BY: Y.Bala Murali Krishna
Panaji, Mar 1-2k9 (UNI) Mimic the mother Nature that gives clues to develop sticky and non-sticky nano-materials with vital strategic applications like mitigating corrosion claiming Rs 50,000 crore annual loss to the Indian industry, says a nano-technology expert.
'Nature has plenty of examples like the shark having anti-sticky skin, the gecko (lizard) and the frog with sticky foot/pods. Even the Lotus leaf on the surface of which water does not stick, provides us clues to develop materials with stain resistant, self-cleansing surface texture properties,' avers Prof Asutosh Sharma, department of Chemical Engineering, IIT-Kanpur.
The research could be enhanced using the nano-technology tools through the novel approach to develop anti-stick and anti-skid coatings/paints for potential marine applications to save precious foreign exchange, Prof Sharma told UNI.
He was here recently in connection with the just concluded four-day International symposium on 'Surface Protective Coatings and Paint Exhibition' organised by the Indian Chapter of the Society for Surface Protective Coatings.
Prof Asutosh, also a member of the National Nano Science and Technology Mission, had urged the researchers to take the benefits of the Nano Mission for developing micro/nano-coatings to benefit the industry.
He called for interaction between the academia and the industry for enhancing research on developing anti-corrosion nano-materials using the Nano Mission which offers Rs 50 lakhs soft loans for the researchers.
One can use electric field methods to develop nano-surfaces and textures in fabricating the materials with critical applications. ''Think ahead of the world. No reverse engineering in this research,' he said.
The anti-corrosion market is worth Rs 15,000 crore even as the expenditure on the account was on rise every year with applications on the hydrocarbon sector, particularly offshore structures, power, aerospace and infrastructure sectors. India had been importing anti-corrosion material to the tune of 25 million USD to mitigate the menace.
The Centre has initiated the Nano Mission with a corpus of Rs 1,000 crores for five years with the Department of Science and Technology being the nodal agency for implementing its projects.
Capacity-building in this upcoming area of research will be of utmost importance for the Nano Mission so that India emerges as a global knowledge-hub in this field also.
For this, research on fundamental aspects of nanoscience and training of large number of manpower will receive prime attention. Equally importantly, the Nano Mission will strive for development of products and processes for national development, especially in areas of national relevance like safe drinking water, materials development, sensors development, drug delivery and the like.
The mission will forge linkages between educational and research institutions and industry to promote Public Private Partnerships. The Nano Mission was so structured that it could achieve synergy between the national research efforts of various agencies in Nano Science and Technology and launch new programmes in a concerted fashion. International collaborative research efforts will also be
made wherever required.
The Nano Mission is the result of considerable promotional efforts already put in by the Government of India to promote nanotechnology research. Over 100 research projects have been funded so far. Several centres of excellence on nanoscience and nanotechnology have also been established.
A number of post-doctoral fellowships have been awarded and national and international conferences organized. The Government has spent approximately Rs 200 crore over the past five years to promote R&D in this area. These scientists, facilities and centres will form part of the network of the Nano Mission.//EOM//