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Pulickel Ajayan

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Pulickel Ajayan
Ajayan in 2009
Born (1962-07-15) 15 July 1962 (age 62)
Thrissur, Kerala, India
Alma mater
Known forNanotechnology
Scientific career
FieldsMaterials science and Nanotechnology
InstitutionsRice University, Houston
Thesis Phase instabilities in small particles  (1989)
Doctoral advisorLaurence D. Marks[1]

Pulickel Madhavapanicker Ajayan (P. M. Ajayan) is the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Engineering at Rice University, Houston, Texas.[2] He is a Professor in the Materials Science and NanoEngineering Department[3] and also holds joint appointments with the Department of Chemistry and Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Prior to joining Rice, he was the Henry Burlage Professor of Material Sciences and Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, until 2007. He has contributed significantly to the field of nanotechnology[4][5] over the past three decades of his academic career and is particularly known for his pioneering work in the early days of the discovery and development of carbon nanotubes.[6][7][8]

Early life and education

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Ajayan hails from Kodungallur, a coastal town in the Indian state of Kerala. He was born on 15 July 1962 to K. Madhavapanicker, a telephone technician, and Pulickel Radha, a Hindi school teacher at the local high school. He studied in a government school in Kodungallur where the medium of instruction was Malayalam until 6th standard, after which he moved to Loyola School, Thiruvananthapuram, a high school he has credited for making a strong impact on him.[9] After graduating from Loyola in 1977, he completed two years of his pre-degree at Christ college, Irinjalakuda, close to his hometown. In 1985, Ajayan graduated at the top of his class with a BTech degree in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT (BHU) Varanasi.[10]  In 1989, he earned a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.[11] After his PhD, he spent three years as a post-doc at NEC Corporation, Japan, two years as a researcher at the Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Orsay, France, and one year at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, Stuttgart, Germany.

Research

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Ajayan has been a pioneer in the field of nanotechnology.[4][12] His PhD work (1989) involved transmission electron microscopy characterization of gold nanoparticles, their phase instabilities and substrate interactions. Afterwards, he was involved in the early development of carbon nanotubes during his post-doctoral work. From 1990 onwards, at the NEC Fundamental Research Laboratory in Tsukuba, Japan, he worked with Sumio Iijima[13][14] and Thomas Ebbesen[15] and published some of the early works in carbon nanotubes. His works reporting the first observation of the smallest nanotubes with a single layer,[13] large-scale method for synthesizing nanotubes,[15] and filling of nanotube hollows with capillary forces[14] were all early breakthroughs that led to the development of the nanotube field. Later, over the next decade, he published extensively in the nanotube area and was a key figure in the field. In the past three decades, in addition to carbon nanotubes, he has worked on various materials systems, including graphene and two-dimensional (2D) materials, diamond, nanocomposites, catalysts and energy storage materials.[16] He has published more than 1300 journal papers, which have earned more than 230,000 citations on Google Scholar and an h-index of 233 as of March 2025.[17] He has to his credit two Guinness World Records for creating the smallest brush[18][19] and the darkest material.[20] His team created the darkest known material, a carpet of carbon nanotubes, that reflects only 0.045% of light. Over the years, his team has been responsible for several innovative materials discoveries in the energy storage area that include a flexible paper battery,[21][22] paintable battery concept,[23][24] organic battery electrodes,[25] high-temperature batteries and supercapacitors,[26] and environmentally friendly Li-ion battery recycling using deep eutectic solvents[27]. His work has also involved designing new materials for contaminant removal from water,[28][29] nanotube sponges for selective absorption of oil from oil-water mixture, and catalysts for CO2 reduction[30]. His group has published several pioneering works in the vapour phase growth methods for the synthesis of atomically thin 2D materials such as boron nitride,[31][32] transition metal dichalcogenides and their hybrid constructs[33]. His group has also contributed to 3D printing of complex architected structures from different materials systems.[34] His group is now working on the synthesis of artificial diamonds and other ultra-wide bandgap materials such as boron nitride.[35] His recent interests also include plasma-based technologies[36] and bio-derived materials[37].

Ajayan's research over the years has focused on the design and creation of nano-engineered materials for many applications that include energy storage, structural, electronics, coatings and catalysis.[38] Apart from leading a large research team, he also focuses on teaching and lecturing around the world on nanotechnology.[12][39][40][41] He is the founding chair of the Department of Materials Science and Nanoengineering at Rice and served as its chair for the first ten years.[3] He serves on the advisory board of several materials and nanotechnology journals, nanotechnology startups and international conferences. In his role as an academic at Rice and RPI, Ajayan has been a major promoter of nanotechnology[42], teaching various interdisciplinary courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Constantly travelling to disseminate knowledge, Ajayan has a large number of collaborators worldwide and several of his past group members presently hold faculty positions abroad and inside the United States.[43] He has had distinguished visiting professor positions at various prestigious Universities around the world, such as several of the IITs, and IISC in India, NTU Singapore, Shinshu University, Japan[44] and ISIS Strasbourg,[45] France. As a Helmoltz-Humboldt prize winner, he was a frequent visitor at the Institute of Nanotechnology in KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany, during 2007–2010. He has been consistently listed among the most cited researchers and top materials scientists in the world.[46]

Personal life

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Ajayan is married to Poornima, who also works at Rice University as a program manager,[47] and they have two daughters, Anakha and Ahi.[48]

Honors

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  • Materials Today Innovation Award (2024)[49]
  • Elected to the Indian National Science Academy (2024)[50]
  • Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Medal for International Collaboration and Public Understanding of Science and Technology (2019)[51]
  • Alumnus of the Century in Making Award IIT-BHU (2019)
  • Elected Fellow to the US National Academy of Inventors (NAI) (2019)[52]
  • Lifetime Achievement Nanotechnology Award, Houston Technology Center, Houston, TX (2016)
  • Elected MRS Fellow (2016)[53]
  • Nanosmat Prize (2016) – for outstanding contributions in the field of nanoscience[54]
  • Spiers Memorial Award, Royal Society of Chemistry, UK (2014)
  • Docteur Honoris Causa Université Catholique de Louvain (2014)
  • Distinguished Career Award for Alumni from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL (2013)
  • Helmoltz-Humboldt Senior Award (2008)
  • Materials Research Society (MRS) medal, 2006
  • Holder of two Guinness Book of World Records (2007, 2005)
  • Helmoltz-Humboldt Prize (2007)[55]
  • Elected Fellow of AAAS (2007)
  • Microscopic Society of America Burton Award (1997)
  • Hadfield Medal for Outstanding Metallurgist, India (1985)
  • Gold Medal - IIT BHU Metallurgical Engineering (1985)  

References

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  1. ^ "Laurence D. Marks" (PDF). Northwestern University.
  2. ^ Ajayan. "Pulickel Ajayan_ Faculty _Rice University".
  3. ^ a b "Rice MSNE". Materials Science and NanoEngineering | Rice University. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  4. ^ a b "TryNano.org : Pulickel Ajayan". Archived from the original on 25 March 2012.
  5. ^ "Campus Conversations with the President: Pulickel Ajayan, September 2012". YouTube. 4 September 2012.
  6. ^ Ajayan, Pulickel M.; Zhou, Otto Z. (2001), Dresselhaus, Mildred S.; Dresselhaus, Gene; Avouris, Phaedon (eds.), "Applications of Carbon Nanotubes", Carbon Nanotubes, vol. 80, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 391–425, doi:10.1007/3-540-39947-x_14, ISBN 978-3-540-41086-7, retrieved 13 March 2025
  7. ^ Ajayan, P M; Ebbesen, T W (1 October 1997). "Nanometre-size tubes of carbon". Reports on Progress in Physics. 60 (10): 1025–1062. Bibcode:1997RPPh...60.1025A. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/60/10/001. ISSN 0034-4885.
  8. ^ Li, Yan (22 June 2021). "Carbon Nanotube Research in Its 30th Year". ACS Nano. 15 (6): 9197–9200. doi:10.1021/acsnano.1c04972. ISSN 1936-0851. PMID 34157812.
  9. ^ "P.M. Ajayan: Science Hero from Loyola – The ARChive". Retrieved 3 March 2025.
  10. ^ "List of IIT (BHU) Varanasi People. Wikipedia; 2025".
  11. ^ "Curriculum Vitae: Laurence Daniel MARKS" (PDF).
  12. ^ a b "An interview with Prof. P.M. Ajayan". YouTube. 18 April 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
  13. ^ a b Ajayan, P.; Iijima, S. "Smallest Carbon Nanotube" (PDF).{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ a b Ajayan, P. M.; lijima, Sumio (1993). "Capillarity-induced filling of carbon nanotubes". Nature. 361 (6410): 333–334. Bibcode:1993Natur.361..333A. doi:10.1038/361333a0. ISSN 0028-0836.
  15. ^ a b Ebbesen, T. W.; Ajayan, P. M. (16 July 1992). "Large-scale synthesis of carbon nanotubes". Nature. 358 (6383): 220–222. Bibcode:1992Natur.358..220E. doi:10.1038/358220a0. ISSN 0028-0836.
  16. ^ "Nanocomposite Science and Technology | Wiley". Wiley.com. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  17. ^ "Ajayan PM". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  18. ^ "Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: US nanotechnologists make it to the Guinness Book of World Records". www.nanotech-now.com. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  19. ^ "Extremely Small Brushes Could Improve Chip Production". NPR. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  20. ^ "University Makes New Black from Tiny Carbon Tubes". NPR. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  21. ^ Pushparaj, Victor L.; Shaijumon, Manikoth M.; Kumar, Ashavani; Murugesan, Saravanababu; Ci, Lijie; Vajtai, Robert; Linhardt, Robert J.; Nalamasu, Omkaram; Ajayan, Pulickel M. (21 August 2007). "Flexible energy storage devices based on nanocomposite paper". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 104 (34): 13574–13577. Bibcode:2007PNAS..10413574P. doi:10.1073/pnas.0706508104. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 1959422. PMID 17699622.
  22. ^ Chun, Ai Lin (31 August 2007). "Bendy batteries". Nature Nanotechnology. doi:10.1038/nnano.2007.305. ISSN 1748-3387.
  23. ^ Lamb, Evelyn. "Cover Charge: New Spray-On Battery Could Convert Any Object into an Electricity Storage Device". Scientific American. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  24. ^ Singh, Neelam; Galande, Charudatta; Miranda, Andrea; Mathkar, Akshay; Gao, Wei; Reddy, Arava Leela Mohana; Vlad, Alexandru; Ajayan, Pulickel M. (28 June 2012). "Paintable Battery". Scientific Reports. 2 (1): 481. Bibcode:2012NatSR...2..481S. doi:10.1038/srep00481. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 3385420. PMID 22745900.
  25. ^ Reddy, Arava Leela Mohana; Nagarajan, Subbiah; Chumyim, Porramate; Gowda, Sanketh R.; Pradhan, Padmanava; Jadhav, Swapnil R.; Dubey, Madan; John, George; Ajayan, Pulickel M. (11 December 2012). "Lithium storage mechanisms in purpurin based organic lithium ion battery electrodes". Scientific Reports. 2 (1): 960. Bibcode:2012NatSR...2..960R. doi:10.1038/srep00960. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 3518813. PMID 23233879.
  26. ^ Rodrigues, Marco-Tulio F.; Kalaga, Kaushik; Gullapalli, Hemtej; Babu, Ganguli; Reddy, Arava Leela Mohana; Ajayan, Pulickel M. (June 2016). "Hexagonal Boron Nitride-Based Electrolyte Composite for Li-Ion Battery Operation from Room Temperature to 150 °C". Advanced Energy Materials. 6 (12). Bibcode:2016AdEnM...600218R. doi:10.1002/aenm.201600218. ISSN 1614-6832.
  27. ^ Tran, Mai K.; Rodrigues, Marco-Tulio F.; Kato, Keiko; Babu, Ganguli; Ajayan, Pulickel M. (1 April 2019). "Deep eutectic solvents for cathode recycling of Li-ion batteries". Nature Energy. 4 (4): 339–345. Bibcode:2019NatEn...4..339T. doi:10.1038/s41560-019-0368-4. ISSN 2058-7546.
  28. ^ "'Super sand' to help clean up dirty drinking water". BBC News. 24 June 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  29. ^ Gao, Wei; Majumder, Mainak; Alemany, Lawrence B.; Narayanan, Tharangattu N.; Ibarra, Miguel A.; Pradhan, Bhabendra K.; Ajayan, Pulickel M. (22 June 2011). "Engineered Graphite Oxide Materials for Application in Water Purification". ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 3 (6): 1821–1826. doi:10.1021/am200300u. ISSN 1944-8244. PMID 21568266.
  30. ^ "Ajayan Research Group_Env and sustainability". ajayan.rice.edu. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  31. ^ Biswas, Abhijit; Alvarez, Gustavo A.; Tripathi, Manoj; Lee, Jonghoon; Pieshkov, Tymofii S.; Li, Chenxi; Gao, Bin; Puthirath, Anand B.; Zhang, Xiang; Gray, Tia; Elkins, Jacob; Vajtai, Robert; Dai, Pengcheng; Birdwell, A. Glen; Neupane, Mahesh R. (2024). "Cubic and hexagonal boron nitride phases and phase boundaries". Journal of Materials Chemistry C. 12 (9): 3053–3062. doi:10.1039/D4TC00039K. ISSN 2050-7526.
  32. ^ Roy, Soumyabrata; Zhang, Xiang; Puthirath, Anand B.; Meiyazhagan, Ashokkumar; Bhattacharyya, Sohini; Rahman, Muhammad M.; Babu, Ganguli; Susarla, Sandhya; Saju, Sreehari K.; Tran, Mai Kim; Sassi, Lucas M.; Saadi, M. a. S. R.; Lai, Jiawei; Sahin, Onur; Sajadi, Seyed Mohammad (2021). "Structure, Properties and Applications of Two-Dimensional Hexagonal Boron Nitride". Advanced Materials. 33 (44): 2101589. Bibcode:2021AdM....3301589R. doi:10.1002/adma.202101589. ISSN 1521-4095. PMID 34561916.
  33. ^ "Ajayan Research Group_2D research". ajayan.rice.edu. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  34. ^ "Ajayan_3D printing research". web.rice.edu. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  35. ^ "Ajayan Research Group_Diamond research". ajayan.rice.edu. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  36. ^ Gray, Tia; Zhang, Xiang; Biswas, Abhijit; Terlier, Tanguy; Oliveira, Eliezer F.; Puthirath, Anand B.; Li, Chenxi; Pieshkov, Tymofii S.; Garratt, Elias J.; Neupane, Mahesh R.; Pate, Bradford B.; Birdwell, A. Glen; Ivanov, Tony G.; Vajtai, Robert; Ajayan, Pulickel M. (1 September 2024). "Benchmarking diamond surface preparation and fluorination via inductively coupled plasma-reactive ion etching". Carbon. 228: 119366. Bibcode:2024Carbo.22819366G. doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2024.119366. ISSN 0008-6223.
  37. ^ Roy, Soumyabrata; Philip, Firuz Alam; Oliveira, Eliezer Fernando; Singh, Gurwinder; Joseph, Stalin; Yadav, Ram Manohar; Adumbumkulath, Aparna; Hassan, Sakib; Khater, Ali; Wu, Xiaowei; Bollini, Praveen; Vinu, Ajayan; Shimizu, George; Ajayan, Pulickel M.; Kibria, Md Golam (15 February 2023). "Functional wood for carbon dioxide capture". Cell Reports Physical Science. 4 (2). Bibcode:2023CRPS....401269R. doi:10.1016/j.xcrp.2023.101269. ISSN 2666-3864.
  38. ^ "Ajayan Research Group". ajayan.rice.edu. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  39. ^ Nano Technano (15 March 2007). Professor Pulickel Ajayan on Nanotechnology. Retrieved 13 March 2025 – via YouTube.
  40. ^ IIT Gandhinagar (10 July 2020). Hear Our Story ft. Prof P M Ajayan | Vistor in Campus | IITGN 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2025 – via YouTube.
  41. ^ SRM University - AP, Andhra Pradesh (8 January 2025). Nanotechnology: Then & Now – Prof. Pulickel Ajayan | UDL#19 | SRM AP. Retrieved 13 March 2025 – via YouTube.
  42. ^ "'Nanotech holds key to the future'". www.rediff.com. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  43. ^ "Ajayan Research Group_Alumni". ajayan.rice.edu. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  44. ^ "P.M.Ajayan Research Group｜Researchers/Research Groups｜Shinshu-University Research Center for Exotic NanoCarbons(ENCs)". www.shinshu-u.ac.jp. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  45. ^ "ISIS Strasbourg".
  46. ^ "The 2016 List of Most Cited Researchers in Materials Science and Engineering by Elsevier Scopus Data". MSE Supplies LLC. 13 July 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  47. ^ "Poornima Ajayan | Staff | The People of Rice | Rice University". profiles.rice.edu. Archived from the original on 7 December 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  48. ^ "Ajayan_Bio". web.rice.edu. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  49. ^ "Announcements - Materials Today | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier". www.sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  50. ^ "Foreign Fellows – Indian National Science Academy". Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  51. ^ "Indian Institute of Science". Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  52. ^ "US National Academy of Inventors". NAI. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  53. ^ "List of MRS Fellows". www.mrs.org. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  54. ^ "Profile" (PDF). www.uq.edu.au. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  55. ^ "Prof. Dr. Pulickel Ajayan". www.humboldt-foundation.de. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
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