IIT Mandi Professor wins CRSI Award

NEW DELHI, JULY 30: An Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi faculty Dr Chayan K. Nandi has been selected for the prestigious Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) Bronze Medal for his contribution to Research. CRSI is a professional body that promotes and facilitates research and education in all branches of chemistry.

Dr Nandi is presently serving as Associate Professor in the School of Basic Sciences at the IIT Mandi established single molecule super-resolution nanoscopic technique, especially Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM). He is using this technique for understanding the optical properties of fluorescent nanomaterials at the single molecule level.

Accepting the award, Dr Nandi said, “I'm honoured to have been chosen for this award. I intend to keep researching in various areas of Chemistry to ensure that our country remains at the forefront of Chemical Research.”

The award has been presented in recognition of his excellent contribution in the fundamental understanding of the chemical structure and functional relationship of the carbogenic nanoparticles, especially graphene quantum dots, carbon nanodots and gold nanoparticles.

Dr Chayan Nandi, along with his Research Group, has been extensively engaged in finding the real existence of carbon dots or graphene dots that are produced by the bottom-up approach using small molecule or polymers by hydrothermal or microwave synthesis. They have found out that in several cases molecular fluorophore could be synthesized along with these materials and contribute a substantial amount to the fluorescence properties of the material. This unique observation they have found out within a very short span of time.

Dr Nandi said that these materials have tremendous potential applications in wastewater treatment, in health and in solar energy.

He has also suggested that High-level purification, characterization of the material extremely important before calling these as pure carbon dots or graphene quantum dots. He has also suggested that the properties of these materials are very specific to the synthesis methods and precursors used and one should find out the real entity of the materials in the products mixture.