KOCHI:
An International team of scientists led by Prof. M. R. Anantharaman, UGC-BSR Professor and his Ph.D Student Aravind Puthirath Balan of Department of Physics, Cusat along with scientists from University of Rice, Houston and others extracted a three atom thick, 2 Dimensional material from a commonly occurring natural iron ore, ‘Hematite’.
This 2 dimensional material (Hematene) derived from a non-van der Waals (non-layerd) material could be a game changer for solar fuel generation. “2D materials from bulk precursors having 3D bonding networks are rare and in this contest hematene assumes great significance”, said Prof. Anantharaman.
“The special photocatalytic property is used for splitting water into Hydrogen and Oxygen and could also serve ultra-thin material for spintronic – based devices due to its ferromagnetic property”, the researchers said. This investigation has been published in the latest issue of famed journal “Nature Nanotechnology’ published on may 7, 2018.
Along with Prof. M R Anantharaman and Aravind from Cusat as the lead investigators, Prof. Pulickal M Ajayan, chair of Rice’s Department of Materials Science and Nano Engineering, Benjamin M and Mary Greenwood Anderson, Professor in Engineering and a Professor of Chemistry, also a native of Kodungallur and Chandrasekhar Tiwary, currently working as an assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar and others join as the lead members from Rice University. Prof. Oommen Varghese of the Department of Physics, University of Houston along with his students are the other members of the team.
