+, Al3+, Cu2+, Zn2+, Mn2+. Nitrogen rich soil (like in Gujarat region) helps in higher production of protein rich grains like groundnuts and soya-beans. Micro nutrients like (NH4+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+) help in high production of cotton in regions like in Maharashtra region. Rice straw consists of K, Ca2, Mg2, Si, Fe, Mn and B in a greater amount that indicates high production of rice in southern parts of India rich in such nutrients.. 
This proposal targets to develop electrochemical sensor of capacitor type through AM technique and use modern technology of impedance spectroscopy to provide micro-nutrients of soil, which can help in taking decision on use of fertilizers and crop pattern. This would help in moving towards self-reliance in food security and high quality crop production.

proobj:
1.	Development of new composite material for sensing applications.
2.	Study and adopt the right architecture for applying the new developed composite material for soil characterization like impedance measurement in frequency range of 1 to 106 Hz, micro nutrients to be identified and quantified (N, P, K, S, Mg and Ca) and moisture in percentage (2 to 15%).

prometho:
1.	Fabrication of the electrochemical sensor: Direct Ink Writing (DIW) is one among the popular Additive Manufacturing techniques that has gained a wide popularity among the micro and macro fabrication. The Inter Digitated Electrode (IDE)  modelled in any of the commercial 3D modelling software and the file is exported into a .STL (Stereolithography) format. The .STL file is then converted to the 3D printable machine codes using any of the popular slicing algorithms. The machine code file is then fed to the custom made DIW machine to print the IDE with the desired slurry prepared. The following vital process parameters namely volumetric flow rate (of the slurry), dispensing height, slurry vapor pressure and needle or nozzle inner diameter influence the accuracy and the printability of the IDE. The printed IDE is then taken for the postprocessing stages for testing. Fig 1 demonstrates the schematic details of the hybrid AM technique machine depositing the slurry to fabricate the IDE.

prosummary:
2.	Development of the slurry to prepare electrode (layer thickness = 50-100 μm): Electrode morphology is influenced by the shape and size of the active material, conductive additive particles, the polymeric binder properties, and also on their mass ratio. A two-step mixing process as reported in [14] can be adopted: (Step-1) mixing of activated carbon, conductive additive (carbon black 99.9%), a solvent with high boiling point (N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP)) and a solvent with low boiling point (isopropyl alcohol (IPA)) in a suitable weight ratio; (Step-2) addition of a binder (polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)) dissolved in a solvent (NMP) to the slurry in a suitable weight ratio followed by mixing. The electrode slurry prepared in this manner would be used for printing on Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) or Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) substrate. Figure 2 demonstrates the slurry deposition system where the prepared slurry is ready to be used in the syringe.

proEoutcome:
All government soil testing laboratories can be provided with the developed product for in-situ measurements of micro-nutrients in soil at regional level to take a decision on crop pattern and usage of selective fertilizers. It is essential to inform famers that optimum content of nutrients in the soil is very important for plant health to make better decisions about usage of type/grade of fertilizers. Nitrogen overfertilization causes environmental pollution that may contribute to global warming. Excess of Nitrogen in soil leads to leaching and hence pollutes the ground water resulting in toxification of leafy vegetables like cabbage, spinach etc., that becomes harmful for human and animal consumption. It may cause diseases like methaemoglobinaemia, gastric and bladder cancer.


protitle:
Recycling and Reuse of building waste by CO2 sequestration.

proarea:
Carbon sequestration and waste utilization.

prointro:
Use of Concrete as a structural material is being happening for a long time now and it is consumed in large quantity in all construction project. The principal ingredient of the concrete is cement and is consumed in a large quantity. The manufacturing of cement causes generation of carbon dioxide (CO2) and so the final production of concrete can be associated with large quantities of greenhouse gas emission such as CO2 and it has a serious environmental implication considering its global warming potential. There are various efforts to produce green concrete or environmentally friendly concrete by reducing cement percentage, but, in this project, the focus is to sequestrate CO2 with the final concrete product. CO2 can be utilized in the process of curing waste building aggregates and use it to make new concrete structure. The aggregates obtained from demolished mortar and concrete can be recycled after doing CO2 curing and it is so, as it has the ability to sequestrate the CO2 due to reaction between CO2 and cement layer available on the surface of the waste aggregates. In this process, a considerable amount of CO2 utilization takes place, hence, would help addressing global warming and climate change issues. This process is called accelerated CO2 sequestration technique and it can be used to improve the engineering properties of these recycled aggregates.

proobj:
The following are the prime objectives:
•	Development of a process to recycle building material and reuse with CO2 utilization. 
•	To develop an experimental set up for accelerated CO2 curing of the building waste.

prometho:
The methodology can be broadly divided in to two sections:
I.	Design and fabrication of experimental set up for accelerated carbon curing.
II.	Material used, Specimen preparation, CO2 Curing and Test
 

I.	Design and fabrication of experimental set up for accelerated carbon curing:

The three major part of the given set up is given as: Industrial cylinder for storing CO2 up to a purity of 99.9%, Carbonation chamber, and Humidity and Temperature controller. The carbonation chamber is cylindrical in shape and its’ inside diameter is 400mm and height is about 500 mm. To keep the test specimen inside the chamber, a window hole of diameter 250 mm is made at the top of the chamber and a cover plate of 350 mm made for the same. To make sure that the system is safety proof, steel sheets of thickness 10mm are used to make the chamber wall and, the inlet and outlet gas nozzles are placed at proper location. Through a pipe the inlet is connected to the CO2 cylinder and the outlet is attached to pressure gauge to monitor chamber pressure. The walls will be epoxy coated to prevent any corrosion of the steel sheet used for making chamber wall. A desirable temperature of 200C and desirable relative humidity of 65+-5% will be maintained in the system. For this purpose a timer will be used to switch on and off the entire system with a time cycle of 15 minutes.


II.	Material used, Specimen preparation, Curing and Test:

Cement:
The cement material used for concrete cube preparation in this project is ordinary Portland cement. 

          Aggregate used:
	
The aggregate used will be fine granite with particle size varying from 0 to 5mm, and coarse granite varying from 5 to 10mm. As per IS:2386(Part III)-1963(Reaffirmed 2002) the specific gravity of the coarse and fine aggregates will be found out. The water absorption of the fine and coarse granite will be found as per IS:2386(Part III)-1963(Reaffirmed 2002).

Recycled aggregate mostly containing old concrete will be obtained from construction and demolition waste recycling facility existing at Ahmedabad and named PA in this write up. The given aggregates will be used to replace by different percentage the crushed fine granite. The specific gravity and water absorption of PA was measured using the same method as mentioned for earlier aggregates. The particle size distribution of the fine aggregate will be measured as per IS:2386(Part I)-1963(Reaffirmed 2002) and will be categorized accordingly. 

Sample preparation, CO2 Curing and Testing Method:

A commercially available CO2 cylinder with a CO2 concentration higher than 99% will be used for CO2 curing. The sample preparation, specimen dimensions, test method followed is from IS 516-1959(Reaffirmed 2004), IS 5816:1999, IS: 4031(Part 10)-1988 for compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and drying shrinkage.

prosummary:
The research plan is given below:

Step_1: Literature survey(1 -12 Months)
Step_2: Initiating MTech to work in this project. (1 - 6 Months)
Step_3: Material selection and set up design and construction for accelerated carbon curing. (7 -12 Months)
Step_4: Casting of the concrete cubes, demolding and curing in the ACC chamber(13 -18 Months)
Step_5: Testing of samples as per IS code(13 -18 Months)
Step_6: Investigating the effect of different parameters on the strength and shrinkage behavior of concrete. (13 -24Months)
Step_7: Finding the effective quantity of CO2 sequestration in this process. (13 -18 Months)
Step_8: Preparation of manuscripts for an international journal. Preparation of design of a commercial model for actual field use. Preparation and submission of project report to GUJCOST. (18-24 Months)

proEoutcome:
The outcomes of this project will have a big impact from environmental prospective as it will be helpful in reuse of the construction industry waste and at the same time it will provide a new method for sequestration of harmful CO2 gas.  It will be helpful to government agencies working in the area of building waste management and also for local industries to develop high strength concrete blocks at a lower cost and lesser time.


protitle:
Transient characteristics of cracking and healing on clay with synthetic geofiber reinforcement

prointro:
The Swachh Bharat Mission, launched by Government of India in 2014, aims to ensure 100% scientific disposal of MSW. Since the most common and practical solution of waste disposal are landfills, more research is needed for sustainable and efficient clay barrier systems. Clay barriers are susceptible to cracking due to moisture fluctuations. The desiccation cracks in landfill covers may act as potential pathways for permeation of water into the landfill during substantial infiltration and leachate into groundwater, as shown in Figure 1 (Kodikara et al. 2000; Rowe 2012). In recent times, the concept of reinforcing the soil by including randomly distributed geofibers is being investigated. The main advantages of geofiber reinforcement is the absence of single potential plane of weakness along which the clay layer may undergo failure  (Maher and Gray 1990).

proobj:
The main goal of the proposed project is to investigate the transient response of desiccation cracking and healing behavior of synthetic-fiber reinforced clay barrier systems.

prometho:
Desiccation cracking of reinforced expansive soils will be studied under controlled environmental conditions in an experimental test setup. The prepared specimens will be subjected to consecutive drying and wetting cycles, that may mimic seasonal dry and rainy periods, that lead to leachate formation in the barrier systems. The proposed experimental setup for drying stage will include 
•	A specimen container
•	An illumination and heating assembly
•	Cameras to observe surficial and vertical crack propagation
•	Temperature and relative humidity sensors to monitor environmental conditions
•	Weighing balance to measure moisture content in specimen
A tungsten halogen lamp (500W) will emit required light and heat to the specimen. The cameras enabled with time-trigger photography will be employed to capture images of desiccating specimens at regular intervals. All tests will be performed at a constant temperature and relative humidity and will be monitored through a sensor that is located close to the setup. An illustrative schematic of the proposed test setup is shown in Figure 1. For wetting stage, the cracked specimen will be inundated in confined specimen container, as shown in Figure 2. The container is fixed with a graduated tube at the top, permeable geotextile at the bottom of specimen and a measuring cylinder for falling head permittivity test. 

Materials
•	Commercially available bentonite commonly used in clay barrier systems
•	Polypropylene fibers of varying tenacity and cut lengths

prosummary:
Specimen preparation and test conditions

Commercially available bentonite will be oven dried, crushed and sieved through a 425μm sieve. Different fiber contents (0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75% and 1% by dry weight of the soil) and fiber lengths (6 mm, 12 mm, 18 mm, 30 mm, and 50 mm) will be used in the preparation of fiber-reinforced clay specimens.  Initially, a mix of dry clay and fibers will be prepared, to which water will be gradually added and mixed with spatulas for approximately 10 min to make a uniform slurry. The prepared slurry will be poured into the acrylic specimen containers to achieve required specimen thickness. The author has adapted this method of specimen preparation in previous research, as discussed in Chaduvula et al. 2016. 

The prepared specimen placed in the test setup and will be allowed to desiccate under a 500W Tungsten Halogen lamp, as shown in the schematic setup in figure. The procedure for drying and wetting is according to Chaduvula et al. 2017. The drying stages will be conducted for 10 hours at constant temperature and relative humidity. For the wetting stages, the desiccated samples will be inundated carefully with water close to the specimen’s liquid limit and then will be left for hydration for 24 hours before the next drying stage.

proEoutcome:
A simple experimental setup to study desiccation cracking of clay specimens under controlled environmental conditions will be developed as part of the proposed work. This setup will include an illumination and heating assembly, digital image acquisition system, specimen container, temperature and humidity sensors and weighing balance.
•	Fundamental knowledge of effect of synthetic fiber reinforcement on basic desiccation crack characteristics of unreinforced and fiber reinforced clay
•	Effect of type, diameter, length and extensibility of fibers on the transient response of desiccation cracking behavior of fiber reinforced clay
•	Comparison of rate of healing in unreinforced and fiber reinforced clay layers when subjected to cycles of drying and wetting. 
•	Suitability of fiber reinforced clay in barrier systems in reference to change in rate of cracking and healing
•	Recommendations for the improved clay barrier systems using fiber reinforced clay considering overall water flow in wetting-drying cycle
•	Publications in international conferences and journals


protitle:
Transient characteristics of cracking and healing on clay with synthetic fiber reinforcement

prointro:
The increasing pace of urbanization in India has added pressure on the already strained capacities of the municipal soil waste disposal sites. According to the Manual on MSW Management – 2016, only 18% of the waste generated per day is getting scientifically treated. The Swachh Bharat Mission, launched by Government of India in 2014, aims to ensure 100% scientific disposal of MSW. Since the most common and practical solution of waste disposal are landfills, more research is needed for sustainable and efficient clay barrier systems. Clay barriers are susceptible to cracking due to moisture fluctuations. The desiccation cracks in landfill covers may act as potential pathways for permeation of water into the landfill during substantial infiltration and leachate into groundwater, as shown in Figure 1 (Kodikara et al. 2000; Rowe 2012). In recent times, the concept of reinforcing the soil by including randomly distributed fibers is being investigated. Te main advantages of fiber reinforcement is the absence of potential plane of weakness  (Maher and Gray 1990). It is found that geofibers reduce the soil cracking (Harianto et al. 2008; Miller et al. 2004), through bridging effect of fibers, as shown in Figure 2 ( Chaduvula, 2019).

prometho:
This goal will be achieved through the following objectives:

Objective 1: Development of experimental test setup for performing desiccation cracking tests on clay specimens under controlled environmental conditions

Objective 2: To study the transient characteristics of cracking and healing in unreinforced and fiber reinforced clay subjected to drying and wetting cycles and defining the required parameters for rate of cracking and healing.

Objective 3: To study the effect of fiber type, fiber length and fiber content on desiccation cracking development over time (rate of cracking) in unreinforced and fiber reinforced clay barrier systems subjected to drying cycle. Similarly, establishing the healing rate of such mixes on exposure to water by looking at the transient response of healing efficiency.

prosummary:
Test setup
Desiccation cracking of reinforced expansive soils will be studied under controlled environmental conditions in an experimental test setup. The prepared specimens will be subjected to consecutive drying and wetting cycles, that may mimic seasonal dry and rainy periods, that lead to leachate formation in the barrier systems. The proposed experimental setup for drying stage will include 
•	A specimen container
•	An illumination and heating assembly
•	Cameras to observe surficial and vertical crack propagation
•	Temperature and relative humidity sensors to monitor environmental conditions
•	Weighing balance to measure moisture content in specimen
A tungsten halogen lamp (500W) will emit required light and heat to the specimen. The cameras enabled with time-trigger photography will be employed to capture images of desiccating specimens at regular intervals. All tests will be performed at a constant temperature and relative humidity and will be monitored through a sensor that is located close to the setup. An illustrative schematic of the proposed test setup is shown in Figure 1. For wetting stage, the cracked specimen will be inundated in confined specimen container, as shown in Figure 2. The container is fixed with a graduated tube at the top, permeable geotextile at the bottom of specimen and a measuring cylinder for falling head permittivity test. 

Materials
•	Commercially available bentonite commonly used in clay barrier systems
•	Polypropylene fibers of varying tenacity and cut lengths


protitle:
Towards Understanding the Methane Production from Simulated Natural Gas Hydrates 
Using Slow-Depressurization, Chemical Inhibitor, CO2-CH4 Exchange and Combination Approach

prointro:
The dominance of conventional fossil fuels began to decline and is estimated to get exhausted by the year 2040 (A. Greening et al., 2015). The main focus on energy fulfillment has now been shifted to unconventional resources that exist in the form of natural gas hydrate, shale gas, and coal bed methane. Natural gas resources have tremendous potential in meeting the consumer and industrial demand. Natural gas is expected to play a dynamic role in the changeover from carbon dominated economy to carbon-free economy by substituting the fossil fuels and by fulfilling the deficit in yield of the existing energy sources. The enormous amount of natural gas hydrate deposits has been discovered in the continental margin and permafrost locations. A unit volume of gas hydrate contains almost 164 units of gas in its structure (Sloan and Koh, 2008). Major deposits of gas hydrates locations are found in the USA, India, China, Japan, Canada, etc. In India, these potential reserves are delineated in the area, such as the Krishna-Godavari basin, Kerala-Konkan basin, and the Mahanadi basin, etc. (Sain et al., 2012). If somehow this huge energy basket in the form of natural gas hydrates can be tapped, that would be the greatest change in the energy scenario.
Different methane recovery strategies from hydrate reservoirs have been identified based on phase stability (equilibrium) conditions, viz., thermal stimulation, depressurization and chemical inhibitor (Nair et al., 2016). In another approach, the CO2-CH4 exchange mechanism is used to produce methane from hydrate reservoirs in which CO2 is sequestered and displaces the methane gas from their existing cages (Zhao et al., 2012). 
There has been a rise in exploration and production activities in recovering methane from gas hydrate. In the North Slope of Alaska, methane was produced by hydrate dissociation using CO2+N2 with CH4 exchange (Li, 2016). In Canada, in March 2003, the first offshore methane production test from hydrate was carried out at Eastern Nankai trough of Japan using depressurization(Li, 2016). Canada, a country having a large amount of hydrate reserve is very active in the exploration and production of methane from its hydrate reservoirs. Both thermal stimulation (in the year 2002) and depressurization (in the year 2008) tests were carried out in the Mallik field at the northwest territories of Canada (Li, 2016). From April to June 2017, the second offshore production test was conducted in the same sea area as the first test with the aim of consecutively extracting natural gas for a longer period than in the first test, which was terminated for six days due to an accident caused by sand entering into a well (Nair et al., 2018). Recent production tests on methane production from hydrate done by China in a shallow depth, unconsolidated formation (Li et al., 2018a). This test has lasted for 60 days as effective measures were taken for the sand control production, was monitored in real-time for any subsurface and geo-hazards events.
Several field production tests have been conducted but hydrate exploitation is far from venturing into the commercial stage. This indicates that the proper selection and optimization of methane production methods are still not solved. Amongst the various methane production strategies from hydrate reservoirs, depressurization is observed to be the most economical and practical method, but depressurization may cause ice blockage and hydrate reformation and low gas production rate in the later period. Thermal stimulation causes low energy efficiency due to unavoidable heat loss. At present, the recent production technologies are not effective and need additional effort to study and understand the gas hydrate production mechanism and throughput technologies in order to improve the production from mysterious gas hydrate.  Chemical inhibitor injection is appraised as the most effective method due to ease in operation, improved energy efficiency, reduced threat of hydrate reformation, and aids in retaining the reservoir stability (Li et al., 2007; Li, 2016). Chemical inhibitors are most accepted and widely used for controlling hydrate in flow assurance, however, their application in recovering methane from hydrate reservoir is not completely understood and much investigated. On a similar note, CO2 is capable to shift the hydrate equilibrium and has the potential to recover the methane by exchanging the cage (Zhao et al., 2012). The success is not yet established in exchange of CH4 using CO2 (Li, 2016).In addition, gas hydrate has higher strength towards shear and once the production is taking place the strong hydrate converts into low strength loose sediments and water. This could result in lowering the seafloor stability causing geohazards, such as landslides, subsidence and hamper further methane production. Therefore it is important to study the stability of hydrate in order to ensure the continued unhindered production.

proobj:
To study and compare the methane recovery from simulated hydrate reservoir using the chemical hydrate inhibitors injection, depressurization, and CO2-CH4 exchange process in order to bring out gas effectively from the reservoir without disturbing in-situ stability.

prometho:
3	Research Work Plan
Highlight of the new science questions being asked and attempt to be answered:  
Q1. Can different inhibitor and polymer combination boost the recovery? If yes how? 
Q2. How chemical inhibitor interacts with the gas hydrate system to produce methane? 
Q3. How does the chemical inhibitor work with a slow depressurization production scheme?
Q4. Can CO2-CH4 exchange boost up with a slow depressurization production scheme?

3.1	Methodology

Below Figure 1, we have shown the proposed methodology followed in the study. Primarily work being associated with methane recovery studies will incorporate hydrate set-up design (proposed in the next section). Once the work will initiate, reservoir conditions will be simulated with certain simplifying assumptions. Our objective to study methane production from both types of reservoirs (Claye/silty and Sandy).

prosummary:
3.1.1	Simulating the reservoir condition:
Most of the production trails have been targeted in the sandstone consolidated formation (Figure 2). In the recent Indian National Gas Hydrate Programme (NGHP-2). The objective of the program was to find the hydrate reserve in consolidated formation. The areas B and C as shown below were delineated as the prospective hydrate consolidated formations. 
3.1.2	Proposed Experimental Set-up:
Using this proposed setup as shown in Figure 3 of large volume (approx. 2-3 liters) more accuracy and lesser. Moreover, change in collector weight is constantly measured for final mass balance. This set-up will also be utilized for a study related to Inhibitor flood and CO2-CH4 exchange studies.
3.1.3	Chemical Inhibitor+Polymer Injection

Chemical inhibitor injection is appraised as the most effective method due to ease in operation, improved energy efficiency, reduced threat of hydrate reformation, and aids in retaining the reservoir stability (Lee, 2010; Yuan et al., 2011; Li et al., 2016, 2017; Nair et al., 2018b). Methane recovery using chemical inhibitor works in two ways, first, the inhibitors shift the hydrate liquid-vapor (H-L-V) equilibrium curve towards higher pressure and lower temperature; second, at lower temperatures, the heat to dissociate the hydrate is lower. Chemical inhibitors are most accepted and widely used for controlling hydrate in flow assurance, however, their application in recovering methane from hydrate reservoir is not completely understood and much investigated
3.1.3.1	Managerial aspects:
As per the proposed design in Figure 2, the high reactor (2-litre approximately) need to be manufactured/purchased (cost discussed in budget details), with the necessary accessories (to be acquired), such as water-bath back pressure regulator, porous filter, SCADA system, syringe pump 110 DS 103 ml (available at PDPU host university). Methane gas and chemicals will be purchased as consumables (cost in budget details). Distill water will be available from the chemistry department at PDPU and seawater will be collected from Vapi Gujarat (Free of cost).
3.1.4	Slow depressurization and Chemical (Inhibitor+Polymer) Injection
 	 Earlier studies showed that depressurization was the best method for methane production to date. However, it encounters several difficulties, such as high sand production and rehydrates formation during depressurization (being endothermic process) which resulted in obstructing the methane production (Li et al., 2018b). It has been also suggested that the combination of the various producing technique would be beneficial (Li, 2016). Therefore, in this proposed study I will utilize the techniques of slow depressurization with inhibitor injection, in order to club the advantage of both the inhibitor injection and depressurization. Methane and equivalent sand production are the main criteria being judged during the process. 
3.1.4.1	Managerial aspects:
Same as discussed for chemical inhibitor+polymer injection.
3.1.5	CH4 and CO2 exchange process
CH4–CO2 exchange process is a carbon-negative, safer methane production technique from natural gas hydrate reservoir by injecting CO2 with Nitrogen gas mixtures. It has been found from laboratory experiments that the CO2 injection has a lower replacement rate and yields a small quantity of methane due to mass transfer limitation created due to CO2 hydrate formation (Pandey and Von Solms, 2019). In this proposed work, the design of the experiment is in such a way that CH4 will be produced via slow depressurization and CO2 being injected in the process. Thus, removing the mass transfer barrier. This technique will operate in CO2 hydrate stable zone but in CH4 unstable zone which may result in improved CO2 hydrate formation by successfully replacing methane from hydrate and enhancing methane production. This proposed process will allow more CO2 and CH4 cage interaction and there is the possibility to get enhanced methane production and also lesser sand production. Once the encouraging results are obtained, the thermodynamic and kinetic models can be developed for methane production.
3.1.5.1	Managerial aspects:
Most of the managerial aspects will be the same as discussed for chemical inhibitor+polymer injection. CO2 cylinder will be purchased as consumables and the CO2 being absorbed and produced along with methane at the outlet will be analyzed using gas chromatography (available at PDPU Chemical Engineering Department). The gas will be collected in the TEDLER bag for analysis being made. Around 30 TEDLER bags will be required in the whole analysis. The cost of each bag is Rs 1500 (information in the budget section).

proEoutcome:
I expect I would be able to contribute towards methane production from hydrate reservoirs by innovative ideas.
This project of national importance and outcome will be useful for the next NGHP-3 phase where the production of methane from gas hydrate is targeted.  The industries interested are Oil and Natural gas, GAIL, DGH, Ministry of oil and natural gas India.


protitle:
Towards Understanding the Methane Production from Simulated Natural Gas Hydrates 
Using Newly Innovative Methods

prointro:
The dominance of conventional fossil fuels began to decline and is estimated to get exhausted by the year 2040 (A. Greening et al., 2015). The main focus on energy fulfillment has now been shifted to unconventional resources that exist in the form of natural gas hydrate, shale gas, and coalbed methane. Natural gas resources have tremendous potential in meeting the consumer and industrial demand. Natural gas can have dynamic role in the shift from carbon ruled to carbon-free economy by substituting the shortage of the existing energy sources. The vast amount of natural gas hydrate deposits has been discovered in the continental margin and permafrost locations. A unit volume of gas hydrate contains almost 164 units of gas in its structure (Sloan and Koh, 2008). Major deposits of gas hydrates locations are found in the USA, India, China, Japan, Canada, etc. In India, these potential reserves are delineated in the area, such as the Krishna-Godavari basin, Kerala-Konkan basin, and the Mahanadi basin, etc. (Sain et al., 2012). If somehow this huge energy basket in the form of natural gas hydrates can be tapped, that would be the greatest change in the energy scenario.

prometho:
Highlight of the new science questions being asked and attempt to be answered:  
Q1. Can different inhibitor and polymer combination boost the recovery? If yes how? 
Q2. How chemical inhibitor interacts with the gas hydrate system to produce methane? 
Q3. How does the chemical inhibitor work with a slow depressurization production scheme?
Q4. Can CO2-CH4 exchange boost up with a slow depressurization production scheme?

3.1	Methodology

Below Figure 1, we have shown the proposed methodology followed in the study. Primarily work being associated with methane recovery studies will incorporate hydrate set-up design (proposed in the next section). Once the work will initiate, reservoir conditions will be simulated with certain simplifying assumptions. Our objective to study methane production from both types of reservoirs (Claye/silty and Sandy).

prosummary:
3.1.1	Simulating the reservoir condition:
Most of the production trails have been targeted in the sandstone consolidated formation (Figure 2). In the recent Indian National Gas Hydrate Programme (NGHP-2). The objective of the program was to find the hydrate reserve in consolidated formation. The areas B and C as shown below were delineated as the prospective hydrate consolidated formations. 

3.1.3	Chemical Inhibitor+Polymer Injection
Chemical inhibitor injection is appraised as the most effective method due to ease in operation, improved energy efficiency, reduced threat of hydrate reformation, and aids in retaining the reservoir stability (Lee, 2010; Yuan et al., 2011; Li et al., 2016, 2017; Nair et al., 2018b). Methane recovery using chemical inhibitor works in two ways, first, the inhibitors shift the hydrate liquid-vapor (H-L-V) equilibrium curve towards higher pressure and lower temperature; second, at lower temperatures, the heat to dissociate the hydrate is lower. Chemical inhibitors are most accepted and widely used for controlling hydrate in flow assurance, however, their application in recovering methane from hydrate reservoir is not completely understood and much investigated
3.1.3.1	Managerial aspects:
As per the proposed design in Figure 2, the high reactor (2-litre approximately) need to be manufactured/purchased (cost discussed in budget details), with the necessary accessories (to be acquired), such as water-bath back pressure regulator, porous filter, SCADA system, syringe pump 110 DS 103 ml (available at PDPU host university). Methane gas and chemicals will be purchased as consumables (cost in budget details). Distill water will be available from the chemistry department at PDPU and seawater will be collected from Vapi Gujarat (Free of cost).
3.1.4	Slow depressurization and Chemical (Inhibitor+Polymer) Injection
 	 Earlier studies showed that depressurization was the best method for methane production to date. However, it encounters several difficulties, such as high sand production and rehydrates formation during depressurization (being endothermic process) which resulted in obstructing the methane production (Li et al., 2018b). It has been also suggested that the combination of the various producing technique would be beneficial (Li, 2016). Therefore, in this proposed study I will utilize the techniques of slow depressurization with inhibitor injection, in order to club the advantage of both the inhibitor injection and depressurization. Methane and equivalent sand production are the main criteria being judged during the process. 
3.1.4.1	Managerial aspects:
Same as discussed for chemical inhibitor+polymer injection.
3.1.5	CH4 and CO2 exchange process
CH4–CO2 exchange process is a carbon-negative, safer methane production technique from natural gas hydrate reservoir by injecting CO2 with Nitrogen gas mixtures. It has been found from laboratory experiments that the CO2 injection has a lower replacement rate and yields a small quantity of methane due to mass transfer limitation created due to CO2 hydrate formation (Pandey and Von Solms, 2019). In this proposed work, the design of the experiment is in such a way that CH4 will be produced via slow depressurization and CO2 being injected in the process. Thus, removing the mass transfer barrier. This technique will operate in CO2 hydrate stable zone but in CH4 unstable zone which may result in improved CO2 hydrate formation by successfully replacing methane from hydrate and enhancing methane production. This proposed process will allow more CO2 and CH4 cage interaction and there is the possibility to get enhanced methane production and also lesser sand production. Once the encouraging results are obtained, the thermodynamic and kinetic models can be developed for methane production.
3.1.5.1	Managerial aspects:
Most of the managerial aspects will be the same as discussed for chemical inhibitor+polymer injection. CO2 cylinder will be purchased as consumables and the CO2 being absorbed and produced along with methane at the outlet will be analyzed using gas chromatography (available at PDPU Chemical Engineering Department). The gas will be collected in the TEDLER bag for analysis being made. Around 30 TEDLER bags will be required in the whole analysis. The cost of each bag is Rs 1500 (information in the budget section).

proEoutcome:
We expect to bring in some innovative methods for improving methane recovery from hydrate. 
This project of national importance and outcome will be useful for the next NGHP-3 phase where the production of methane from gas hydrate is targeted.  The industries interested are Oil and Natural gas, GAIL, DGH, Ministry of oil and natural gas India.


protitle:
Linking molecular scale changes with macro–scale membrane dynamics to obtain integrated insights into synthetic cell mechanics

prointro:
Cell membrane is a spherical bilayer constituted by amphiphilic lipid molecules, for example, phospholipids. An amphiphilic molecule contains water–attracting head group represented by the phosphate group in the phospholipid and water-repelling part usually comprised of hydrophobic C–H chains. This arrangement results in an intrinsic dipole moment due to charge separation in the lipid membrane6. Application of non-uniform mechanical stress across the bilayer membrane through subjecting these lipid vesicles to temperature variation or osmotic gradients produces non–uniform strain gradients across the lipid membrane and this induces the onset of a potential difference due to the electrical polarization of the charges in the membrane. This, in turn, leads to changes in the uniform curvature of the membrane observable at the macro–scale with an optical microscope that are evident as changes in the mechanical properties in these membranes. Variations in the intrinsic dipole moment induced in the lipid molecules constituting the cell membrane due to external applied stimuli such as changes in temperature or osmotic gradients will give rise to vibrational spectra. Information obtained from vibrational spectra on lipid vesicles about how bond lengths between atoms in lipid molecules get altered could give evidence about the molecular scale dynamics such as conformational changes (in details: conversions between all–trans to gauche conformers, etc.). The motivation behind this proposal is to link macro–scale membrane mechanical properties of the synthetic cell obtained from optical microscopic experiments with the molecular scale membrane dynamics in the same synthetic cell obtained via vibrational spectroscopic investigations and to get an integrated insight into the membrane mechanics of the synthetic cells.

proobj:
Comprehensive understanding of the membrane mechanics in simple synthetic cells could be leveraged to understand the same in natural cells. This could yield new insights into the cell mechanics that could be harnessed to realize compartmentalized chemical reactions and toxic-free chemicals production.

prometho:
Research Methodology:
DOPC and DPPC lipids–based vesicles will be prepared by the electro-formation method, where a function generator and a multimeter will be utilized along with ITO slides and gaskets and putty. Briefly, sandwich type architecture will be prepared with two ITO slides by bringing these slides together and joining them with putty with gaskets inserted between the slides along with copper strips which will act as conducting electrodes which would be later connected to the function generator. These ITO slides would be pre–coated with lipid solution in chloroform and the as coated slides would be dried prior to making this sandwich structure. This structure will then be filled with a few drops of distilled water in which the coated lipids will roll out into lipid vesicle structures upon electric current supply from the function generator. The sandwich structure can hold the as–formed (electroformed) lipid vesicles. These vesicles will be collected through surgical syringes into centrifuge tubes and stored for further use. Optical microscopy will be utilized to confirm the formation of the vesicles and to record their average diameter by measuring diameters from several groups of vesicles and running these images through imageJ (free from NIH). Vibrational spectroscopy viz. liquid phase–FTIR (FTIR equipment available for performing experiments on liquid samples i.e., to employ vesicle dispersions in liquids for the experiments) will be utilized to obtain the vibrational spectra from the vesicle dispersions. The PI has already collected some preliminary vibrational data on the effect of certain salt solutions on the DOPC vesicles.

prosummary:
Research Plan Summary:
Cell mechanics appear to pervade several cellular processes such as growth and division and cell differentiation apart from disease and death, based on the recent literature. Understanding the cell mechanics in a natural cell is cumbersome as a natural cell is "stuffed" with a variety of large number of macromolecules and other biomolecules that direct biochemical pathways for the cell's function. Via establishing cellular mechanics in synthetic cells that are viewed as simple analogues of natural cells, inferences from such data could then be leveraged to understand the same in natural cells. Researchers working in cellular mechanics domain resort to conjecture following data obtained from optical microscopes. And, cell mechanics observable through optical microscopes are in turn dependent on the lipid molecular dynamics, including conformational changes, occurring at the molecular scale. But, regularly used optical microscopes to study cells in solution have diffraction limits which make it impossible at the moment to see at the lipid molecules' dynamics at the molecular level. For example, lipid molecules can undergo all–trans to gauche type conformations among other such conformational changes which will have direct impact on the overall mechanical properties of cells. This begets questions regarding the link between the types of conformational changes occurring at the molecular level in the lipid molecules in the bilayer lipid vesicles and the overall mechanical properties observable at the macro–scale in these vesicles. To precisely and quantitatively determine the relation between overall mechanical properties in a synthetic cell with the molecular scale dynamics, vibrational spectroscopy aka fingerprint techniques that give rich information about changes in bond lengths between atoms in lipid molecules that in turn influence the conformational changes occurring in such lipids could be utilized. Nonintrusive vibrational spectroscopy combined with optical microscopy could reveal membrane heterogeneity occurring due to changes in molecular conformations happening in the lipid molecules in response external applied stimuli in model synthetic vesicles. And, this comprehensive understanding of membrane mechanics could be leveraged to understand the cell mechanics in natural cells under different conditions. Using micromanipulators in the optical microscopy setup, ample data could be obtained about the bending moduli of the lipid membranes in lipid vesicles under different external stimuli. These data give an idea about the macro–scale membrane dynamics. The same synthetic cell samples would then be subjected to vibrational spectral techniques such as FTIR and Raman spectra to obtain molecular scale membrane behavior. These two sets of data would then be analyzed to deliver holistic inferences about the synthetic cell mechanics that could be leveraged to understand natural cell mechanics. Overall, the project is about obtaining accurate insights into cell mechanics under different external stimuli by obtaining the same in synthetic cells using vibrational spectroscopy and optical microscopy. I strongly believe such a study will lead not just to understand the membrane mechanics but to apply the inferences obtained from such data in unforeseen areas such as compartmentalized chemical reactions and synthetic cell factories to prepare chemicals toxic–free and efficient filtration of chemicals.

proEoutcome:
Expected Outcome:
Investigate connections between molecular vibrational spectra and the information from micromanipulator experiments assisted by optical microscopy to obtain holistic data/ideas on the membrane/cell mechanics in synthetic cells. 
And, leverage the knowledge from synthetic cell mechanics to understand the same in natural cells. 
Formulate new research questions related to biomechanics with the help of comprehensive understanding of the synthetic cell mechanics from integrated molecular and macro–scale investigations on synthetic cells through vibrational spectra and optical microscopy. 
Acquire advanced data sets from combined spectral and microscopic instrumental techniques in order to thoroughly analyse and hypothesize synthetic cell mechanics under external applied stimuli.
Publish the results in high impact peer–reviewed journals and also maybe in open access platforms for wide dissemination of the results which could be of interest to several research communities such as biophysicists and chemists and cell mechanics researchers and also explore the possibilities of filing patents based on the obtained results.


protitle:
Synthesis of Unprecedented Novel Reusable Agriculture Waste Rice Straw Metal-Organic Framework Composite (RSMOFC) for Selective Removal of Cationic and Anionic Heavy Metals from Contaminated/Industrial Water

prointro:
Water pollution is a severe problem throughout the world; particularly the situation is vulnerable for the developing nation like India.A recent report by NITI Ayog by 2030 India will suffer for shortage of drinking water due to pollutant contamination withwater [ ]. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and World Health Organization (WHO) limit their concentration in the drinking water [ ]. The released of waste water containing heavy metal ions from different industries such as tanneries, ceramic, metallurgical, coal power plants, printing process, electronics manufacturing, automobile batteries, pigments, glassetc contaminate with the fresh water posing a severe threat to the living organism (scheme 1) [ ]. These cationic (Hg(II), Pb(II) etc.) and anionic (Arsenite (AsO33−),Arsenate (AsO43-), Cr2O72-, CrO42-, HCrO4-, etc.) heavy metal ions are extremely perilous even at extremely low concentration and are non-biodegradable results accumulation through food chain [ ]. For instance,biggest heavy metal disease in the world history caused by Hg(II) known as minamata disease results thousands of death in Japan.A recent scientific field study showed that the drinking water in India becomes polluted day by day by these heavy metal ions which directly causes several fatal disease [ ]. In this regard the arsenic in drinking water in Bihar state reached the alarming condition [ ]. Thus, removals of these heavy metal ions from industry waste are essential before discharging them into the mother land.So the simple, efficient, inexpensive and reusable technology is require to achieving this target. Several techniques have been used such as electrochemical deposition, precipitation, ion exchange, etc for the separation of these toxic heavy metal ions. The problems associated with these processes are high cost, not reusable and in some cases kinetics of separation or efficiency with time not up to the mark [ ]. However, the separation of these by using porous materials through adsorption process is promising technology which offers low cost, reversible adsorption i.e. reusable, easy to handle and high kinetics in the wide range of concentration. Several adsorbent have been adopted for adsorption process such as, minerals [ ], polymers [ ], activated carbon [ ] etc. Recently, the interest has been moved towards the use of eco-friendly and economically viable agriculture waste or its composite with foreign materials leads to the construction of low cost, easy handle and future technological use materials with higher separation efficiency. Here we propose an experimental study on the fabrication, processing and characterization of new novel micro porous agriculture rice straw waste metal organic nano Composite (RSMONC) from easily available eco-friendly porous rice husk (agriculture waste) and porous metal organic network (MOF) (having capability of cavity size control) where respective physical and chemical properties of these two will inheritance into the new composite help to facile separation of heavy toxic cationic and anionic metal ions from industrial waste water. The overall objective to achieve an improved understanding of the relevant physical and chemical phenomena occurring in the composite during synthesis, fabrication and in operation time. The result from this investigation can be applied to improve the methods for the preparation of new and existing separating materials important for heavy cationic or anionic metal removal technological industry and most importantly beneficiary for our country. To the best of my knowledge this will the first unprecedented novel composite between metal organic frameworks network with rice straw. We note that such materials based composites are not known. We also observed that the MOF performed as a filtration materials in many aspect (dye separation, organic pollutant separation etc) and its efficiency can be modulate by embedding some functional sites (OMe, OH, NO2, CN side groups) are advantageous most probably due strong interactions with the pollutant. Our published work and preliminary results provide a sufficient tool-box of MOFs to address the central idea of the proposed research, namely developing methodologies to create assemblies of MOF and steam exploded rice straw composite materials based on them.

proobj:
Our primary effort will be devoted to self-assembly process of unprecedented eco-friendly composite between steam exploded rice straw and metal organic framework. Developing the design principles and achieving assemblies with desirable structure and properties will be sought.

prometho:
We will characterize the steam exploded rice straw by powder X-ray diffraction  (PXRD), MOF (by single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction), the assembly composite using electron microscopy (SEM, TEM, powder X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), optical spectroscopy (absorption, emission). The other spectroscopies and analytical data such as elemental analysis, Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), inductively coupled plasma (ICP), and infrared will also be employ to characterize the all materials. Project investigator has extensive experience with all these methodologies. The overall methodology of the present project is to develop composite materials to be used in toxic cation and anionic heavy metal removal technology and fabricate the technology based on functional nanocomposite with focus on toxic metal free clean water.

prosummary:
1) Synthesis of composite between cheap easily available rice straw with the metal organic framework followed by separation study

The main constituents of the rice straw are cellulose, lignin, hemicelluloses and organic matter [ ].Generally the exploded rice straw is micro pore in nature. Based on recent literature [ ] the collecting rice straw (from farmer) will be chopped (200 mm) and subjected to the steam vapour to exploded the rice straw. The hydroxyl group will we anchored to the back bone of the exploded rice straw which will help to the binding of the metal ion followed by growing of the metal organic network with the help of external organic ligand. The inner hydroxyl group cannot form a MOF due to space limit whereas the outer surface hydroxyl group can acts as anchor to hold and help to grow a MOF (Scheme 2). As a result the intercalated pore will be generated within the composite highly decorated with hydroxyl group for the facile adsorption of the heavy toxic metal ions from water. However the functionalization of the hydroxyl group of the steam exploded rice straw can bring new composite synthesis in order to bring further experiment towards the adsorption of heavy toxic metal ions from water.
2) Modulation of the cavity/pore size of the composite through proper judiciary selection of organic ligand

The inner core hydroxyl group in the rice straw acts as a interaction sites with the analytes leading to excellent separation and 3 dimentionalMOF interconnected channel integrated with rice straw allow the facile mass transfer of the analytes allows superior efficacy. However, in addition to this by putting some functionality in the MOF linker the efficiency of the composite can be further increase. To the proof of concept by keeping amine, thiol, hydorxy, ether etc. on the organic linker followed by construction of MOF on steam exploded rice straw endow with composite (Scheme 3) can effectively interact with the toxic cationic and ionic heavy metal ions for treatment of waste water

proEoutcome:
The proposed research targets a new, unexplored family of new composite nanomaterials - based on easily available microporous steam exploded rice straw with MOF. In view of tunability, robustness, advantageous of adsorption properties, facile fabrication, and low cost of rice straw, the materials based on them may lead to new paradigms in the area of functional materials. Thus, we propose to develop a novel class of porous composite materials that can be easily fabricated, which will be utilized to create tunable composite porous materials that span a wide range of pore sizes. We also target mechanically and chemically robust materials with properties superior or complementary to those of conventional polymers. Apart from this introduction of a new type of porous materials will be important for advancing membrane science, storage, and catalysis. Recyclable and tunable self-standing porous materials based on small molecules will be versatile, cost-effective and environmentally friendly, replacing or complementing conventional systems.


protitle:
Building Energy Conservation Using Phase Change Materials 
for Hot and Temperate Climatic Conditions in India

prointro:
With the rapid growth in the urban population, there is a constraint to building space and material usage. There is a need to increase the thermal mass of buildings without going back to the heavy construction used in olden days. A similar constraint is applicable for people living in villages thus; they tend to build their houses in a small space with thin walls. The implication of building such walls is that they are inappropriate to provide solar shielding during summer, the inside peak temperatures are very high. Thus, there is a need to design systems that could result in lowering the peak temperature inside the room. One solution is to incorporate latent thermal energy storage (PCM) in the building elements to absorb the high heat flux during peak temperatures and discharge, by rejecting heat, when the outside temperature is lower, that is, during the off sunshine hours. This requires careful selection of PCMs, their implementation, and thermal assessment, so that it may be implemented in actual buildings. This study aims at providing this technology for villages and cities in hot and temperate climatic conditions (Gujarat, Rajasthan, etc.) in India to overcome harsh summer with minimum power consumption.

proobj:
(i)	Identification of potential PCM for the hot and temperate climate of Gujarat, Rajasthan, etc.
(ii)	PCM characterization and selection by developing a model.
(iii)	Incorporating PCMs into building elements to test its thermal properties, performance, and compliance to standards.
(iv)	Experimentally assess the temperature reduction and energy savings incurred.

prometho:
(i)	Identify and select the PCMs by developing a model
(ii)	Thermal characterization and enhancement.
(iii)	To incorporate PCM within the building material, and test its thermal properties, performance, and compliance with the standards.

prosummary:
This project aims at reducing energy consumption in buildings by PCM incorporation within building elements for hot and temperate climate of Gujarat, Rajasthan, etc. With 80% of energy coming from fossil fuel any energy saving results in reduction of GHG emission. Studies have shown that using an apt PCM can result in energy savings during peak summer by 15 to 18% [2] with 1–1.5 kg/year/m2 of CO2 emissions [3].  Phase change materials (PCMs) are yet to be explored for hot and temperate climate of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh etc. Study by Saxena et. al. [4] focusses on composite climate of Delhi however death toll crosses over 100 every year in these areas mentioned. This technology still remains uncharted for these climatic conditions. Thus, there is a need to carry out this research such that people in these areas are benefitted. The study aims at developing a model based on which PCM selection can be made for different climatic conditions and that would provide a benchmark for PCM selection in India.  This study aim at reducing energy consumption, making buildings more energy efficient thus, conserving resources for our future generations.

proEoutcome:
Deliverables:
(i)	A comprehensive review on PCMs suitable for implementation in buildings for hot and temperate climatic conditions in India
(ii)	Development of a robust method for PCM identification and selection based on simulation model.
(iii)	Thermal characterization of PCMs to test its suitability.
(iv)	Development of PCM incorporated building elements that can be applied in buildings and incur energy savings for hot and temperate climatic conditions of Gujarat, Rajasthan, etc.


protitle:
Studies on Molecular Interaction between Ionic Liquids and Polymer for Applications in Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery

proarea:
Petroleum Engineering (Enhanced Oil Recovery)

prointro:
The growing and continuing global crude oil demand need innovative and advanced chemical enhanced oil recovery (CEOR) techniques to emerge and currently implemented ones need to revisit and optimization to recover residual trapped oil from the reservoirs. The current CEOR methods are not able to serve as a promising technique for additional oil recovery in high temperature high salinity reservoirs. Surfactant flooding can increase the additional oil recovery up to 15% of original oil in place (OOIP). Another CEOR technique like polymer flooding is considered to improve the sweep efficiency to increase oil recovery. Both surfactant and polymer mixture is used for additional oil recovery by increasing capillary force and viscous force. But surfactant-polymer slug is not stable at high temperature and high salinity reservoirs. However, new CEOR technique is required to overcome the problem of surfactant-polymer flooding for increasing additional oil recovery. Ionic liquids-polymer slugs are useful to increase additional oil recovery even at high temperature high salinity conditions. Ionic liquids-polymer slugs exhibit higher viscosity compared to individual polymer at low concentration or ionic liquids-polymer slug as well as able to reduce interfacial tension (IFT). Ionic liquids-polymer slug can also help to alter the wettability of the rock surface from oil-wet to water-wet state. Ionic liquids in the slug can reduce the adsorption of chemical onto reservoir rock surface which will help to achieve the economic feasibility of the CEOR method. Application of ionic liquids-polymer slugs can help to increase the additional oil recovery up to 20% of OOIP over water flooding. Therefore, it is proposed to develop the design of new slugs for CEOR method by utilizing ionic liquids-polymer mixture as injected chemicals. Interaction between ionic liquids and polymer play an important role in design of slug. Therefore, proper understanding of the slug design should follow the interaction study.     
In this proposed project, detailed characterization of reservoir rock and fluid samples will be conducted to understand the chemical compositions of the fluid samples and petrophysical properties of the reservoir rock samples. The ionic liquids and polymer will be selected based on the interfacial and rheological properties respectively. The stability of the prepared ionic liquids-polymer slugs at high temperature high salinity will be studied for CEOR application. The molecular interaction between ionic liquids and polymer will be studied by UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, viscosity, and conductivity tests. IFT between crude oil and the prepared ionic liquids-polymer slugs will be measured. Wettability alteration by ionic liquids-polymer slug will be determined by contact angle and zeta potential measurements. Phase behavior study between ionic liquids-polymer and crude oil will be conducted to obtain the optimum formulation of the microemulsion. Furthermore, as adsorption of chemical onto reservoir rock is an important issue of chemical loss, dynamic adsorption study will be conducted. Core flooding experiments will be conducted by using the prepared ionic liquids-polymer to compare the effeteness of the liquids-polymer slugs in CEOR method. Finally, an attempt will be made to upscale the core flooding data to predict the production performance of liquids-polymer slugs in field scale application.

proobj:
The project will focus on the molecular level characterization to understand the interaction between ionic liquids and polymer. Addition of ionic liquids to the polymer can change the rheological behavior of polymer solution. Therefore, the potential of polymer solution in additional oil recovery might be affected significantly. To understand the influence of ionic liquids on the properties of polymer, the project will focus on the following objectives:
1.	Characterization of reservoir rock and fluid samples
2.	Characterization of the ionic liquids-polymer slugs under reservoir conditions
3.	Interaction study between ionic liquids and polymer
4.	Investigation of interfacial tension reduction between oil and ionic liquids-polymer slugs
5.	Wettability alteration study of rock surface by ionic liquids-polymer slugs and zeta potential measurement
6.	Phase behavior study of ionic liquids-polymer slugs and crude oil system 
7.	Viscosity enhancement and stability study of the polymer in presence of ionic liquids
8.	Adsorption study of design slugs onto rock surface 
9.	Core displacement study to investigate the effectiveness of the ionic liquids-polymer slugs
10.	Scale up the laboratory result for field application

prometho:
Initially, reservoir rock and fluid samples will be collected from the oil field. After that, the following experiments will be performed based on the described methods:
•	The reservoir rock samples will be characterized based on the porosity and permeability measurements. The fluid samples (crude oil) will be characterized by analysis of SARA compositions, measurements of viscosity, density, water content, and API gravity. The petrophysical properties of the rock samples will be investigated and mineralogical compositions of the rock samples will be studied by XRD. 
•	The interaction between ionic liquids and polymer will be studied by viscosity measurement, UV visible and FTIR spectrophotometer. Polymer aggregate size will be measured in presence of ionic liquids by particle size analyzer.
•	The surface activity of the ionic liquids will be determined by surface tension measurement by using Easy Dyne Tensiometer and interfacial tension between crude oil and the prepared chemical slug will be determined by spinning drop video tensiometer. 
 

•	Wettability alteration of rock samples by ionic liquids and polymer slug will be determined by specially designed equipment after capturing the image of each oil drop placed beneath the rock sample. The corresponding contact angle will be measured by drawing the angle of contact of crude oil drop to the rock surface.

 
Fig. 2.Wettability measurement by contact angle method.

•	The zeta potential will be measured for rock/chemical slug and rock/oil/chemical slug systems to analyze the change of surface charge for wettability alteration by using zeta analyzer instrument.
•	Viscosity of the prepared chemical slug will be measured by Anton Parr viscometer as shown in.


•	Phase behavior of ionic liquids/polymer and crude oil will be conducted by test tube shaking method at different salinities and concentrations of ionic liquids-polymer mixture to determine the optimum salinity and concentrations through microemulsion formation.
•	Adsorption study will be conducted by dynamic adsorption measurement procedure. A constant weight of crush rock sample will be taken in a conical flux and constant volume of chemical slug will be added followed by horizontal shaker in incubator. After 4 h the sample will be kept for equilibrium. The supernatant solution will be taken for concentration measurement by UV visible spectroscopy to study the adsorption.  
•	The core flooding experiment will be performed for determination of additional oil recovery by using the prepared ionic liquids-polymer slugs at different concentrations.

prosummary:
In this proposed project, detailed characterization of reservoir rock and fluid samples will be conducted to understand the chemical compositions of the fluid samples and petrophysical properties of the reservoir rock samples. The interaction between reservoir rock, fluids, and chemical slugs will be studied by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Interaction between ionic liquids and polymer will be studied using different sophisticated instrument. The stability of the prepared nanofluids at high temperature high salinity will be studied for application purpose. IFT between crude oil and the prepared ionic liquids-polymer slugs will be measured to investigate the effectiveness of the chemical slugs. Wettability alteration by ionic liquids-polymer will be determined by contact angle measurement method. Phase behavior study between ionic liquids-polymer slugs and crude oil will be conducted to obtain the optimum formulation of microemulsion and through salinity scan the optimum salinity will be decided. Furthermore, as adsorption of chemical onto reservoir rock is an important issue for chemical loss, dynamic adsorption study will be conducted to measure the retention of the chemical. Core flooding experiments will be conducted by using the prepared ionic liquids-polymer slug to study the effeteness of the ionic liquids-polymer slug in CEOR method. Finally, an attempt will be made to upscale the core displacement data to predict the production performance of the ionic liquids-polymer slug in field scale application.

proEoutcome:
The development of a proper chemical slug for CEOR based on ionic liquids has great practical importance in terms of feasibility of the novel method for E&P companies. For this purpose, the proposed project will focus on the suitable methodology for testing the effectiveness of ionic liquids-polymer slugs for advanced CEOR method at high temperature high salinity reservoirs. However, lots of challenges and limitations such as high costs, low sweep efficiency, and possible formation damage hinder the improvement of the CEOR techniques. In addition, ionic liquids have proven to be potential solutions or improvements to a number of challenges associated with traditional CEOR techniques. Besides, this CEOR method includes actual design of ionic liquids-polymer slugs. As ionic liquids are stable at high temperature and high salinity, they can be used for additional oil recovery from the reservoirs in harsh conditions associated with polymer.  
The project has the following deliverables;
•	Selection and deliver ionic liquids and polymer for novel CEOR method
•	Deliver the optimum concentration for CEOR methods to prepare the injected slug
•	Propose the proper combination of ionic liquids and polymer for maximum oil recovery 
•	Suitability of the proposed CEOR method for the fields under the operation of Indian national oil companies
•	Economic feasibility analysis of the proposed method for field application
•	Predictive scale-up model for production performance estimation


proobj:
Our primary effort will be devoted to self-assembly process of unprecedented eco-friendly composite between steam exploded rice straw and metal organic framework. Developing the design principles and achieving assemblies with desirable structure and properties will be sought.
Our specific objectives will include:
•	Developing steam exploded rice straw with tunable structures, sizes, morphologies (tunable aspect ratio), surface chemistry (variation of functional groups). 
•	Self-assembly of rice straw composite based on the direct interactions between MOF and rice straw and identifying the nature of interaction (employing van der Waals, H-bonding, electrostatic interactions and or covalently bonding).
•	Modulation of the cavity/pore size of the composite through proper judiciary selection of organic ligand during metal organic framework formation on the rice straw during assembly process.
•	Evaluating the porous crystalline assemblies composite as tunable filtration materials. 
•	Magnetic nanoparticle based composite of steam exploded rice straw with metal organic framework for the easy separable filtration materials by using magnetic bar

prometho:
1) Synthesis of composite between cheap easily available rice straw with the metal organic framework followed by separation study

The main constituents of the rice straw are cellulose, lignin, hemicelluloses and organic matter [ ].Generally the exploded rice straw is micro pore in nature. Based on recent literature [ ] the collecting rice straw (from farmer) will be chopped (200 mm) and subjected to the steam vapour to exploded the rice straw. The hydroxyl group will we anchored to the back bone of the exploded rice straw which will help to the binding of the metal ion followed by growing of the metal organic network with the help of external organic ligand. The inner hydroxyl group cannot form a MOF due to space limit whereas the outer surface hydroxyl group can acts as anchor to hold and help to grow a MOF (Scheme 2). As a result the intercalated pore will be generated within the composite highly decorated with hydroxyl group for the facile adsorption of the heavy toxic metal ions from water. However the functionalization of the hydroxyl group of the steam exploded rice straw can bring new composite synthesis in order to bring further experiment towards the adsorption of heavy toxic metal ions from water.
2) Modulation of the cavity/pore size of the composite through proper judiciary selection of organic ligand

The inner core hydroxyl group in the rice straw acts as a interaction sites with the analytes leading to excellent separation and 3 dimentionalMOF interconnected channel integrated with rice straw allow the facile mass transfer of the analytes allows superior efficacy. However, in addition to this by putting some functionality in the MOF linker the efficiency of the composite can be further increase. To the proof of concept by keeping amine, thiol, hydorxy, ether etc. on the organic linker followed by construction of MOF on steam exploded rice straw endow with composite (Scheme 3) can effectively interact with the toxic cationic and ionic heavy metal ions for treatment of waste water.

prosummary:
3) Magnetic nanoparticle based composite of rice straw and metal organic nano composite 
To keep in mind for reusable and separation of the composite very quickly, the easy and hassle free techniques are necessary. There is no doubt the composite is heterogeneous in nature by simple filtration we can separate the composite for further use. However to make easy and quick with ultrapure purity so that the obscure part do not adhere to the surface of the composite we can use magnetic nanoparticle integrated (scheme 4) with the composite and using magnet we can synthesis the composite throughout the technical process. Recently, we observed (our preliminary result) that nanoparticle based composite is really helpful for recycling the composite. In this context we will employ magnetically active Fe3O4, etc CoFe2O4 etc nanoparticles for making the magnetic active composite.


protitle:
Building Energy Conservation Using Phase Change Materials 
for Hot and Dry Climatic Conditions in India

proarea:
Latent Thermal Energy Storage for Passive Conditioning of Buildings

prointro:
With the rapid growth in the urban population, there is a constraint to building space and material usage. There is a need to increase the thermal mass of buildings without going back to the heavy construction used in olden days. A similar constraint is applicable for people living in villages thus; they tend to build their houses in a small space with thin walls. The implication of building such walls is that they are inappropriate to provide solar shielding during summer, thus, the inside peak temperatures are very high. Therefore, there is a need to design systems that could result in lowering the peak temperature inside the room. One solution is to incorporate latent thermal energy storage (PCM) in the building elements to absorb the high heat flux during peak temperatures and discharge, by rejecting heat, when the outside temperature is lower, that is, during the off sunshine hours. This requires careful selection of PCMs, their implementation and thermal assessment, so that it may be implemented in actual buildings. This study aims at providing this technology for villages and cities in hot and temperate climatic conditions (Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh etc.), in India, to overcome harsh summer with minimum power consumption.

proobj:
(i)	Identification of potential PCMs for hot and dry climate of Gujarat, Rajasthan, etc.
(ii)	PCM selection by developing a model and characterization.
(iii)	Incorporating PCMs into building elements (blocks/bricks) and test its thermal performance and compliance to standards.
(iv)	Experimentally assess the temperature reduction and energy savings incurred.

prometho:
Methodology
(i)	Step 1: Identify and select the PCMs by developing a model
	This stage will start with the feasibility analysis of the above mentioned objective of PCM incorporation in buildings. In this stage, different phase change materials will be evaluated in terms of energy savings incurred over a period of 24 hours. The thermal performance of the composite building depends on PCM melting temperature, its thermal properties and climatic conditions of the place. A model will be developed with the capability of integrating climatic conditions, PCM properties and other relevant parameters to suggest an optimum temperature range for different configurations for the envelope carrying thermal retrofits along with traditional structural elements. Based on optimized melting range of PCM, the selection will be made using the PCM repository prepared using the available literature as it must be such that it gets discharged by rejecting heat during the night to be available for usage on the subsequent day for energy storage.
(ii)	Step 2: Thermal characterization and enhancement
	With PCM selection there is an important aspect of validating the thermal properties of the PCMs. The PCMs procured will be characterized using Differential Scanning Calorimeter that measures specific heat, latent heat, range of phase change etc. These are important to render a PCM suitable for application within building elements. It is important to understand that optimum solution obtained from the model may not be exactly same as the available PCMs. However, suitable conformance can be acheived for before implementation, to achieve better results. PCM implementation also requires PCM encapsulation as direct incorporation would lead to leakage issues [20]. Besides this there is also an inherent PCM problem of subcooling which will be addressed and is termed as PCM enhancement.
(iii)	Step 3: To incorporate PCM within the building material, and test its thermal properties, performance and compliance to the standards
	The characterized PCMs will be incorporated within the blocks/bricks. To incorporate the encapsulated PCM within the element there is a need to prepare modified bricks/blocks. The PI has an expertise in preparation of such modified bricks, which would be helpful in preparation of the required modified building elements. These will be subjected to various experimental investigations in order to establish its physical and other properties following the guidelines provided by respective codes. Here the thickness of the element play a significant role as greater the thickness higher is the breaking load.

prosummary:
It is intended to use PCMs as thermal energy storage medium to trap incident solar radiation thereby increasing the thermal mass of the building/wall resulting in building energy savings and better energy efficiency. This project aims at reducing energy consumption in buildings by PCM incorporation within building elements for hot and temperate climate of Gujarat, Rajasthan, etc. With 80% of energy coming from fossil fuel any energy saving results in reduction of GHG emission. Studies have shown that using an apt PCM can result in energy savings during peak summer by 15 to 18% [18] with 1–1.5 kg/year/m2 of CO2 emissions [19].  Phase change materials (PCMs) are yet to be explored for Indian conditions and their thermophysical properties are to be determined, to be rendered suitable for locations with hot and dry climatic conditions in India. The concept of PCM has being explored in few European countries but the technology still remains uncharted for diverse Indian climatic zones. A major reason is PCM selection as it is location and application specific. To encounter this a model will be developed based on which optimized PCM melting temperature will be predicted. Based on which PCMs for application can be identified. They will be then characterized to assess their thermal properties and stability before incorporate within the building elements. This will reduce the peak loads which will prove to be indigenously beneficial for the nation in reducing fossil fuel consumption and carbon footprint. The proposed technology will assist in achieving energy efficiency in Indian housing within an economic range, which will suit the interest of the people. The clean energy technology will also conserve the environment and will thus prove to be an attractive and effective technological advancement in the urban as well as rural context. This research would serve as bridge between scientific knowledge/expertise and its ground scale implementation.

proEoutcome:
(i)	To provide a comprehensive review on PCMs suitable for implementation in buildings for hot and dry climatic conditions in India
(ii)	Development of a robust method for PCM identification and selection based on optimized simulation model.
(iii)	Thermal characterization of PCMs to test its suitability.
(iv)	Development of PCM incorporated building elements that can be applied in buildings and incur energy savings for hot and dry climatic conditions of Gujarat, Rajasthan, etc


protitle:
Implications of pore scale physics on Darcy’s scale trapping mechanisms in a multiphase system of subsurface porous media – A Numerical Study applied to Geo-sequestration of CO2

proarea:
Numerical Investigation; Multiphase fluid flow; Subsurface porous media; CO2 Sequestration; Dissolution&capillary trapping; Contact angle hysteresis;

prointro:
Geo-sequestration of CO2 is one of the best mass mitigation techniques available which is in-concurrence with the mass of CO2 being liberated to the atmosphere. The primary objective is to store CO2 in subsurface permanently; however the same is being questioned by the inherent buoyancy of the sequestrated CO2 gas which is at supercritical state. Though impermeable cap rock above the storage formation traps the buoyant CO2, a significant mass of injected CO2 gas is present beneath the caprock looking for a permeable pathway to migrate back to the atmosphere. The proposed work aims to address the hydrological complexities associated with the dynamics of multiphase fluid flow and trapping of sequestrated CO2 in the porous formation.

proobj:
To develop a numerical model governing immiscible multiphase fluid flow through porous formation coupled with geochemical dissolution and capillary trapping of CO2 sequestration in the subsurface geological formation.

prometho:
1.	Development of immiscible two-phase fluid flow model governing hysteresis contact angle, capillary pressure, relative permeability using C or Python or Matlab.
2.	Development of EOS model governing the geochemical interactions between injected CO2 and brine phase; and subsequent impact of the same on dissolution rate and rheological properties of CO2 and brine.
3.	Verification & Validation of developed Model
a.	Verification of the developed flow model with Buckley Leverett Analytical solution
b.	Verification of the developed flow model with the results generated from commercial packages like CMG and TOUGH3. 
c.	Verification and validation of the relative permeability model developed as a function of the hysteresis contact angle and capillary pressure. 
d.	Validation of the developed EOS model with the experimental results from literature and standard EOS models present in TOUGH3 model.
4.	Numerical study on the effect of hysteresis contact angle on flow and distribution of injected CO2 and in the geo-physiochemical interactions like dissolution and capillary trapping of stores CO2 in deep saline formation.
5.	Numerical study on various injection scenarios using the developed simulation model and proposing a methodology to frame an optimal injection strategy to efficiently store CO2 into the subsurface formation with the least possibilities to leakage back to the surface.

prosummary:
The physics governing the dynamics of multiphase fluid flow through porous media has a significant role to play in the fields of petroleum reservoir engineering, hydrological engineering and environmental engineering. The flow of two of more immiscible fluids through the interconnected pore spaces of a subsurface formation is governed by viscous, capillary and gravitational forces. The viscous and gravitational forces are imposed by the differential pressure and density contrast between the wetting (W) and the non-wetting (NW) fluids, respectively. While capillary forces are imposed by at the interface between the immiscible fluids, which is an REV/Darcy’s scale (at Representative Elementary Volume) property governed by the interfacial tension and contact angle made between the phases. Whereas, IFT and contact angle are the macroscopic representation of molecular level physics that is governed by the cohesive forces of molecules of individual fluids and the interface takes the shape of minimum energy. 
The mechanism governing the flow differs when W fluid displaces NW fluid and vice-versa. Unlike the drainage scenario, during imbibition when W fluid displaces NW fluid, where the snap-off mechanism takes place and the dynamics of contact angle play a very crucial role. At the end of the imbibition, the advancing W fluid approaches the pore throat with relatively higher mobility and closes the permeable path of the NW fluid. The globules thus formed do not have individual permeability and so the globules are trapped in the pores by means of capillarity. Capillary trapping takes place at individual pores of micron-scale in throughout the formation of km2 area. Volumetric extrapolation of this trapped NW fluid at individual pore is quite significant at the reservoir scale. Accelerating these trapping mechanisms is the primary objective of the CO2 sequestration application. Contrastingly, the residual oil saturation trapped by capillarity is aimed to be reduced in case of enhanced oil recovery application. A detailed numerical investigation transforming the conceptual idea into a numerical model is the need for the hour for effective sequestration of anthropogenic CO2 as well as an effective sweep of oil from the reservoir. Both the application plays a vital role in serving energy demand with less environmental impact.
The objective of the proposed research is to investigate the effect of the above said physiochemical interactions between the fluids on flow, dissolution and capillary trapping of CO2 sequestrated in deep saline aquifers. The proposed research work aims to numerically investigate the influence of dynamic change in contact angle in a volume-averaged scale and their subsequent effect on capillary pressure hysteresis and relative permeability; which subsequently play a crucial role in distribution, dissolution and capillary trapping of stored CO2 in the deep saline aquifer.

proEoutcome:
1.	A numerical simulation model conceptualizing an immiscible two-phase fluid flow model with considering hysteresis contact angle, capillary pressure, and relative permeability coupled with geochemical dissolution (assisted by an EOS model).
2.	Numerical investigation on the effect of dynamic change in contact angle on capillary and dissolution trapping of sequestered CO2 in the formation.
3.	The inferences from the present investigation are applied to select the best host formation for CO2 sequestration application 
4.	The inferences from the present investigation are applied to propose a methodology to select the optimal injection strategy for better containment of the stored CO2.


protitle:
Development of a numerical model to predict temperature distribution and residual stresses for laser–based additive manufacturing process with experimental support

proarea:
Additive Manufacturing, Numerical Modeling, thermal and structural analysis, temperature distribution, residual stresses

prointro:
Additive manufacturing (AM) is an innovative process to build three-dimensional complex geometry components for various engineering applications. In AM process, material gets deposit layer by layer to build 3D component. During deposition, build material experience various heating and cooling cycles and results in temperature gradient. The variation in temperature induces residual stresses inside the build component. Residual stresses not only affect the mechanical properties of the build components but also increase distortion, delamination of layers and reduce dimensional stability. Therefore, it is important to study distribution of residual stress during deposition of material. Various researchers have developed the numerical model to compute residual stresses for AM of different materials. However, limited study has been conducted for AM of Inconel (IN) 718. As per the investigator best knowledge, there is no model exist where researchers have used measured thermo-physical properties of the powder as a function of temperature to compute the residual stress to reduce the uncertainty. The thermo-physical properties of powder material play a crucial role to develop a reliable numerical model for AM processes. 
The main objective of proposed work is to develop a three-dimensional transient thermal and structural numerical model to compute the residual stress distribution for laser-based AM of IN 718. The proposed project will be executed both experimentally and numerically to develop a reliable model for residual stress. The developed model will be useful to reduce the residual stresses induces in the deposited material by controlling the process parameters.

proobj:
The main objective of the proposed projects is to develop a 3D coupled transient thermo-mechanical numerical model to compute the residual stresses for Lased-based AM of Inconel (IN) 718 using experimental understanding.

prometho:
In this research, 3D coupled thermo-mechanical numerical model will be developed to compute temperature and residual stress during laser-based AM of IN 718.  The objective of the proposed work will be achieved by working parallel both on experimental and numerical analysis. In experimental work, first of all thermo-mechanical properties such as thermal conductivity (k) and specific heat capacity (cp) of IN 718 will be measured as a function of temperature. These properties will be used as material input data for developing a model. Specific heat capacity of IN 718 powder will be measured by Sapphire method using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The Laser Flash analysis method will be used to measure the thermal diffusivity of IN 718 powder and then this will be used to measure thermal conductivity of material.
These properties will be used to develop the thermal model. In modeling, a three-dimensional transient heat transfer based model will be developed to predict the temperature distribution and thermal cycles during laser-based additive manufacturing process. Energy governing equation will be solved to compute temperature in computational domain. Various boundary conditions will be applied to solve the governing equation. Finite element analysis based model will be developed using ANSYS code. In this model, quite element method will be used to deposit material layer by layer. The preliminary computed temperature distribution results from developed thermal model. Currently, this model is developed for SS 316 material. However, after measurement of thermos-physical properties of IN 718. This model will be developed for IN 718. 
After the development of thermal model, experiments will be performed to validate the model at various stages for Laser based AM of IN 718. Indo German Tool Room Ahmedabad close to my institute has an experimental facility for Laser-based AM processes. The developed thermal model validation will be done by measuring the thermal cycles at the substrate surface with the help of K-type thermocouples. Multiple thermocouples will be attached at substrate and then temperature will be recorded in data logger for various thermocouples. Then, measured temperature will be compared with computed data from thermal model. After the development and validation of thermal model, sequentially thermal model will be coupled with mechanical to compute the residual stresses.  The temperature output will be used as an input to couple with structural model to compute the residual stresses during deposition of materials. 
The computed residual stresses will be compared with the measured residual stresses for validation of developed model.  X-ray diffraction (XRD) will be used to measure the residual stresses. The stresses will be measured along and perpendicular to the deposition path. AM involves various process parameters which directly affect mechanical properties [14]. Hence, it is important to select appropriate parameters such as preheating temperature, deposition layer thickness, laser speed, hatch spacing and dwell times for AM process. The developed model will be useful to reduce residual stresses by optimizing the process parameters for AM of IN 718 alloy.

prosummary:
Additive manufacturing (AM) is an innovative process to build three-dimensional complex geometry components for various engineering applications. In AM process, material gets deposit layer by layer to build 3D component. During deposition, build material experience various heating and cooling cycles and results in temperature gradient. The variation in temperature induces residual stresses inside the build component. Residual stresses not only affect the mechanical properties of the build components but also increase distortion, delamination of layers and reduce dimensional stability. Therefore, it is important to study distribution of residual stress during deposition of material. Experimentally, it is extremely difficult and expensive to measure the residual stresses during AM process. On the other side, numerical modeling helps to provide significant insights for AM processes. Various researchers have developed the numerical model to compute residual stresses for AM of different materials. However, limited study has been conducted for AM of Inconel (IN) 718. As per the investigator best knowledge, there is no model exist where researchers have used measured thermo-physical properties of the powder as a function of temperature to compute the residual stress to reduce the uncertainty. The thermo-physical properties of powder material play a crucial role to develop a reliable numerical model for AM processes. 
The main objective of proposed work is to develop a three-dimensional transient thermal and structural numerical model to compute the residual stress distribution for laser-based AM of IN 718. The proposed project will be executed both experimentally and numerically to develop a reliable model for residual stress. Experimental analysis will be required to validate the model at various stages and understand AM processes characteristic. The model will be developed in two stages, First of all 3D transient thermal model will be developed by solving energy governing equation to compute the temperature distribution and thermal cycles at each layer during deposition of material. Measured thermo-physical properties of IN 718 powder as a function of temperature will be used for developing the thermal model. The developed thermal model computed results will be compared with experimentally measured thermal cycles during the AM process. After the successful development of thermal model, transient thermal data will be used as an input for structural model for elastic-plastic stress analysis to compute residual stresses during deposition of material. The validation of coupled thermo-mechanical model will be done by comparing computed and measured residual stresses.  The developed model will be useful to reduce the residual stresses induces in the deposited material by controlling the process parameters.

proEoutcome:
A 3D sequential transient thermal and elastic-plastic based numerical model will be developed by measuring thermo-physical properties of material to compute the temperature distribution and residual stresses during laser-based AM of Inconel 718. 
The developed model will predict the temperature distribution at each layer during processes and will also compute the residual stresses for build geometry. The developed model will also be useful to optimize the process parameters to reduce the residual stresses and distortion. The reduction in residual stress will help to reduce distortion and improve mechanical properties of IN718. The model will also be helpful to provide effect of various parameters on thermal cycles and residual stress without performing extensive costly experiments.


protitle:
Cracks Detection of Railway Tracks Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Drone)

proarea:
Control dynamics of unmanned aerial vehicle, Image processing, Pattern recognition

proobj:
We propose an efficient way of monitoring (crack detection in rail tracks) through an unmanned aerial vehicle such as drone/quadcopter equipped with vision based camera, that needs least human intervention.

prometho:
We propose an state-of-the-art tactic for detection of cracks in the web and flanges of rail through pattern recognition cum image processing technique (which is closely related to artificial intelligence and machine learning). The drone equipped with hi-resolution camera is hovered every 5 km of railway track which will aerially detect cracks developed on railway tracks and process the data to a central monitoring system. The coordinates for these locations will be detected and each drone will be programmed to aerially survey in the routes specified for that drone with the help of coordinates determined. With the help of thermal imaging and image processing the monitoring and detection over such a wide range of tracks can be effectively achieved. we will be using a wide-angle camera to get a sufficient view of the rail tracks. The prior detection of faults may lead to minimization of manual maintenance needs beforehand. 
There are several characteristics steps to get data via image processing. We make use of the pattern recognition to characterize the defects such as crack in the rail track. This helps us for automatic recognition of defects, patterns and irregularities in data. The input images are likely to have several noises (environmental noises and noise due to vibration of hovering drone). In the image processing step, the vision-based system converts image to grayscale image first. In the next step filtering is done to eliminate noises from the obtained image. This aids to detect crack more precisely and effectively. The image is then transformed to the binary image. This step ensures the drone to detect cracks exclusively and leaving behind the unnecessary noises. The drone will be centrally controlled by a central control unit and this unit will be communicating centrally.

prosummary:
We at Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar, in collaboration with IIT Gandhinagar have already acquired a project (Project Title - Pilot project regarding 11KV electrical line aerial survey through drone and detect maintenance needs) (Invoice number – GUVNL/GPRD/DRONE/141 dated – 11.09.2019, please see the attached) from Gujarat Power Research & Development Cell, GUVNL (R&D), GPRD Cell, Gandhinagar. This project demands similar monitoring of 11KV electrical transmission lines for their maintenance needs. We have already developed a vision-based drone which can parallel hover above the high voltage electrical transmission lines to inspect for cracks, short-circuits and missing parts of the electrical transmission lines. We just have to extend our algorithms for pattern recognition cum image processing and few component modifications to meet the needs of this proposed railway track crack detection. The project is divided into two phases. The first phase will constitute the data collection from the pattern recognition for several KMs of rail track. In the next phase we do image processing of the acquired raw data to effectively find the cracks by suppressing the unnecessary noise in the data.

proEoutcome:
At the end of the project, we will be able to investigate defect in several rail components such as crack in web and flange, missing fasteners, broken clips with least human intervention. In addition to that, we will be able to analyse the noticeable defects as well such as head surface defects, horizontal defects, vertical longitudinal split defects, star cracks at colt holes and diagonal crack in web and flanges, which can be scrutinized via computer based vision.


protitle:
Low cost and flexible memristor device for high-density data storage and neuromorphic applications

prointro:
Recently, with the rapid development of technology, there is a growing demand for memory devices for data storage, data transfer, artificial intelligence etc. The intrinsic limitations of data communication rate between the central computing unit and memory has presented a big challenge to the von Neumann architecture-based traditional computing system. Neuromorphic computation mimics the functions of the brain at the low power and therefore has the potential to demonstrate the future artificial intelligence system to surpass the challenges of the conventional structures. A high density of the neural networks in human brains can perform numerous parallel information, where short-term and long-term processes are required for computing and learning while memory are obtained using synapses with low power consumption (few femto joule). Numerous electronic devices such as atomic switches, phase-change, memory, magnetoresistive memory, synaptic functional transistors etc. have been employed to implement the neuromorphic system. However, the power consumption of these devices is high to emulate the functions of biological synapses and perform parallel operations. Therefore, an artificial synapse with low energy consumption on the level of a biological synapse is urgently required for further developments (Fig. 1 (a)). 
Recently, memristor (memory + resistor) devices, which are considered as a fundamental circuit element, has demonstrated their potential for the strong candidate for neuromorphic computing, memory, logic gates etc. (Fig. 1 (b)). The non-voltatile data retention ability owing to the change in device resistant state align the structure and functionality with biological synapses. Numerous materials including oxides and organic were employed as the main layer for neuromorphic computing but their higher power consumption compared to human brain, higher fabrication cost and unwelcome effect by forming process make them incompatible.

proobj:
(a) Fabrication of stable RP HOIP thin films and memristor devices.
(b) Characterization of thin film and memristor devices for neuromorphic application

prometho:
(a) Thin-film growth on flexible substrate and characterization: Development of experimental set-up to grow the layered mixed dimensional Ruddleson-Popper hybrid perovskite thin films on flexible substrates and thereafter study their crystallinity and subsequently control the film morphology to obtain the pinhole free film. As projected easier processability and low fabrication cost, a solution process spin coating methodology will be used for developing the perovskite films. Traditional 3D HOIPs will also be studied for performance comparison. The films will be characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, absorption, and emission spectroscopy for the optimization. It can also include the synthesis of a new organic spacer to enhance the stability and electronic properties in layered perovskite compared to the existing alkyl organic cations.

(b) Low temperature memristor device fabrication and characterization: Perovskite layer and subsequent transporting layers will be deposited on the flexible substrate by spin coating method. To achieve a uniform wet film of perovskite and transporting layers, control of solvent composition, the stoichiometry of the solute, substrate and solvent temperature etc. is necessary. The architecture used for the memristor device will consist of a perovskite layer sandwiched between two electrodes (anode/perovskite/cathode). Selection of either electrode is very important for the physical/chemical interaction to obtain the resistive switching behavior. The device performance will be optimized to improve its operating voltages (set/reset), data storage capacity and switching speed. These objectives will be achieved by varying the perovskite composition, electrodes, and interfacial layers. Scan rate variations, impedance analysis, and low-temperature characteristics will be taken under high vacuum to measure the trap distributions and characteristic decay times. Endurance, stability, and mechanical robustness testing will be done over several switching and bending cycles.

prosummary:
The research objective of this project is to explore, understand and exploit the synaptic memory property and characteristics in halide perovskites-based for the development of artificial synapses. The key idea is to exploit the non-volatile resistive switching in multifunctional perovskites. Van der Waals halide perovskites carry outstanding semiconducting property from separate functional groups so one could decouple and optimize properties. In this project, the PIs will predict and understand the intrinsic/extrinsic properties of materials proposed under external stimuli, and evaluate and understand the device characteristics and performance. The PIs will synthesize high quality flexible thin film of halide perovskite materials, fabricate two-terminal artificial synapses/circuits, study the structural-functional relationship by determining the device performance in terms of switching speed, data storage capacity, retention time, energy consumption per synaptic event, endurance, and test/optimize the synaptic device. This work will, therefore, advance knowledge of fundamental material physics, synaptic switching dynamics as well as ideal circuit architectures of novel resistive devices based on layered halide perovskite materials.

proEoutcome:
1.	This project is expected to result in the development of a low-cost fabrication process to achieve stable high-performance memristor devices on flexible substrates. Based on the study and optimization of crystal structure and growth mechanisms of layered HOIPs, prototype memristor devices are expected to be realized.
2.	A clear understanding of the mechanism of charge storage, switching and their relationship with materials engineering in memristor devices for neuromorphic applications.


protitle:
Understanding odor emission from landfill site using source apportionment and dispersion modeling

prointro:
Growing urbanization is leading to poor management of solid waste which leads to mountains of solid waste at landfill sites. Various hazards are associated with the waste dump sites; among those, odor problem is on the rise, which has attracted public complaints. Odorous emissions from landfill are a complex mixture of toxic volatile compounds. Decreasing air quality due to such emissions causes various severe and chronic ill effects to human health and environment. Landfill waste are torched for avoiding smelly odor which further aggravates the air quality and odor problem surrounding landfill sites. Heavy metal combines with toxic gases to form ogano-metalic compounds and these are emitted from landfill. Heavy metal emission from waste incineration facility, re-suspension of landfill dust and landfill fires are causing damage to poor health of the people residing in its neighborhood. Compounds are spread due to blowing wind and affect very large area surrounding the landfill sites. Several Industrial emissions processing solid waste in landfill neighborhood mixes with emission from landfill thus complicating problem of identifying the polluter. Understanding the sources of emission and area affected by the toxic gases becomes necessary to undertake any corrective actions. In this study, sources of toxic gases and affected areas will be identified and quantified using receptor modeling and dispersion modeling technique. The finding of the study will help identify the causes of pollution and pin point the pollution. It will help assess the impact of pollution on people and their health. Corrective actions will improve health of the people residing in its neighborhood and environment. Odor control will enable people to not torch waste which will help further improve the air quality. Overall, the project will benefit large number of people; improve their health and living environment.

proobj:
1. Understanding odor emission from landfill
2. Source identification of odor
3. Dispersion modeling for odor

prometho:
3. Work Plan
3.1	Sampling Site Selection: 
Sampling will be carried out in areas surrounding Piranna landfill site, located in Ahmedabad city of Gujarat, India. The surrounding areas will be divided into approximately 120 grids (with radial distance of 4 km) and aerosol and gas measurement will be conducted in each grid. The preferred height for sampling is around 1 to 2 m, which is the expected height of exposure. Chemical measurement of aerosols at these grids will be used for source apportionment to understand the odour contribution to air pollution and its toxicity. 

3.2	 Sample collection: 
Fine particles suspended in the air will be collected on quartz filters (QMA) during the daytime (8 h duration) from 9 am to 5 pm at each grid using a personal sampler (APM801, Envirotech). Quartz filters will be thermally treated at 500 °C for about 24 hours to remove any impurities and organics present prior to sampling. The filters after sampling will be stored in a freezer until further analysis for chemical composition of the deposited particulate matter. 

3.3	 Chemical and Meteorological Measurements: 
The pre- and post- weights of the filters will be measured using a microbalance. Loaded quartz fibre filters will be extracted in water and solvent (acid digestion) using ultrasonicator and acid digestion depending on the type of analysis. The aqueous aliquots will be used for the determination of carbon and metals. The analysis of the elements will include the major (crustal) elements (Na, Mg, Al, K, Ca, Fe, and Si), sub-major (anthropogenic) elements (Zn, Ni, Cu, Mn, Sr, Ag, Ba, Pb, V, Cr, and Ti, and water solution carbon content. Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) will be used for the determination of elements. A Total Organic Carbon analyzer will be used to analyse the filter for organic carbon (Bae et al., 2004). These data will undergo strict quality control and only the data above the detection limit of the instrument will be considered for further analysis. Meteorological parameters (Using WM271; Envirotech) like wind speed and direction, temperature and RH will also be measured for dispersion study. Following instrument will be used to measure methane which will act as tracer for odour. 




3.4	 Estimation of contribution of sources odour and dispersion modelling: 
The quality controlled data will be further analysed using a receptor model for source identification and contribution. Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) analysis, which is a multivariate factor analysis tool, will be carried out using EPA-PMF V5.0 to better understand the sources of odour emission. The detailed information of the EPA-PMF V5.0 is available in (Paatero et al., 1997, 1999, 1994; EPA website:https://www.epa.gov/air-research/positive-matrix-factorization-model-environmental-data-analyses). Apportionment will help us in identify the amount of methane coming from different sources as well as from landfill site. It will help estimate flux of methane from landfill. AERMOD will be used to for dispersion of methane which will be used as tracer for odour from landfill. Dispersion study will help us identify and area affected by the emission of toxic gases from the landfill sites.

prosummary:
Growing urbanization is leading to poor management of solid waste which leads to mountains of solid waste at landfill sites. Various hazards are associated with the waste dump sites; among those, odor problem is on the rise, which has attracted public complaints. Odorous emissions from landfill are a complex mixture of toxic volatile compounds. Decreasing air quality due to such emissions causes various severe and chronic ill effects to human health and environment. Landfill waste are torched for avoiding smelly odor which further aggravates the air quality and odor problem surrounding landfill sites. Heavy metal combines with toxic gases to form ogano-metalic compounds and these are emitted from landfill. Heavy metal emission from waste incineration facility, re-suspension of landfill dust and landfill fires are causing damage to poor health of the people residing in its neighborhood. Compounds are spread due to blowing wind and affect very large area surrounding the landfill sites. Several Industrial emissions processing solid waste in landfill neighborhood mixes with emission from landfill thus complicating problem of identifying the polluter. Understanding the sources of emission and area affected by the toxic gases becomes necessary to undertake any corrective actions. In this study, sources of toxic gases and affected areas will be identified and quantified using receptor modeling and dispersion modeling technique. The finding of the study will help identify the causes of pollution and pin point the pollution. It will help assess the impact of pollution on people and their health. Corrective actions will improve health of the people residing in its neighborhood and environment. Odor control will enable people to not torch waste which will help further improve the air quality. Overall, the project will benefit large number of people; improve their health and living environment.

proEoutcome:
1. Help in understanding the chemical compounds contributing to odor
2. It will help pinpoint the source identification of odor
3. Help in identifying area affected by odor


protitle:
Plasma rotation and impurity measurements using visible and x-ray spectroscopy and study of their effect on plasma confinement and transport in Aditya-U tokamak

prointro:
Toroidal and poloidal rotations of plasma in a tokamak and impurity (non-fuel
species) behavior inside the plasma are known to affect the plasma confinement and
transport of particles significantly. Hence measurement and understanding of plasma
rotation and impurity dynamics of a tokamak plasma are the most important studies
for any tokamak to achieve better plasma confinement and optimum fusion
performance. X-ray Crystal Spectrometer (XCS) diagnostic has emerged as an
important tool for studying the intrinsic plasma rotation, impurity ion temperature
measurements and impurity transport in tokamaks. This diagnostic has also been

proposed for ITER for rotation and impurity measurements and its development for
ITER is being assigned to India.

proobj:
.Plasma rotation and impurity measurements using visible and x-ray spectroscopy and study of their effect on plasma confinement and transport in Aditya-U tokamak

prometho:
1. Installation of XCS System in Aditya-U tokamak. Proper alignment of the crystal with respect to Bragg angle needed to record the desired spectral line emission of Argon (at 0.34 nm from Ar XVII) from Aditya-U tokamak plasma discharges. 
2. Adequate puffing of Argon gas into the discharges and optimisation of puffed-gas quantity to obtain workable intensities of Ar emission simultaneously without affecting the overall plasma discharge characteristics.  
3. Proper intensity and wavelength calibration of the XCS system to obtain the desired Ar emission. Set up the data acquisition systems and peripheral electronics sub-systems for data collection. 
4. Perform experiments with argon gas puffing and record spectroscopic data to obtain intrinsic toroidal rotation and impurity ion temperature from Doppler shift and Doppler broadening of spectral line respectively. 
5. Development of computer routines for calculating the Doppler shift and Doppler broadening from the measured Ar spectral line emission. 
6. Obtain data from other high resolution spectroscopic diagnostic for line radiation in visible range and Langmuir probe for out-fluxes and edge ne and Te measurement.
7. Measurements of toroidal rotation and impurity dynamics in different discharges of Aditya-U with launching ECRH/ICRH waves of different power, with different tokamak wall conditions, i.e., with and without lithiumization, with injecting high-Z pellets into the discharges. 
8. Analysis of recorded data to understand effect of plasma rotation on plasma confinement and transport during different discharges, to investigate various ITER relevant phenomena such as rotation reversal and comparing the experimental results with neoclassical theory.
9. Modelling the experimental emissivity using STRAHL code with Aditya-U tokamak geometry and plasma parameters to obtain impurity diffusion coefficients, convection velocity; thus providing details of impurity dynamics.

prosummary:
A fully operational X-ray Crystal Spectrometer diagnostic for plasma toroidal rotation and impurity concentration measurements in the Aditya-U tokamak.
Toroidal plasma rotation velocities and directions in variety of discharges of Aditya-U tokamak plasma using the XCS system.
Impurity ion temperature and concentration in Aditya-U tokamak plasma using the XCS system.
Quantity of the radiations in x-ray range due to the pellets to understand the experimental results of high-Z pellet injection experiments in Aditya-U. 
A detailed study to understand effect of toroidal rotations and impurity concentrations on the plasma confinement and transport mechanisms during different scenarios of ohmic heating, Ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH)/ electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH)
Values of impurity diffusion coefficients and convective velocities using experimental data of XCS system together with 1-D impurity transport code STRAHL to study impurity dynamics. 
An empirical database to understand the different physical mechanisms of plasma rotations and publications.

proEoutcome:
1. A fully operational X-ray Crystal Spectrometer diagnostic for plasma toroidal rotation and impurity concentration measurements in the Aditya-U tokamak.
2. Measurements of toroidal plasma rotation velocities and directions in variety of discharges of Aditya-U tokamak plasma using the XCS system.
3. Estimation of impurity ion temperature and concentration in Aditya-U tokamak plasma using the XCS system.
4. Quantification of the x-ray radiations due to the pellets to understand the experimental results of high-Z pellet injection experiments in Aditya-U. 
5. Understanding the effect of toroidal rotation and impurity concentrations on plasma confinement and transport mechanisms during different scenarios of ohmic heating, Ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH)/ electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH).
6. Estimate values of impurity diffusion coefficients and convective velocities using experimental data of XCS system together with 1-D impurity transport code STRAHL to study impurity dynamics.


protitle:
Artificial Intelligence based Advanced Road profiler System

prointro:
The project aims to design an advanced system to monitor and assess highway condition in India. The proposed highway health monitoring system would be able to detect and localize  various defects present on road surface.  The system would be a combination of camera fitted with specific sensors along with on board embedded system on the vehicle itself. The multidimensional data consisting of images and other sensor data would be captured, saved locally and also uploaded to cloud using Internet of Things (IoT). The system would be capable of processing the data both on board (online) for instant detections as well offline on a remote computer for comprehensive analysis. Special algorithms would be investigated and developed for this purpose. The proposed system would consist of latest and appropriate artificial intelligence based techniques applied in the field of machine vision. The proposed system would enable to monitor road condition, road surface audit after road construction and periodical road assessment. This would help various authorities to speedily and effectively perform a road surface assessment. Finally, the project aims to compute the Roughness Index (RI) to quantify the road surface quality for a given portion.

proobj:
1. To assess road surface quality efficiently
2. Highly accurate detection and localization of road surface defects.

prometho:
1. Surface roughness parameters 
2. Design and testing of line laser embed image capture system along with algorithm for defect localization.
3. Simulation  and  optimization  of  linear geometry light based  Unilateral  algorithm  for 
Defect localization
4. Design & Development of associated hardware.
5. Testing and validation of system in outdoor environment.
6. Comparative performance study with other systems.

prosummary:
Overall methodology would comprise of following measures:
i.	Identifying and extracting surface roughness conditions of a highway road.
ii.	Improving the quality of surface roughness assessment techniques.
iii.	Localizing surface defects along with a detailed report on important associated parameters. 
iv.	Creating an architecture for the implementation.

proEoutcome:
• Highly effective road surface assessment
• Many agencies can use the data for Audit purpose
• Timely maintenance of road surface in early stage of defect 
• Increase in safety of vehicles plying on the road


protitle:
Detection and discrimination of vapor phase benzene and substituted isomeric benzene derivatives using morphological and chemically tailored complex semiconducting metal oxide chemiresistors

proarea:
Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering

prointro:
Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) are frequently used as reagents and solvents for the manufacturing of intermediates and products in chemical and petroleum industries.  BTEX vapors are toxic for environment as well as human health. For instance, the inhalation of xylene results in headache, dizziness, fatigue, tremors, respiratory, cardiovascular, and kidney problems.  Studied have shown that BTEX gases are also carcinogenic to human [1]. Detection of the leakage of BTEX vapors as well as their monitoring in environment using cost effective and sensitive devices is thus utmost important. However, the absence of chemically active functional groups in BTEX gases often restricts them to be detectable using chemosensors.
Semiconducting metal oxide (SMO) based chemiresistive sensors are attractive as simple, robust and cost effective device for the detection of wide variety of toxic gases and volatile organics. BTEX gases are oxidised and ultimately decomposed to carbon dioxide when passed over SMO surface at high temperature (> 200oC) [5]. The oxidation of BTEX over SMO surface changes their electrical conductivity leading to the chemiresistive sensing signal. However, the sensitivity of SMO chemiresistors for the detection of BTEX is not high and the response time is also not fast. 
Based on the aforementioned discussions, the present proposal is addressing two important research issues. These are (a) detection of toxic benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene (BTEX) vapors and (b) the discrimination among the isomeric xylenes (ortho/meta/para) and ethyl benzene using cost effective non-conventional complex oxide based SMOs.

proobj:
These are (a) detection of toxic benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene (BTEX) vapors and (b) the discrimination among the isomeric xylenes (ortho/meta/para) and ethyl benzene using cost effective non-conventional complex oxide based SMOs.

prometho:
1. Development of nanostructured complex SMO based sensing elements.
2. Characterization of prepared metal oxides in terms of their phase and microstructural features.
3. Development of specially designed benchtop set-up to measure electrical changes of sensors.
4. Investigation on the BTEX sensing characteristics using the prepared chemiresistive sensors within the proposed set-up: 
5. Analyses of the resistance/conductance transient and addressing the discrimination of isomeric xylenes: 
6. Understand the gas solid interactions of isomeric vapors on the chemiresistive nano-structured metal oxide sensors:

prosummary:
Major objectives of the proposed research are as follows:
a.	To develop wet chemical methodologies for tailoring the morphologies of isotropic complex semiconducting metal oxides (e.g. CoFe2O4, NiFe2O4, MnFe2O4) in different nanostructured form (e.g. nano-particle, nano-film, nanotube, hollowsphere).
b.	To study the effect of morphologies of nanostructured complex metal oxides on their sensing characteristics (response %, response time, recovery time, selectivity, operating temperature) for the detection of benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylene (BTEX) and thereafter the selection of optimized materials candidate for sensing purpose.
c.	To modify chemically (using graphene, noble metals (e.g. Pt, Au) the optimized materials candidate further to improve the sensing performance. The target will be to achieve lower detection limit ~ 20 ppm.   
d.	To study the interaction of developed materials with substituted isomeric benzene derivatives (ortho, meta, para xylene and ethyl benzene) in terms of their chemi-resistive changes and thereafter addressing the discrimination of isomeric vapors by modeling the measured resistance transients using suitable kinetic and statistical algorithms.
e.	Understand the gas solid interactions of isomeric vapors on the chemiresistive nano-structured metal oxide sensors using first principle studies and correlate the features of sensor’s resistance transient with the vapor-sensor interactions.

proEoutcome:
The successful completion of the proposed activities should produce following major outcomes

1.	Knowhow on the synthesis of isotropic cubic spinel ferrites in different morphologies (nanoparticles, nanofilms, nanotubes, hollowspheres). 
2.	A well-equipped set-up to measure the sensing characteristics of chemiresistive sensors for detection of toxic and inflammable gases as well as volatile organics by varying the operating temperature of sensor and concentration of gases.
3.	Optimized materials (cubic spinel metal oxide based) for the chemiresistive type detection of BTEX gases with minimum detection limit 20 ppm.
4.	Knowledge base on the energetics and dynamics for the interaction of BTEX gases on complex metal oxide surfaces.
5.	Database for the plausible discrimination of isomeric BTEX using cost effective metal oxide based chemiresistive sensors. 

The development of indigenous sensing measurement facility will help PI to carry out further research in the related field.  
  
The interdisciplinary knowledge output on the fundamental problem regarding the detection and discrimination of BTEX and their isomeric counterparts may even lead to a cost effective and simple technology for detection and discrimination of BTEX gases and their isomeric counterparts. 

Depending on the scientific potential and intellectual merit of the actual outcomes the PI and his team will target patents and good publications.


protitle:
Automatic extraction of building footprints for urban applications (3D modeling).

prointro:
In recent years, the performance of semantic segmentation algorithms for RGB scenes has rapidly increased due to deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs). To use DCNNs for semantic segmentation, they are typically first trained on large image classification datasets that have over one million labeled training images. Then, these pre-trained networks are then adapted to the semantic segmentation task.

The segmentation task is applied on RGB imagery and also non-RGB (i.e MSI or HSI) imagery. Due to availability of image labels in RGB domain, the segmentation task would be an easier approach, resulting into higher accuracy while classifying pixels. On the other hand, MSI/ HSI sensor data ends up with many spectral bands and generally missing the labels. Thus, in the field of remote sensing, semantic segmentation is operated to assign the labels to each pixel even if the ground truth is scarcely available or not at all available.

In past few years, many research articles cites the importance of semantic segmentation in remote sensing and its applications. Authors in article [1] have implemented fusion approach to fuse RGB with LiDAR data. Further, the researchers target semantic segmentation with higher order conditional random field and DCNN. The results were compared with state-of-the-art techniques on three benchmark datasets (ISPRS Challenge datasets). Researchers [2] have coined DCNN for improving the performance of segmentation task on standard as well as their dataset RIT-18 captured with larger spectral range and number of classes. In the research article [3], the authors have proposed an adaptive threshold technique to adjust the parameters while using Fully Connected Network for semantic segmentation task on DSTL dataset. In the research article[4], authors have applied Self organizing maps and particle swarm optimization for adjusting the boundaries of clusters. Further to improve accuracy, authors proposed a FCN network and compared results with initial model. The experiments were done on LANDSAT images. The author has experimented on Iniria Aerial Images for segmentation task [5]. Author proposed FCN network known as U-Net and achieved significant accuracy for the task.

The authors [6] have introduced Multilayer perceptron (MLP) and fully connected Conditional Random Field (CRF) for segmentation task. The approach has been published with open license tool named ‘Earth Mapper’. The task has been analyzed on standard benchmark datasets (Indian Pines and Pavia). In the paper [7], a method of fusing multi-source remote sensing images with a convolution neural networks (CNN) for semantic segmentation is proposed and applied to identify crops. The results were analyzed on Venezuela Remote Sensing Satellite and Google Earth imagery. In [8], authors have presented a novel deep learning architecture, ResUnet, that combines ideas from various state of the art modules used in computer vision for semantic segmentation tasks. The performance of modeling framework is evaluated on the ISPRS 2D Potsdam dataset. In the study [9], authors proposed a new network, called the dense-coordconv network (DCCN), to reduce the loss of spatial features and strengthen object boundaries. In this network, the coordconv module is introduced into the improved DenseNet architecture. The proposed architecture is tested on one of the public 2D semantic labeling benchmark dataset. The authors [10] have introduced a Global Convolution network for segmentation task. Further to improvise, they applied channel attention and domain specific transfer learning techniques. The techniques in combination handles the differences in resolution and spectral range. The model was verified against LANDSAT-8 imagery and ISPRS Postdam dataset.  In the work [11], authors proposed two highly compact neural network architectures for semantic segmentation of images, which are up to 100 000 times less complex than state-of-the-art architectures while approaching their accuracy. The idea was tested against Cloud-38 and CloudPeru2 dataset. In the work [12], the authors have introduced two simple yet effective network units, the spatial relation module and the channel relation module, to learn and reason about global relationships between any two spatial positions or feature maps, and then produce relation-augmented feature representations. The modelling framework based on CNN was implemented on two benchmark datasets (Postdam, Vaihingen).

proobj:
1.	Object based image segmentation of high resolution imagery.
2.	Develop an algorithm to extract building footprints using deep learning.
3.	Generate 3D urban model of study area using elevation data.
The automatic extraction of building footprints has a high scientific value. For urban planning, map updates, insurances, hazard prevention and real estate monitoring it is important to have actual data about the buildings in an area. Especially in urban areas, where the façades, the structures and alignment of buildings change fast, it is important to update data efficiently and reliably; therefore, there is a growing interest in the development of tools and sensors used for the detection of buildings – with reduced working times and reasonable costs.

prometho:
High resolution imagery will be utilized to extract accurate footprints of the urban area. High computational GPU will be utilized to test the deep learning frameworks for the segmentation task. After the segmentation the results will be validated using ground survey to eliminate the possible error and to generate accurate building footprint. 

DEM/DTM/DSM will be utilized for the extraction of elevation data. Both the footprints and elevation data will be integrated into GIS environment to obtain the 3D base layer and then 3D urban model of the area will be generated.

prosummary:
High-resolution satellite imagery is changing our understanding of the world around us, as well as the way we as humans interact with our planet. However, raw images do little more than pique our interest unless we can superimpose a layer that actually identifies real objects. 
Many researchers creates a 3D City model by using various techniques for various applications. 3D maps to real-time web-based virtual 3D city model are used for various applications like planning, Navigation, tourism, environmental planning and analysis, for good e-governance, etc are the main applications of virtual 3D City models.
Reliable labeling of building footprints based on high-resolution satellite imagery is one of the first and most challenging steps in producing accurate 3D models. While automated algorithms continue to improve, significant manual effort is still required to ensure geospatial accuracy and acceptable quality. Improved automation is required to enable more rapid response to major world events such as humanitarian and disaster response. Hence, we propose the development of an automated technique based on machine learning for building footprints extraction from high-resolution imagery with reliable labels which can further, be utilized in GIS environment for 3D urban model.

proEoutcome:
The outcome of the project would be
1.	A highly accurate, fast computing algorithm based on deep learning for optical image segmentation. 
2.	A 3D city model of the area based on the segmented result.


prosummary:
High resolution imagery will be utilized to extract accurate footprints of the urban area. High computational GPU will be utilized to test the deep learning frameworks for the segmentation task. After the segmentation the results will be validated using ground survey to eliminate the possible error and to generate accurate building footprint. 

DEM/DTM/DSM will be utilized for the extraction of elevation data. Both the footprints and elevation data will be integrated into GIS environment to obtain the 3D base layer and then 3D urban model of the area will be generated.


protitle:
Versatile Transition Metal Based Dichalcogenides for the Synthesis of Valuable Pharmacophores from Industrial Waste

proarea:
Homogeneous, heterogeneous catalysis, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, materials chemistry and nanochemistry

prointro:
The developments in the field of the transition metal-based nanocatalyst TMNCs presents offers new challenges and opportunities for the contemporary synthetic chemists seeking for the novel and benign pathway for tailoring materials of desired morphology using novel nanotechnology methods. Herein, we propose to utilise novel synthetic methodologies for the design of TMNCs for the synthesis of metal/metal oxides nanocatalysts using: (i) reverse micelle microemulsion technique, (ii) single-atom catalysts/ Single-atom alloys and (iii) Molecular organic framework (MOFs) and covalent organic framework. Furthermore, the work will be extended for the synthesis of hybrid nanomaterials using halloysite nanotubes (HNTs), covalently modified with organic molecules for the growth/support/confinement of the nanoparticles. Furthermore, this interesting piece of work can be extended to explore some more new catalytic systems such as oxidations reactions, acceptorless dehydrogenation,  carbonylation of organic compounds,  synthesis of benzimidazoles, indoles and quinolines based heterocyclic compounds.

proobj:
•	Objective 1- Design and preparation of single-source molecular precursors (SSMPs), nanocatalysts and supported nanocatalysts derived from the SSMPs.
•	Objective 2- Prepared transition metal-based SSMPs, as well as nanocatalysts, will be characterized using various physicochemical characterization techniques.
•	Objective 3- Testing of the prepared catalysts in the catalytic organic transformations.
•	Objective 4- Testing the SSMPs based nanocatalysts for the dye degradation.

prometho:
Transition metal-based nanocatalysts derived from the cheap and earth-abundant metals such as Co, Cu, Zn have emerged as appealing alternatives replacing less available and expensive noble metal-based NPs under harsher reaction conditions producing massive waste. In particular, we will explore the use of novel precursors to access novel types of NPs in terms of morphology, structure and reactivity. Several novel nanotechnology methods such as core-shell, yolk-shell, reverse micelle microemulsion method will be used for the synthesis of tailor-made nanocatalysts for uniform morphology to optimize their catalytic performance. Recently single-atom catalysts and single atom alloys have emerged as advanced tailor-made material with chiseled size and shape for the selective organic transformation. Previously we have investigated molybdenum based transition metal-based nanocatalysts for selective epoxidation, reduction of nitroaromatics, oxidative amidation and oxidative methyl esterification reactions under mild reaction condition. The interesting results will be published in high impact factor chemistry journals and it is our future agenda to publish it. 
Furthermore, the transition metal-based nanocatalysts that can be used for the derived nanoparticles will be explored for some more new catalytic organic transformation. Recently, acceptors dehydrogenation has emerged as a promising field for the valorization of alcohol to valorized products. Heterogeneous catalytic materials derived from the single source precursor will be used in the alcohol vaporization reactions. Moreover, the aforementioned nanomaterials will be used for carbonylation of organic compounds and synthesis of benzimidazoles, indoles and quinolines based heterocyclic compounds. 
During the last decades, the world energy demand has significantly increased, due to the huge requirement of energy sources to fulfill this necessity. Additionally, the abusive use of fossil fuels which are running out has been damaging the atmosphere and ozone layer leading to environ-mental and health issues. In nature, photosynthesis converts solar energy into stored chemical energy in the form of carbohydrate fuels and oxygen. While too complex to duplicate in all its detail, it is an excellent inspiration to keep pace with the increasing energy demands on our planet, as it offers a blueprint for the design of artificial photosynthetic systems where the goal is to use (and hence convert) solar energy to make solar fuels like H2 by driving thermodynamically uphill chemical reactions like splitting of water (WS) which has proved to be a promising renewable method for the formation of H2 through the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) and the redox counterpart Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER). Hydrogen has been thoroughly studied as an energy vector due to its interesting properties as energy carriers and the cleanness of its consumption. Earth-abundant first-row transition metal-based nanocatalysts can be used HER and ORR reactions.
Apart from catalysis application, transition metal-based nanocatalysts will be used for the absorption and degradation of highly toxic and carcinogenic dyes waste from major industries consisting of aromatic molecular structures which are resistant to heat, light and degradation which not only posed a severe threat to environmental pollution but also causes ill human health effects.

prosummary:
The proposed research project builds on multicomponent chemistry which has been validated within our research group. Different work packages proposal have been designed in such a way to achieve the desired impact and are discussed below:
WP 1: Management (month 1-24) (D 1.1 to D 1.5): Our group will manage the project and will be responsible for daily planning.  Monthly meetings will involve both investigators and the fellow appointed through this project. The investigators have a complementary range of skills which will be required to manage the project and the co-workers: Our group at PDPU Gandhi Nagar has a strong track record in heterogeneous catalysis, organic chemistry, which will be helpful in designing new organometallic complexes, MOFs, coordination complexes and nanocatalysts for the selective catalytic organic transformation reactions. The expertise of the PI will also assist in the development of the new protocol for catalyst design. The fellow will write 6-monthly reports (Gantt chart D 1.1 to D 1.5) which will include details of all successful procedures and full characterization of all new compounds in a format suitable for publication in the leading catalysis and inorganic chemistry journals; experienced researcher will receive feedback from the principal investigator which will be fed into the preparation of future research reports. In addition, the applicant will write a final report summarizing all of his research throughout the fellowship.  
Work plan: Work plan for the research project is discussed in the present section
1 – 12 months- Design and synthesis of various transition metal-based single-source, molecular precursors. Furthermore, the aforementioned transition metal-based nanocatalyst will be further characterized using several other physicochemical characterization techniques.
 12 – 24 months- By employing the aforementioned transition metal-based nanocatalysts will be designed. Furthermore, these nanocatalysts will be fully characterized using various physicochemical techniques to further investigate the structure-activity correlations.
 24- 36 months- Fully characterized catalytic materials from WP3 will use to evaluate the catalytic organic transformations such as carbonylation of organic compounds, reduction reaction, acceptorless dehydrogenation and synthesis of heterocyclic compounds.  Nanocatalysts derived from the SSMPs will be used for the electrochemical and photo-electrochemical water spilling resulting in the HER and ORR reactions.  Furthermore, photochemical dye degradation reactions will also be investigated using transition metal-based nanocatalysts. The outcome of the high-quality research will be published or presented in high impact factor journals, conferences and workshops. This may also lead to potential finding which can be patented as well.
Communication and dissemination (from month 1 to 36): Assessment of important data and their impact on the outcome of the project. Finally, these results will be communicated to high impact factor journals and will be presented at international conferences and workshops.

proEoutcome:
Communication and dissemination (from month 1 to 36): Assessment of important data and their impact on the outcome of the project. Finally, these results will be communicated to high impact factor journals and will be presented at international conferences and workshops.
List of major deliverables: PI will assist in publishing researchers the most important research deliverables for publications in highly reputed conferences, reports, the website, workshops, specific impact or public engagement activities, etc.
List of major milestones; Major milestones obtained from the research work will be published in the peer review chemistry journals such as JACS, ACS catalysis, Applied catalysis B: Environmental, etc.


protitle:
Facile methodology for the synthesis and applications of Earth-abundant transition metal-based nanocatalysts

proarea:
Heterogeneous catalysis, homogeneous catalysis, material science, nanomaterials in catalysis, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry

prointro:
Transition metal-based nanocatalysts derived from the cheap and earth-abundant metals such as Co, Cu, Zn have emerged as appealing alternatives replacing less available and expensive noble metal-based NPs under harsher reaction conditions producing massive waste. In particular morphology, structure and reactivity are of great significance in boosting catalytic performance. Several novel nanotechnology methods such as core-shell, yolk-shell, reverse micelle microemulsion method will be used for the synthesis of tailor-made nanocatalysts for uniform morphology to optimize their catalytic performance. Recently single-atom catalysts and single atom alloys have emerged as advanced tailor-made material with chiseled size and shape for the selective organic transformation. 
Furthermore, the transition metal-based nanocatalysts that can be used for the derived nanoparticles will be explored for some more new catalytic organic transformation. Recently, acceptors dehydrogenation has emerged as a promising field for the valorization of alcohol. Heterogeneous catalytic materials derived from single source precursor will be used in the alcohol vaporization reactions. Moreover, the aforementioned nanomaterials will be used for carbonylation of organic compounds and synthesis of benzimidazoles, indoles and quinolines based heterocyclic compounds. Apart from catalysis application, transition metal-based nanocatalysts will be used for the absorption and degradation of highly toxic and carcinogenic dyes waste from major industries consisting of aromatic molecular structures which are resistant to heat, light and degradation which not only posed a severe threat to environmental pollution but also causes ill human health effects.

proobj:
•	Objective 1- Design and preparation of single-source molecular precursors (SSMPs), nanocatalysts and supported nanocatalysts derived from the SSMPs.
•	Objective 2- Prepared transition metal-based SSMPs as well as nanocatalysts will be characterized using various physicochemical characterization techniques such as XRD, FT-IR, Raman, SEM, BET, TEM, S-TEM, and HR-TEM, XPS, TGA etc. 
•	Objective 3- Testing of the prepared catalysts in the catalytic organic transformations.
•	Objective 4- Testing the SSMPs based nanocatalysts for the dye degradation.

prometho:
The developments in the field of the transition metal-based nanocatalyst TMNCs during the last few decades presented exciting challenges and new opportunities for the new generation of synthetic chemists looking out for the advanced, secure and diverse pathway for designing tailored materials of suitable morphology using novel nanotechnologies. There are several examples for designing the organometallic precursors composed of the heterobinuclear complexes for bimetallic phases, precursors for metal carbides, metal nitride ceramics and coatings for metal oxides and metal fluorides. Herein, we propose to utilise novel synthetic methodologies for the design of earth abundent TMNCs. Here in the present research proposal, we propose the utilization of the transition metal-based naocatalysts and the single-atom catalysts (SAC) for the synthesis of fine chemicals for pharmaceutical applications. Nanocatalysts and the single-atom catalysts provide complete metal dispersion maximizing the metal utilization; therefore, they have emerged as a novel class of materials for catalytic organic transformation having great potential as industrial catalysis in the near future. SACs maximize the efficiency of the metal atom used. Well-defined and uniform single-atom dispersion, SACs have great potential for achieving high activity and selectivity.         
Currently, the focus of contemporary researches is towards the development of a scalable and economically viable approach for the synthesis of highly active, selective and stable technology for the synthesis of nanocatalysts and the single-atom catalyst (SAC). The size of metal particles is the detrimental factor for the performance of the heterogeneous catalysts because the specific catalytic activity increases with the low-coordinated metal atoms often function as the catalytically active sites. The specific catalytic performance per metal atom is enhanced by tailoring the size of metal nanoparticles. Appropriate support is necessary to prevent the aggregation of these small clusters with an increased shelf-life.  
Apart from catalysis application, transition metal-based nanocatalysts will be used for the absorption and degradation of highly toxic and carcinogenic dyes waste from major industries posing a severe threat to environmental pollution but also causes ill human health effects. The focus of the present proposal will be the synthesis of the transition metal-based nanocatalysts and single-atom catalysts/alloys single-atom catalysts and nanocatalysts for the clean chemical synthesis.

prosummary:
Different work packages proposal has been designed in such a way to achieve the desired impact and are discussed below:
WP 1: Management (month 1-24): The investigators have a complementary range of skills which will be required to manage the project and the co-workers: Our group at PDPU Gandhi Nagar has a strong track record in heterogeneous catalysis, organic chemistry, which will help design new organometallic complexes, MOFs and nanocatalysts for the selective catalytic organic transformation reactions. The expertise of the PI will also assist in the development of the new protocol for catalyst design. The fellow will write 6-monthly reports (see gantt chart) which will include details of all successful procedures and full characterization of all new compounds in a format suitable for publication in the leading catalysis and inorganic chemistry journals; experienced researcher will receive feedback from the principal investigator which will be fed into the preparation of future research reports. Also, the applicant will write a final report summarizing all of his research throughout the fellowship.  
Work plan: Work plan for the research project is discussed in the present section
1 – 12 months- Design and synthesis of various transition metal-based single-source, molecular precursors. Furthermore, the aforementioned transition metal-based nanocatalyst will be further characterized using several other physicochemical characterization techniques.
 12 – 24 months- By employing the aforementioned transition metal-based nanocatalysts will be design. Furthermore, these nanocatalysts will be fully characterized using various physicochemical techniques to further investigate the structure-activity correlations.
 24- 36 months- Fully characterized catalytic materials from will use to evaluate the catalytic organic transformations and photochemical dye degradation reactions will also be investigated using transition metal-based nanocatalysts and single-atom catalysts.

proEoutcome:
Communication and dissemination (from month 1 to 36): Assessment of important data and their impact on the outcome of the project. The outcome of the high-quality research will be published or presented 
in high impact factor journals, conferences and workshops. This may also lead to potential finding which can be patented as well .Finally, these results will be communicated to high impact factor journals and will be presented at international conferences and workshops.
List of major deliverables: PI will assist in publishing researchers the most important research deliverables for publications in highly reputed conferences, reports, the website, workshops, specific impact or public engagement activities, etc.
List of major milestones; Major milestones obtained from the research work will be published in the peer review chemistry journals such as JACS, ACS catalysis, Applied catalysis B: Environmental, etc.


protitle:
Immutable Relief Fund Management – A Blockchain Based Approach

proarea:
Information Security - Computer Science and Engineering

prointro:
Geographically India is extremely diverse country where landscape ranging from dry deserts to snow-capped Himalayas, hills, evergreen forests, and plateaus. In last few years, India’s geographic climate conditions increased cyclonic activity, landslides, flooding, and also affect the ambient temperature and precipitation patterns which makes India the most disaster prone country in the world. Every year, the government of India provides a significant amount of money to state and local governments for disaster recovery and emergency requirements. Generally, financial assistance provided by the government for the recuperation from natural catastrophes is in accordance with the scheme of relief funds. Such disaster relief fund schemes are the primary source for disaster response and recovery. Major objectives of these relief fund schemes are to provide assistance to the states and to the victims in accordance with their need; also state can have greater functioning approaches towards emergency requirements. Regular monitoring of any fund is essential to ensure that expenditures and revenues are within appropriate limits and guidelines. To bring the transparency in releasing of funds, we can use blockchain to record all the transactions. Immutable distributed ledger approach of blockchain provides transparency, visibility, accountability, trust, security to the transactions. To prevent the misuse of relief funds we can capture all transactions on blockchain. With the help of Blockchain, we can assure that all the peoples affected in disaster management will get the support from all available relief fund schemes.

proobj:
Bring transparency to relief fund management
Immutable distributed ledger will be build to record all transactions

prometho:
Since 2008, Blockchain has become emerging technology in academic and industry. Blockchain can be a solution of many problems of various domains like healthcare, internet of things, supply chain management, cloud computing, many government applications, etc. Our objective of this proposal is to build blockchain to monitor that all disaster residents will get service and also the fund declared by the government. The framework design of Blockchain as a solution for disaster management is given in Figure 1.

prosummary:
•	Literature survey
•	Recruitment of Junior Research Fellows
•	Study and purchasing of equipment for the project
•	The outline of the framework design will also start in this timeline in parallel with literature survey.
•	Explore different available platforms for Blockchain implementation.

proEoutcome:
In order to disseminate the outcome of this project, we organize the three training programs for understanding and training the researchers in this area. We also invite the institutes and researchers to utilize this project as a test bed for evaluation of their schemes way before publishing. In general, the outcome of this project is helpful as follows: 
To Institutes: In the development of this phase, we will collaborate with government and national institutes for information exchange and to utilize the final project as a test bed for the researchers within the institutions.
To Researchers: For the independent researchers in this field, this helps them to apply Blockchain technology in various domains.


protitle:
Experimental and Numerical Modeling of Travelling Wire Electrochemical Spark Machining Process for Micro-slits on various Non-conducting Materials

prointro:
The recent advances in the area of various technological fields lead to the use of advance engineering materials like silicon nitride, quartz and ceramics etc. Machining of these advanced engineering materials has been a major problem for modern machining industries as most of these materials are non-conducting in nature. The researchers continuously search the new machining methods to cope up with the advance machining materials for better industrial and commercial applications. Today, the role of thenon-conducting materials in manufacturing of the micro asperities in micro components has been found incredible in different engineering applications (Bhattacharyya, 2015; Jain et al., 2016; Rolf Wuthrich, 2015; Wèuthrich, 2009).

Electrochemical spark machining (ECS) process is a novel fabrication process suitable for machining of low machinability, high strength electrically non-conducting materials. ECSM is a hybrid process, which employs electrochemical machining (ECM) and electro discharge machining (EDM) in case of electrically conducting materials. However, electrochemical reaction assists in electro spark machining in case of electrically non-conducting materials. The material removal rate is slightly lower in ECSM compared to electrochemical machining (ECM) and electro discharge machining (EDM) (Li et al., 2009; Rolf Wuthrich, 2015; Singh and Singh, 2019; Singh et al., 2019; Wèuthrich, 2009). However ECSM can be applied to electrically non-conducting materials while the other two can not be. ECM and EDM are well established processes and are being used in industries for the production of components made of low machinability but electrically conducting materials.But ECSM can be used only to produce holes on electrically non-conductive material (Jain et al., 1999; Jain and Priyadarshini, 2014; Singh and Dvivedi, 2016). In order to produce grooves or producing complicated contours on non-conducting materials, TW-ECSM process can be used. In TW-ECSM various complex shapes can also be produced without removing large materials. The difficulties arrived in the ECSM for complex shape, so complex design tool is avoided by travelling wire and relative movement of wire guides. Limiting depth is one most common problem in ECSM. The other Non-conventional machining techniques such as electro-discharge machining (EDM), laser beam machining (LBM), electron beam machining (EBM), ultrasonic machining (USM), abrasive water jet machining (AWJM), water jet machining (WJM) and electrochemical machining (ECM) have all been utilised in micro-manufacturing industries. However, EDM, LBM and EBM are all thermal machining processes, creating a heat-affected layer on the work piece surface during machining which then forms microcracks at the surface. USM is used primarily to machine brittle materials where conventional machining would cause crack formation(Basak and Ghosh, 1996; Bhuyan and Yadava, 2014a; Malik and Manna, 2016; Oza et al., 2019; Singh and Dvivedi, 2016; Wèuthrich, 2009)

Since TW-ECSM process is used in some precision applications like aerospace, bio-medical, shipbuilding etc. considering the criticality of application and to cater the growth of this process, it is necessary to perform a detailed investigation on the combined effect of process parameters anddetermining temperature fieldoverthe work pieceduring FSW process. The PI of this proposal has been working for past 10 years on the experimental investigation in the area of electrochemical machining and its variants

proobj:
•	Design and development of the TW-ECSM process machining setup.
•	Study the electrolyte process, nature of spark and material removal mechanism for various non-conducting materials.
•	Development of a real-time material removal volume estimator based on the theoretical electro-thermal model, number of discharge pulse and pulse discrimination system.
•	Analyze the effect of: various electrolytes and its concentration, coated and uncoated wire with variable duty cycle on process performance.
•	Determine the effect of different input process parameters: voltage, current, electrolyte, wire speed and wire feed on response parameters: kerf width, overcut, nature of spark, electrolysis process, gas film formation and geometry of micro-slits.
•	Development of the mathematical model for various process parameters and compare with the experimental results

prometho:
Investigators of the project already have done the designing part of the work. Various research papers, books and available literature have been used to design the setup. 
A trial experiment has been performed on custom made small setupfor borosilicate glassmaterial to check the feasibility of the setup. 
From the custom made setup it has been observed that it can be used for various non-conducting materials if the automatic controller based feeding mechanism can be used instead of manual feeding mechanism for better precision. 

The proposed project work involves design, development and fabrication of the experimental set-up followed by rigorous experimentation and analysis of the results

prosummary:
Response surface methodology will be used for planning the experiments. Different input parameters affecting the process will be analyzed. Mathematical model will be developed that can describe the effects of different input parameters of the process on the output of the process. Finally the optimization of the process parameters will be carried out using artificial neural network (ANN).

proEoutcome:
1)	Experimental development of TW-ECSM setup for various non-conducting materials. 
2)	Material removal rate, gas film formation and fumes mechanism with a real-time monitoring system of TW-ECSM processes will be understood. 
3)	3D finite element simulation and numerical modelling for TW-ECSM processes will be developing and comparative study with different electrolytes, tools (auxiliary and active electrodes – wire (coated and uncoated)), workpiece materials, machining parameters will be done.
4)	First-time novel and hybrid TW-ECSM will be analyzed with experimental, simulation and numerical in-depth


