India

Scientific Centers

Through this program, a chain of Centres of Excellence across the country has been established, comprising three kinds of setups. First are operating units of Nano Science within established science departments of the various IITs (Indian Institute of Technologies), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and other central universities, like the Benares Hindu University (BHU), University of Pune, among others. Second, a full-fledged Centre for Nanotechnology within specialized science institutes like the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR); with specific research focus, ranging from nanodevices, nanocomposites, nanobiosensors at the Indian IISc to focus on photovoltaics and sensor devices at the Indian Associate for Cultivation of Science in Kolkata. Third, is the Centre for Computational Materials Science at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) that was set up in Bangalore. Another important aspect is human resource development, where under the initiative, seed funding has been provided to Universities for developing postgraduate level (M.Sc. and M.Tech.) teaching programs on nanotechnology.

Public and private partnerships have also been initiated under this program, one of notable ones being the Research Program on Smart and Innovative Textiles (SMITA) at the IIT, Delhi. Private participation includes Pluss Polymer Pvt. Ltd., Purolater India Ltd., and Re-sil Chemicals. The program focuses on new generation novel materials, like nanofibers, nanofinishes, and encapsulated phase change materials, and experimenting with new methods for insulating such materials into the textile substratum. The NanoScience unit of the JNCASR has also explored collaboration with industry partners for research, improving synthesis and characterization for carbon nanotubes, wires, and particles, and for thin films and powders of transition metal oxides demonstrating interesting physical properties. The focus of the NanoScience unit in IIT, Kanpur has been on developing innovative techniques for nanolithography, nanoimprinting, and nanomanipulation.

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