The Indo-US Workshop on Nanostructured Electronics Materials : Challenges & Relevance to Electronics and Energy Research (IUSWNM-2013) was jointly organized by C-MET, India, Children’s Hospital, Harvard, USA, Northeastern University, USA and Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, Greensboro, USA on the occasion of CMET’s 23rd Annual Foundation Day (8th March 2013) at the LuLu International Convention Centre, Thrissur, India during March 8-11th, 2013. The Indo-US Workshop was focused on nanomaterials and nanotechnologies beyond silicon. During the workshop, close interactions among scientists, academia and industry working on fundamental and applied aspects of materials based energy and environment technologies took place, which will contribute to the ultimate goal of accelerating the implementation of nanomaterials-based technologies.

Shri. J. Satynarayana, Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology Govt. of India, New Delhi, in his Presidential Address, informed the audience about several schemes announced by the Government of India to encourage entrepreneurs to start up an electronics industry in the country. Prof. Seeram Ramakrishna, Director, Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, National University of Singapore in his Foundation Day Lecture narrated how nanomaterials can bring about a paradigm shift in the growth of electronics and in solving the energy crisis.

Dr. Y. M. Lin, Bluestone Global Tech, USA who first demonstrated 450 GHz graphene based transistor at IBM, detailed the methodology of mass production of graphene.  Prof. P. Somasundaran, Columbia University, USA highlighted how to mimic natural nanostructures to produce nanomaterials through green chemistry routes.

Prof. Ramgopal Rao from IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India demonstrated his breakthrough low cost MEMS based sensor for early detection of cardiovascular problems. Prof. S.B. Krupanidhi from IISc, Bengaluru, India informed us that IISc has developed novel materials for highly efficient solar cells and light emitting diodes. Prof. A.K. Raychadhuri, Director, S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkota, India explained how top-down nanolithographic tools can be combined with bottom-up approaches to achieve functional single wire devices.  Prof. Vijayamohanan Pillai,  Director CECRI,  Karaikudi, explained in detail how carbon nanotubes can be functionalized for a variety of applications in the energy sector.  Prof. A. M. Kannan, of Arizona State University, USA, talked about fuel cells that call for alternate materials to replace platinum cathode catalysts.

Prof. Chen-Zong Li from Florida International University, USA highlighted features of graphene electrodes for flexible electronics, high frequency graphene devices and circuits for RF applications. Dr. Suresh Das, Director NIIST, Trivandrum, India, explained the optical and electronic properties of π -conjugated photoresponsive materials. Prof. G. Ramanath from Rensselar Polytechnic Institute, USA discussed the synthesis and properties of a new class of doped ‘nanothermoelectrics’ obtained by surfactant-directed sculpting and doping, for use in solid state cooling devices and electricity harvesting from waste heat.

Porf. Prashant Kamat from University of Notre Dame, USA talked about new type of materials for solar cell applications based on quantum dots. Prof. Anil K from IIT Bombay, India spoke about the importance of graphene for CMOS technology. Prof. Ajit Kelkar from the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, Greensboro, USA highlighted the importance of nano-engineered materials for future aerospace structures.

On the concluding day, the exciting work on protein based thin films for mobile memory devices was presented by Prof. Renugopalakrishnan, Children’s Hospital, Harvard, USA. Dr. D. P. Amalnerkar, Executive Director of C-MET, described ‘Top-down’ and ‘Bottom-up’ approaches for fabrication of CdS based micro/nano photoconductors for advanced opto-electronic applications. Dr. K. Kalyanasundram from EPFL Switzerland explained various types of high efficiency dye sensitised solar cells. Dr. T. N. Narayanan from Prof. P. Ajayan’s group, Rice University, USA described the scalable production of various 2D materials from conducting graphene to insulating hexagonal boron nitride and development of electronic and photoelectronic applications based on them. Mr. Tandeep Chadha from Prof. Pratim Biswas group at the Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA discussed an aerosol nanoparticle technology for solar harvesting.  The workshop concluded with a panel discussion by eminent scientists from India and abroad and they stressed the need for closer interaction between academia, research institutes and industry. Around 300 delegates and invitees participated in IUSWNM-2013.

Authors

Dinesh Amalnerkar, Center for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), Pune - 
411 008, India

V. Renugopalakrishnan, Children’s Hospital and Center for Renewable Energy Technology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA

Raghu Natarajan, Center for Materials for Electronics Technology, (C-MET), Thrissur –
680 581, India