Boron Rich Nanostructures (BoRN) Research Lab
Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar
Principal Investigator
Kabeer is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at IITGN and serves the role of Principal Investigator. His doctoral work was based on the science of interfacing graphene nanosheets with gold nanoparticles. He and his group members develop new synthetic routes to realize nano-dimensional materials that resemble graphene but are rich in boron with an aim to develop functional materials which can benefit from the nanoscaled boron. He integrates methodical teaching with the research activities and also serves as Dean of Academic Affairs at IITGN. He is on the editorial board for Scientific Reports (Nature) and is also a reviewer for ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Carbon, and Journal of Chemical Sciences.
Early Career Fellow
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Dr. Anupma Thakur has joined IIT Gandhinagar as Early Career Fellow on 23rd August 2021 after completing Ph.D. in Engineering as DST-INSPIRE Research fellow at CSIR-CSIO, Chandigarh on 17 August 2021. She earned a gold medal in Master of Technology (M.Tech in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology from the Panjab University, Chandigarh, India in 2016. She has also earned a gold medal in Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech) in Electronics & Communication Engineering from Akal College of Engineering & Technology, Eternal University, Baru-Sahib, India in 2014. She is a well-established young nanotechnologist in the field of nanomaterials & materials science for designing sensors, and energy harvesting devices. Her investigations are published worldwide in highly reputed international journals. She has published more than 24 international high-impact publications, 03 patents (filed), 10 book chapters, more than 20 conference papers, and delivered >20 oral talks. She has attained >370 citations to her published research contributions.
Current Ph.D. Students
Satadru joined the PhD programme at IIT Gandhinagar in the winter semester of 2018-2019 academic session. Before starting his PhD Satadru worked as a junior research fellow at the chemical engineering department of IISER Bhopal. He worked on advanced oxidation processes for pollutant degradation during that period. Satadru received his bachelors and masters' degrees in chemical engineering from NIT Agartala, and IIT Guwahati respectively. He has also worked as a production engineer at Sharp Global Limited (a menthol production company) after graduating from NIT Agartala.In his PhD research Satadru plans to synthesize various combination of nanostructures resulting in heterostructures, (for example 2D nanosheets embedded with 0D quantum dots) and utilizing them for a plethora of applications such as photo-catalysis, electro-catalysis, energy storage/evolution etc.
Anshul received his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Srinagar in 2019. He joined Start Early PhD programme at IIT Gandhinagar for pursuing PhD in the Discipline of Chemical Engineering. He is currently working on synthesis methods for exfoliating minimally functionalized transition metal diborides. In the near future, he plans to prepare polymer composites of these nanosheets and work on the electrical and electronic properties on these nanosheets.
Bhagyashri joined the PhD program at IIT Gandhinagar in the spring semester of 2019-20. She has received her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from UEC Ujjain M.P. in 2017 and masters’ degree in chemical engineering from MANIT, Bhopal M.P., in 2019. In her PhD work, she plans to work upon electrochemistry of metal diborides and novel approaches for the synthesis of metal diborides.
Parth joined PhD program at IIT Gandhinagar in October 2021. He received his Master's and bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Vishwakarma Government Engineering College, (Gujarat Technological University),Ahmedabad, Gujarat in year 2021 and 2019 respectively. He is currently working on exfoliation of magnesium diboride using high energy ball milling and application of Magnesium Diboride nanosheets for solid and liquid fuels.
Ravi joined the PhD program at IIT Gandhinagar in the July 2022. He has received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from BVM (Gujarat Technological University), Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat in 2018 and Masters’ degree in Energy Systems & Technology from PDEU, Gandhinagar Gujarat., in 2022. In his PhD work, he plans to work upon analyzing mechanical properties and relevant applications in energy storage for the metal diborides.
Masters Students
Alumni Ph.D. Students
Saroj received his B.Tech. in Biotechnology from College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar under Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) Odisha in 2011. He pursued his M.Tech. in Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 2011-2013. Saroj joined as a first Ph.D. student in the research group in July 2013. His research focuses on boron rich two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials analogous to graphene. He is currently working on utilizing these nanomaterials as an electrode for next generation energy storage devices
Asha received her B.Tech. in Biotechnology & Biochemical Engineering from Sree Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering, University of Kerala in 2013. She joined IIT Gandhinagar in December 2013 for pursuing PhD in the discipline of Chemical Engineering. Her research focuses on boron based two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials analogous to graphene. Currently she is working on novel chemical recipes for the top down synthesis of such nanomaterials by the exfoliation of layered borides. In the near future, she hopes to integrate these nanosheets into functional materials and also to develop biochemical applications for this family of nanosheets.
Harini received her B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from R.V.R & J.C College of Engineering, Acharya Nagarjuna Univeristy, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh in 2013. She joined IIT Gandhinagar in July 2013 for pursuing M.Tech in Chemical Engineering and received her M.Tech degree in 2015 and continued as a Ph.D. Scholar from July 2015. Her research work is focused on "Synthesizing various boron nanostructures from metal borides and understanding their optical and chemical properties". She hopes to utilize those properties in the areas of polymers, coatings, and biosensors.
Alumni Master Students
Devina has completed her B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from BIT Sindri, Dhanbad in 2012. She served TCS for 2 years in Bangalore before joining IITGN in 2014 for pursuing M.Tech in discipline of Chemical Engineering.Currently her research work focuses on exfoliation of layered metal borides using ionic liquids. She is from Jharkahand and likes playing badminton .
Devina Ratnam
Swasti completed her B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from BIET, Jhansi in 2014. She joined IITGN in 2014 for pursuing her M.Tech in Chemical Engineering. She has done her schooling from Dhanbad, Jharkhand and she belongs to Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh. Her research work focuses on delaminating layered metal borides using solid state exfoliation approached.She likes to play cricket and badminton.
Swasti Medha
Ramchandra Gawas
Ram joined the research group as an undergraduate student in 2016. He completed his master’s thesis on ‘ultrasonication-assisted synthesis of photoluminescent carbon quantum dots’ from organic solvents. After completing his B.Tech.-M.Tech. from IIT Gandhinagar, Ram joined Drexel University as a Ph.D. student in the department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. He is currently working on the electrocatalysis of the oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells.
Email: ramchandragawas1995@gmail.com
Rishabh Patidar
Rishabh has completed his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from GEC, Ujjain (M.P.) in 2018. He joined IITGn in 2014 as Master’s student in the Discipline of Chemical Engineering. His graduate research is focused on synthesising minimally functionalized nanosheets derived from titanium diboride. These nanosheets can be utilized in the areas of photo-catalysis, electro-catalysis, energy storage, etc. He is looking forward to pursue a career as an engineer in relevant industries focusing on finding sustainable solution in managing energy, water and other resources. He is currently working as Process Engineer in Worley India Pvt. Ltd.
Akash K. Varma
Akash received his B. Tech in Chemical Engineering from the University Institute of Chemical Technology (UICT), Jalgaon, in the year 2018. He joined the double degree program of IITGN (M. Tech Chemical Engineering) and JAIST, Japan (M.S. Material Science), for the year 2018-20. In his graduate research, he worked on exploring the candidacy of quasi-2D TiB2 based nanosheets as anode material for ultra-fast charging (in few seconds) Li-ion batteries (LIBs). He is currently interested in advanced energy storage systems, including batteries and supercapacitors, at both institutional and industrial platforms. He is currently working as Research associate in Log 9 Materials.
Vruddhi completed her Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) from VGEC Ahmedabad, Gujarat in 2018. She joined IIT Gandhinagar to pursue M.Tech. in Chemical Engineering in 2019. Currently, her research work focuses on capturing carbon dioxide gas using boron based nanosheets. She is interested to work in the field focusing mainly on solving the problems of environmental pollution and green energy production. She wishes to explore ways in which her understanding and knowledge can be utilized.