Prof. Dusane has over the last 30 years carried out fundamental and applied research in the area of semiconductor thin films and devices, surface modification and plasma processing of various materials with a view to develop new processes and materials in thin film and nano structure form, capable for a variety of applications ranging from solar cells, thin film light emitting devices (TFLEDs), microelectronic devices, sensors and actuators (MEMS) and batteries. He has done pioneering work in the area of Hot Wire Chemical Vapor Deposition (HWCVD) process in this country. Several patents have resulted out of this work and some successful industrial collaborations have also been undertaken. Over these years he has established state of the art facilities for thin film deposition and characterization. Recent significant work from his group is the Silicon nanowire­based anode for Li­ion battery. The work carried out till now has demonstrated the capabilities of the Hot Wire process in diverse areas like Microelectronics, Biocompatible materials, surface functionalization and modification, barrier layers etc. This has given new directions to the applicability of the HWCVD process in the area of MEMS and sensors. Recently he has designed and developed a HWCVD multi­chamber cluster tool, the first of its kind in the country.

Avradeep's interests lie in the sphere of development, understanding and utilisation of novel phenomena that arises at hybrid material interfaces, and development of several novel quantum devices. The major focus is on the interface of thin film superconductors and ferromagnets. His work therefore spans from controlled Ultra High Vacuum growth of ultra thin film (2nm and lower) multi­layers, to nanofabrication of these layers into devices like tunnel junctions, spin valves, Jospehson junctions; and subsequent low temperature electronic transport measurements of such devices. For achieving the same, he has developed several highly customised UHV thin film deposition and fabrication systems, and has standardised a industry level niobium based junction fabrication process. This has led to the discovery of novel cryogenic memory devices and other cryogenic components such as Josephson diodes that are crucial for upcoming era of quantum technologies.

The group of optoelectronic materials and devices are interested in developing semiconductor materials for optoelectronic devices, in particular halide perovskite materials. Halide perovskites have many interesting properties like high absorption coefficient, large charge carrier diffusion lengths, ease of synthesis, etc. However their real life applications are hindered due to the moisture instability and the lead toxicity. The group found zero­ dimensional perovskites to transform to 3D perovskites in the presence of moisture and remain to be stable under moist conditions, which lead to the stable perovskite solar cells. Since the transformation takes place in the presence of humidity, these were found to be useful in making self powered humidity sensors. To address the lead toxicity, the group is focussed on developing lead free perovskites and found that Cs2AgInCl6 doped with Bi3+ to be emitting a broad range with white light emission, making it a single source white light emitter.

Prof. Aparna Singh’s interest is in the development of novel materials with a combination of high strength, toughness and fatigue crack growth life. She is also interested in understanding processingmicrostructure­ processing links in steels and polymer composites. Her rigorous experimental work has shown many interesting deformation phenomena in epoxies and steels. She also has significant experience in probing causes of failures in rails and wheels. Multiple novel grades of steels have been developed in her group that have the potential to be used as rail/wheel materials. Novel varieties of hierarchical carbonfiber epoxy composites have also been developed in her lab that can find use in prosthetics , wind turbine blades and aeroplanes. She has also worked with industries like Renewsys and Shapoorji Pallonji.