Simple approaches for synthesis of hybrid nanomaterials and their applications

The past decade has witnessed impressive growth in the field of nanomaterials science because of their unique optical, mechanical, electronic and catalytic properties. Variety of protocols was developed for synthesis of nanomaterials with well defined shape, size and their properties were studied in great detail. These nanomaterials were combined with range of molecules/macromolecules such as amino acid, protein, polymer to make the most diverse class of hybrid nanomaterials for advanced application ranging from biology to engineering. Conventional protocols for preparation of hybrid nanomaterials require multiple steps, hazardous reagents, tedious purification, surface modification, and subsequent assembly on desired support. These approaches are expensive and inefficient to control the composition and architecture of hybrid nanomaterials which is required to maintain both the structural integrity and multi- functionality. In past few years, my research was involved on designing in-situ approach for synthesis of various hybrid nanomaterials and their integration for electric, energy storage and sensor devices. For example 1) Metal nanoparticles-glycosaminoglycan bioconjugate as nanomedicine, 2) Economical process for metal nanoparticles embedded paints and catalytic membrane and 3) Fabrication of paper based battery or energy conversion device by integrating aligned carbon nanotubes arrays or zinc oxide nanostructure in cellulose matrix. My talk will summarize some of the efforts on development as well as application of hybrid nanomaterials targeted towards multifunctional coatings, moldable energy devices, sensor and nanomedicine.