Interdisciplinary and Applied Research Laboratory (IAR LAB)

The interdisciplinary and Applied Research (IAR) group is majorly engaged in developing advanced scientific instruments and technologies of societal and industrial importance. The group is multi-disciplinary in nature, having state-of-the-art facilities. The group comprises highly motivated young professionals, including scientists, technical staff, research scholars, project staff and interns. Some activities initiated recently are 3D food printing, indoor light harvesting, fire retardant materials for nanogenerators, UAVs, AI, ML and aerial electrostatic spraying technology.

The significant research and development activities with the Interdisciplinary and Applied Research group are:

Artificial Intelligence and UAVs: Aerial electrostatic spraying, moisture measurement, UAVs, automation and mechanization, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Environment: Dust mitigation, smog control, air purification, and electrostatic precipitation technology.
Food Safety & Nutrition: Advanced spray coatings, 3D food printing, novel edible coating materials for enhanced shelf-life, nutritional value and sensory attributes.
Green Energy: Indoor light harvesting, Nanogenerators and hydrogen storage.
Healthcare: Surface decontamination and sterilization, aerosol generation, electrostatic spraying for sanitization against COVID-19.
Socioeconomic Studies and Business Generation: Social innovation, business generation and socioeconomic studies.

Research highlights

Explaining the research work carried out on smog control and environment protection to BBC.

Dr. Mande, DG CSIR & Secretary DSIR explaining the research work carried out on electrostatic disinfection device to media.

Flexible High Temperature Stable Hydrogel Based Triboelectric Nanogenerator

a) Schematic illustration of four working stages for the fabricated triboelectric nanogenerator in contact-separation mode, b) Output voltage signals at different frequencies in open circuit conditions under 2.5 N of force. c) Output voltage signals of the device, and d) Output current and power density under different external load resistances. e) Durability of the PDMS-hydrogel-based TENG up to 10000 testing cycles at 10 Hz frequency.

3D Food Printing

Method flow diagram showing the 3DFP process and the factors to consider when designing the successful and most effective 3D printed structure.

3DFP stands as a cutting-edge manufacturing process, revolutionizing the creation of edible objects or structures by meticulously building them layer by layer using edible materials.

Electrostatic Spray coating system

Electrostatic spray coating system for the coating of fruits and vegetables to enhance shelf life.
In this paper, the chargeability of various coating materials has been critically analysed to examine the suitability of the electrostatic spray coating method applicable for coating fruits and vegetables for enhanced shelf life. The design and performance parameters of the electrostatic spray coating system were optimized, and the suitability of the developed technology was studied to evaluate different aspects of food coating applications.

Characterization of coating material using different analytical instruments and descriptive analysis.

Prepared coating materials i.e. (a) laboratory formulated; A (starch), B (polysaccharide), C (protein), D (gums), E (cellulose), and commercially available (b) SS40T+, (c) VMW50+, and (d) SS50T+.

Schematic diagram of preparation of nanoparticles.

Antimicrobial activity of pure chitosan (CS), chitosan blendwith citric acid (CS/CA), and ZnO\ nanoparticle incorporated films(CS/CA@ZnO). The data are mean ± standard deviation of threereplicates.

Examination of grape quality during15 days of storage: packed with CS film, packed with CS/CA film, packed with CS/CA@ZnOnanocomposite films, and without packaging.

ZnAl-Layered double hydroxide (LDH) synthesis by hydrothermal route.

Triboelectric Nanogenerator

Preparation of PVA/ZnAl LDH nanocomposite film.

In this work, a flexible and temperature stable polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/layered double hydroxides (LDH) nanocomposite based triboelectric nanogenerator was developed to harvest the unexploited vibrational energy. LDH with excellent fire-retardancy, temperature stability (⁓500 ºC) and dielectric constant has been used as filler in the PVA matrix. The 5 wt. % of PVA/LDH nanocomposite shows high dielectric constant of about 5×105 and ultra stable output performance of the device up to 200ºC of temperature. A very high output voltage 60 V and current density of 11 nA/cm2 has been evaluated from the fabricated device under vertical pressure with frequency of 4 Hz.

XRD pattern of synthesized ZnAl LDH.

FTIR spectrum of (a) ZnAl LDH and, (b) PVA/ZnAl LDH nanocomposite.

(a) pristine PVA based nanogenerator and, (b) 5wt% PVA/ZnAl LDH nanocomposite based nanogenerator at different temperature

(a) dielectric constant and, (b) dielectric loss of the nanocomposite with different concentration of ZnAl LDH in PVA polymer with respect to frequency.

(A) Schematic representation of preparation of water-in-oil based emulsion at different concentrations of rice bran oil (RBO) and water, and (B) Oil volume fraction of w/o based emulsion containing different concentrations i.e. 90, 80, 70, 60, and 50% of rice bran oil used to check the stability

(A) Visual aspect of the dip and electrostatic spray coated strawberries during the drying process, and (B) Visual appearances of strawberries (a) Uncoated strawberries on 4th day, (b) Dip coated strawberries on 4th day, (c) Electrostatic spray coated strawberries on 4th day, (d) Uncoated strawberries on 10th day, (e) Dip coated strawberries on 10th day, and (f) Electrostatic spray coated strawberries on 12th day.

(a–c) HR TEM image of the as grown ZnAl-LDH nanostructures (d) SAED pattern of the ZnAl LDH nanostructure.

FE-SEM images of (a) pristine PVA, (b) ZnAl-LDH, (c) ZnAl LDH/ PVA, (d) ZnAl LDH/graphene/PVA nanocomposite films.

(a) TGA analysis and (b) DSC analysis of PVA and its nanocomposite films.

Variation of (a) dielectric constant, and (b) dielectric loss wrt frequency (MHz) of pristine PVA and its nanocomposite films.

Electrostatic spray coating system for fruits and vegetables to enhance the shelf life, nutritional value and sensory atributes

Quality evaluation of tomatoes coated by an advanced electrostatic spray coating system

Droplet size and its distribution of various disinfectants

Charge-to-mass ratio of various disinfectants

Measurement of the charge-to-mass ratio through Faraday cage method

Variation of the charge-to-mass ratio with the change in position of charging electrode

Efficacy evaluation of an air-assisted electrostatic disinfection device for the effective disinfection and sanitization against the spread of pathogenic infections

Charged droplets cover the surfaces uniformly.

Wraparound effect for the front and backside coverage.

Measurement of droplet size and its distribution.

Droplet size and its distribution for different types of nozzle.

Synthesis and characterization of sulfonated magnetic graphene-based cation exchangers for the removal of methylene blue from aqueous solutions. This article describes the synthesis, characterization, and performance of graphene-based magnetic cation exchangers as low-cost nanoadsorbers for the removal of methylene blue from aqueous solutions.

Diffuse reflectance-based spectroscopic technique for real time estimation of localized blood oxygenation parameters from human fingertips: a preliminary study

Colorimetric immunosensor for 17b-estradiol using antibody functionalized Au nanoparticles.

Schematic illustration of the stepwise fabrication and methodology of the aptasensor for progesterone detection.

Schematic representation of covalent and noncovalent molecular imprinting procedures and the working principles of MIP-based bioassays.

Carbon dots conjugated antibody as an effective FRET-based biosensor for progesterone hormone screening.

UV-PL graph of CDs and inset images of as-prepared pale-yellow coloured carbon dots solution in (a) normal and UV light and (b) XRD pattern of CDs.

(a) Change in PL intensity with different concentrations of progesterone hormone and (b) representative of a linear regression.

(a) pH effect on the fluorescence of proposed PGN biosensor and (b) change in PL intensity with different interference compounds.

Schematic diagram of air-assisted electrostatic nozzle.

Range of resistivity of chemical pesticides covered by an air-assisted electrostatic nozzle.

Coverage and uniformity of an air-assisted electrostatic nozzle as compared to conventional spraying technologies.

Charging electrode material plays an important role in electrostatic spraying for the charging of liquid sprays.

Charging electrode Materials for the charging of liquid sprays

Charge-to-mass ratio is one of the major parameters which defines the chargeability of charging electrode material.

Evaluation of chargeability of biopesticides and herbal pesticides to examine the applicability by using electrostatic spraying technology.

performance evaluation of an air-assisted electrostatic sprayer on cotton crops

To study and observe the deposition on to the target plant leaves, Water Sensitive Papers (WSPs) of standard dimensions were placed in two orientations upper and underside of the leaves at three locations viz. top, middle and bottom on randomly selected plants. The experiments were carried out to test the performance of indigenously developed electrostatic nozzle at two stage of the electrostatic sprayer as electrostatic effect ‘‘ON” and electrostatic effect ‘‘OFF” abbreviated as ES Electrostatic) and NES (Non-Electrostatic).

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