SRM-AP All News
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- Novel designs for electrochemical ammonia synthesis to substitute Haber-Bosch process May 26, 2021
Professor Ranjit Thapa, Head of the Department of Physics, has recently published a paper “Unveiling the Genesis of the High Catalytic Activity in Nickel Phthalocyanine for Electrochemical Ammonia Synthesis” in the renowned Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Royal Society of Chemistry (Impact Factor: 11.301). The work has been done in collaboration with the Department of Industrial Chemistry & Applied Chemistry, Swami Vivekananda Research Centre, Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur Math, Howrah; Rubber Technology Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur; and Atomic & Molecular Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India.The slow kinetics of N2 adsorption, splitting of the strong N≡N bond are the challenges for the electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) process. In the electrocatalytic NRR process, the fast reaction kinetics of hydrogen evolution reaction is the greatest obstacle. To solve these challenges, the search for various types of catalysts is on a roll. Also, identifying active sites responsible for the origin of catalytic activity in transition metal phthalocyanine is difficult due to its complex structure. Herein, density functional theory (DFT) has been applied to identify the probable active sites of nickel phthalocyanine (NiPc) in NRR as well as the origin of catalytic activity, which is associated with d band centre and density of states (DOS) of Ni in NiPc. Accordingly, the NiPc nanorods (NRs) were synthesised by the solvothermal method on a large scale and the chemically prepared NiPc NRs exhibit the NH3 yield rate of about 85 μg h-1mgcat-1.
In 2019, the global production capacity of ammonia was 235 million metric tons which will increase to 290 million metric tons by 2030. This emphasis on ammonia is due to its application in broad and diverse fields, such as fertilisers, textiles, pharmaceutical, and carbon-free energy carriers. The Haber-Bosch process is used to synthesise ammonia (NH3) from N2 and H2 using Fe based catalyst. However, the process emits carbon dioxide (CO2) (1.5 tons of CO2/tons of NH3 production) and requires high pressure and temperature and consumes around 2% of the global energy supply. Electrocatalytic N2 fixation (N2 + 6H+ + 6e− → 2NH3) showed great potential due to the possible use of atmospheric nitrogen and hydrogen derived from water through electrolysis and in mild conditions.In their future endeavours, Prof Thapa and his research group will design different types of such single-atom catalyst (SAC) considering different metal atoms and their surrounding non-metals. Dr Thapa’s team necessitates addressing the above problem to fill the gap, which could be the energy equation, energy parameter and electronic descriptor, to help them predict the best SAC catalyst in the large catalyst space for eNRR over HER. The solution is much needed through density functional theory to understand the origin and design principle and lower the time for trials by experimentalists in the laboratory. Prof Thapa is working on energy equations that can predict the best catalyst for eNRR over HER. They defined four regions to find the SAC catalyst for eNRR over HER (1) catalyst for NRR with almost nil HER probability (ii) catalyst for NRR with low HER probability (iii) HER over NRR and (iv) NRR is possible but with H poisoning. Overall, the energy parameter and descriptor to find NRR over HER is a fundamental problem, and the database is a platform to be used by experimentalists and is the key idea.
Read the full paper: https://doi.org/10.1039/D1TA00766A.
Continue reading → - SRM University-AP & Titan Company Ltd collaborate to engineer novel gold alloys for contemporary jewellery May 20, 2021
SRM University-AP inked an MOU with Titan Company Ltd (TATA group,) Bangalore, for the project “Developing novel gold alloys for contemporary Jewellery application”. Titan has sanctioned Rs. 29.6 lakhs for the execution of the project to Dr G S Vinod Kumar, Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Principal Investigator of the project. Dr Vinod is well known for his research in precious metals such as gold and silver for making lightweight and high strength alloys that can be used in jewellery making.The jewellery division of Titan Company Ltd (TANISHQ) will jointly work on this project by supplying Gold for lab-scale experiments. The Industrial scaling up trials of the technology will be carried out at Titan’s jewellery manufacturing plant at Hosur, Tamil Nadu.
This is the fourth project sanctioned by Titan Company Ltd to Dr G S Vinod Kumar and the second project in Gold. The first project “Hardening of 22Karat and 24Karat gold for lightweight and high strength jewellery application” was successfully completed in 2018 by Dr Vinod and his team. A joint patent between SRM and Titan Company Ltd has been filed and the jewellery produced from hard 22Karat gold is currently available in Titan showrooms under the brand-TANISHQ.
Continue reading → - Prediction of End-Time of COVID-19 Spread in AP May 16, 2021
In the current pandemic situation, a pertinent question is an estimate of the time by which virus spread could be contained and normalcy would return. In this context,Prof.Narayana Rao, Pro Vice Chancellor, SRM University – AP initiated the study. Dr. Soumyajyoti Biswas of SRM University AP, along with 4 B.Tech Students have carried out an interesting study to predict the end time of COVID-19 spread in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The study employed Susceptible – Infected – Recovered (SIR) Model, making use of the information on the COVID-19 affected people and the recovered number of people, which the Government of AP makes it available through the control command center. SRM Team made use of this data, employed SIR Model and applied the methods of Machine Learning. Study reveals that by July 15th 2021, the rate of infection in AP will be below 100 per day.
With the assumption that the decay rate of infection is same as the growth rate, the model predicts that the number of infected people could be 10,000 (May 21), 15,000 (May 30), 1000 (June 14), 500 (June 23) and 100 (July 15)
The above report has been submitted to the Special Chief Secretary to the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
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- SRMAP-TBI launches the first cohort of 36 start-up ventures May 16, 2021
Technology Business Incubator of SRM University-AP launched the first venture cohort with 36 selected startup business ventures, on May 15, 2021, in the presence of the special guest of honour from industry, Prof Ramesh Loganathan, Head of co-innovation and outreach at IIIT Hyderabad and Ex-Chief Innovation Officer of the Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC).
“From the initial years onwards, SRM University-AP is focused to make entrepreneurs who can be the leaders of tomorrow. The University signed an MOU with the University of California, Berkeley to design the curriculum to promote entrepreneurship,” Said Prof V S Rao, Vice-Chancellor, SRM University-AP, in his welcome speech.
Advancing the proceedings of the event, the guest of honour Prof Ramesh Loganathan gave a brief understanding of the scope and future of entrepreneurship in India and the global scenario. “The entrepreneurial journey should start with identifying the problems in the ecosystem. A great example can be the face recognition software that started with the idea of capturing student attendance in colleges. Similarly, the budding entrepreneurs should identify such similar problems, do thorough market research and then prepare the business plan. The price of the product/idea should matter the last.”
SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh established the ‘Innovation, Design and Entrepreneurship Academy (IDEA)’ as part of the strategic alliance with UC Berkeley to create an academy combining their Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Jacob Center of Design and Innovation to foster the culture of innovation, design and entrepreneurship among the students of all streams including engineering, liberal arts and sciences, and management. Dr Prakash Jadav, Associate Professor and Head of IDEA opined, “It is exciting to see so many students submitting their business ideas in the first business cohort. I am sure that with our guidance and mentorship, they all can reach new heights in setting up their ventures in the industry.”
62 teams, which comprises 192 students applied for the opportunity. After a rigorous screening and evaluation on various parameters like innovation, scalability and commercialization, only 36 teams/ ventures were selected to be a part of the SRM TBI’s first cohort.
The selected ventures will be mentored and supported for a period of a minimum 12 months where they will be facilitated with infrastructure support, mentoring and networking support, seed fund and innovation fund support, hardware and software support, industry connectivity, learning resources, market exposure and several others.The selected ventures will be mentored and supported for a period of minimum 12 months will all the services of a regular technology business incubator. SRM TBI will also provide an opportunity to pitch to the investors, connects with industry experts, market linkage and a global network of mentors. The startups developing prototype and MVP can apply for the Product validation track and pre-revenue/ revenue stage startups can apply for the Market validation track. Each of the 36 startup ventures will get hands-on mentoring and guidance from the mentors and experts from their respective working areas. The startups go through physical interactions through contact sessions at SRM AP and virtual interaction with mentors through online workshops during the program.
After the Q & A session Mr Udayan Bakshi, CEO SRM TBI & Associate Director Entrepreneurship, cordially thanked all the speakers and panellists for their efforts to make the SRM TBI cohort launch a grand success. He also highlighted that TBI will not limit to just this batch of students or to the SRM University-AP, but shall extend its vision and activities to the entire ecosystem
Continue reading → - SRM University-AP celebrates the exorbitant success in Maiden Batch Placement 2021 May 3, 2021
SRM University-AP initiated its journey in the year 2017, and now it is time to bid farewell to the maiden batch of students. The university is proud to share that 100% of our graduating students are placed successfully. About 500 companies visited SRM campuses during the Placement drive, including Amazon, Adobe, Infosys, HealthRx, Bank of America, Standard Chartered and many more who have offered exhilarating opportunities. Students of the founding batch have received one or more job offers in reputed companies with the highest CTC of ₹29.5 LPA, an average salary of ₹6.2 LPA, and over 57% offers were Super Dream and Dream offers. The Campus Placement drive is still on and best efforts are put in to ensure that all the students are placed.Dr P Sathyanarayanan, Founder and President, established this university with a vision of providing quality education to the students who will not only be able to secure a position of their choice but also add value to society. It has been an incredible journey so far, and the students made the university proud with their excellence in academics and extra-curricular activities. “Acknowledging the needs of the hour, SRM University-AP is dedicated to devising strategies to mould students to become global leaders,” said Dr Sathyanarayanan.
The university took it as a challenge to find the best job offers for its deserving students. The Department of Corporate Relations and Career Services (CR&CS) was deeply involved in providing students with the best training and placement opportunities. SRM University-AP believes that every student is filled with numerous possibilities, and they can scale greater heights if their potentials are explored wisely. The students of the maiden batch proved the vision.
“We always bring the best to our students when it comes to their training and personality development. The thoughtfully crafted training sessions, in close coordination with industry and corporate experts, rigorous aptitude tests, mock interview rounds help students to excel in the interviews and placement rounds”, informed Mr M S Vivekanandan, Assistant Director, CR&CS.
Sri Ritika Katragadda, a final-year student in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, secured the highest pay package. She expressed her joy, saying, “Though we were the first graduating batch of SRMAP, the outstanding experience in the past four years in academics and placement training made us so confident that we cracked the long hiring process with ease”.
Prof V S Rao, Vice-Chancellor, SRM University-AP, opined, “Our university is the flag-bearer when it comes to inculcating quality, value and excellence among the students in order to make them an asset to the society. The maiden batch placement programme was bound to be a success as it was not a job hunting for our students, rather, finding opportunities to contribute to the society, putting into use their intellect and innovative ideas”.
SRM University – AP Placements 2021
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- SRM University-AP Student earns Erasmus Mundus Scholarship 2021 May 1, 2021
Since its inception, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, has retained its exalted heights of excellence and brilliance. Avid students over the years have brought laurels to the organisation with impressive research work, outstanding academic performance or Guinness World Record for spectacular artistry. Bismark Razak Haruna, a B. Tech Final Year Student at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is deemed to be bestowed on the highly prestigious Erasmus Mundus scholarship. The globally acclaimed European Union-funded scholarship will help Bismark pursue the joint master’s degree programme in Decentralised Smart Energy Systems (DENSYS) in renowned universities of Europe.Bismark sets an example by being the first Ghanaian to get into the DENSYS program. He expressed that as part of the mobility scheme of the programme, he would pursue the first year at the University of Lorraine, Nancy, France, and continue the final year at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain. The Erasmus Mundus Scholarship help students enrol into the world’s best universities for masters and doctoral programmes with substantial benefits. Bismark shared his thoughts, “I welcome the opportunity to play an important role in increased electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa through the integration of renewable energy sources for a low carbon society”.
Approximately 392 aspirants applied for the DENSYS program globally, and out of 23 students from 17 countries, Bismark secured his place. Erasmus Mundus Scholarship Programme covers the expenditure involving the tuition fee, insurance, participation in activities such as the lab courses, excursion, research projects, financial support for housing, feeding, transportation and installation fee as well.
While speaking of his success, Bismark expressed his gratitude towards the SRM University-AP for consistently providing him with golden opportunities and resources. “From conceptualising undergraduate research project to studying abroad at UC Berkeley, the University has been a constant support. A special thanks to my motivators and mentors- Dr Prakash Jadav, Dr Satya Pramod Jammy, Dr Sarfaraz Hussain Halkarni, Dr Ram Kuresh Thakur, Dr Srabani Basu, Ms Revathi Balakrishnan for grooming and guiding me throughout the journey. I convey my sincere thanks to my buddies as well for helping me out with the scholarship application”, Bismark added while being ready for exploring the next chapter of his life in the European Union.
Continue reading → - Undergrad Student research predicts stock market valuations April 26, 2021
Pavan Krishna and S Fahad Kamraan, guided by Dr Priyanka, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, successfully published a research paper titled “Stock market prediction using sentimental analysis” in the Scopus indexed “International Journal of Advanced Research Engineering and Technology (IJARET)” on March 2021. Being the students of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, both researchers have apt knowledge on the sentimental analysis commonly known as opinion mining or emotion AI led to the successful execution of the research project.Sentimental analysis is used to help find patterns in textual data, to understand people’s emotions and sentiments in a much deeper and holistic way. It is used to find the polarity of the information and to classify it under different emotion/ sentiment radar all the way from sad to happy or too excited.
The key title takes a dig into a study involving a new method of predicting stocks by performing sentimental analysis on the financial data. A sentiment is analysed on the subjectivity and polarity index by classifying it into positive and negative news. Here, to predict the real-time stock price, sentiment analysis measures the polarity or subjectivity score, respectively.
“While pursuing my minor in Business Management, I gained Financial Literacy and eventually found an interest in the Stock Market & its behaviour. At the same time, we noticed how social media plays a crucial role in deciding stock prices. Fahad and I were so intrigued that we decided to take up a Project on Predicting Stock Market Prices based on Sentimental Analysis of statement – News & Tweets”, informed Pavan.
Fahad further acknowledged that the project was a big step for undergraduate students, and it could not have been possible without the guidance and motivation of Dr Priyanka, their mentor. “Dr Priyanka was the constant support and path-bearer for us as she showed immense faith until the goal is achieved”, said Fahad.
The duo was excited after receiving high praises and acclaims for their research project. They look forward to coming up with more research ideas that can benefit society.
Continue reading → - An Enthralling Webinar on “Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Aerospace Engineering” April 23, 2021
On April 15, 2021, the Department of Mechanical Engineering, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, hosted a virtual lecture session with Dr B V N Ramakumar, Professor and HOD, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Dayananda Sagar University, Bangalore. Addressing the Webinar, Dr Lakshmi Sirisha Maganti and Dr Venkata Nori, Faculty, Department of Mechanical Engineering, handed over the podium to Dr Ramakumar. Initiating the discussion with a brief understanding of the background of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Dr Ramakumar described the AI Applications in Space, Civil and Defense industry. Apart from highlighting the overview and functionality of AI Applications in Aerospace Engineering, he outlined the challenges associated with it.Dr Ramakumar completed his bachelor’s from Ranchi University, and he pursued a master’s from Andhra University. Dr Ramakumar holds a Doctorate Degree from IIT Madras and has years of experience in research, academia and industry. Dr Ramakumar worked for Rolls Royce India Pvt Ltd and Honeywell Solutions Pvt Ltd. With contributions to the Auto Mechanics Industrial Sector, he also worked for the DMR Institute of Technology.
Dr Ramakumar was the visiting faculty at Manipal University. In terms of contribution to the field of engineering, he designed, developed, and analysed components for Boeing 777X, Airbus A350 and Honeywell HTF700 Engine Programme. Dr Ramakumar published papers in reputed National and International journals in addition to two patents to his credit.
Dr Ramakumar elucidated, “Artificial Intelligence is the broad sphere covering machine learning and deep learning as well. Moreover, a technique which mimics human behaviour”. Discussing the key players in the aviation industry, he explained the role of the mini-robots to capture the imagery clips of the inaccessible area in an aircraft. Implementation of the Artificial Reality techniques in the civil aviation industry is needed to reduce manual cost and time. AI applications manage the supply chain by gathering data as a part of the predictive measure. With the inclusion of automated tools, the civil aviation industry efficiently controls and optimises the security parameters.
During Dr Ramkumar’s proceeding, he added, “AI Application in aviation optimises the data related to flight scheduling, seat arrangement, cabin crew shift scheduling along with the management of the route mapping”. Starting from taking off to landing, AI Applications are being used widely in the aviation industry.
He further added that “Emerging as the dynamic technology, AI Applications marked their presence in the military intelligence too. Drones for military operations map the routes and record that in imagery forms to apprehend the nearby geographical location. The information stored in databases are sent and received without any manual meddling”.
Advancing to the next part of the discussion, Dr Ramakumar explained that “Speaking of the satellite link and communication, Robonauts are the new humanoid robots that would replicate the actual human beings by assisting in anything from gathering outer space information to exploring it”. Dr Ramakumar also propounds that “Productivity and Investment are few challenges amongst others that are common and would go hand in hand with the development of AI technology.” The discussion came to an end with an engaging Q&A session with the students followed by a Vote of Thanks by Dr Nori.
Continue reading → - “Chemists have to play a major role to achieve sustainable development”- opined Prof Lakshmi Kantam in the University Distinguished Lecture Series April 19, 2021
Observing the ninth edition of University Distinguished Lecture Series, SRM University, Andhra Pradesh, invited Prof Lakshmi Kantam Mannepalli, the Dr B P Godrej Distinguished Professor of Green Chemistry, Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, to address a captivating speech on “Design and Development of Homogeneous/Heterogeneous Catalysts for Sustainable Chemical Industry”. Prof D Narayana Rao, Pro Vice-chancellor, inaugurated the talk with a welcome speech. The ceremony was attended by Prof VS Rao, Vice-Chancellor SRMAP and Dr S Mannathan, Department of Chemistry. Prof D Narayana Rao expressed that “Industrial collaboration is very much necessary in the context of self-reliant India (Atma Nirbhar Bharat)”.Advancing with Prof Lakshmi Kanam’s presentation, she added, “Global and Indian chemical industry estimate 5.1 trillion and 108.4 billion USD in 2021. Catalysis is a highly demanded technology for a sustainable society and drives innovation in many other fields. Achieving the high catalytic selectivity is the aim of catalysis science in 21 st century”.
She also stated in her presentation, “The catalysis of organic reactions by homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts remains a diversified field of scientific inquiry. It attracts a large group of scientists with specialities spanning synthetic organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, surface science, material science, reaction engineering and computational modelling”.As a part of Prof Lakshmi Kantam’ s research study, she briefly explained, “Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a hydrated calcium phosphate material, which is an important biomaterial because of its similarity to the mineral component of mammalian bone. We have utilised these materials, and their metal exchanged materials as catalysts for C-C and C-N coupling reactions. Similarly, hydrotalcite, anionic clays have been exchanged with different metal ions and successfully applied in a number of organic transformations”. An overview of the work on the design and development of catalysts for sustainable, economical process and technologies for the chemical industry was introduced.
Noted personality in the field of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Prof Lakshmi Kantam holds esteemed titles of FNA, FTWAS, FNASc, FRSC. Her fields of expertise are Catalysis, Materials and Process Chemistry. Prof Lakshmi Kantam served as the Director of CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad. Prof. Lakshmi Kantam is Non-Executive Independent Director of Godavari Bio Refineries Ltd, Indo Amines Ltd, Vinati Organics Ltd and several others.
Continue reading → - Dr Nimai Mishra explores the role of surface chemistry in improving photocatalytic applications April 8, 2021
Dr Nimai Mishra, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, along with his research group comprising of students pursuing PhD under him, Mr Syed Akhil and Ms V G Vasavi Dutt have published a research article titled “Surface Modification for Improving Photoredox Activity of CsPbBr3 Nanocrystals” in the Journal “Nanoscale Advances” (The Royal Society of Chemistry).Inorganic lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) are used in photocatalytic reactions in the modern era. The surface chemistry of the PNCs can play an important role in the excited state interactions and efficient charge transfer with redox molecules. In this work, Dr Mishra’s research group explored the impact of CsPbBr3 nanocrystal surface modification on the excited state interactions with the electron acceptor benzoquinone (BQ) for three different ligand environments: as oleic acid/oleylamine (OA/OAm), oleic acid (OA)/ trioctylphosphine (TOP), and oleic acid (OA)/ oleylamine (OAm)/ trioctylphosphine (TOP) ligands.
The research infers that amine-free PNCs (OA/TOP capped) exhibit the best-excited state interactions with benzoquinone as compared to the conventional oleylamine ligand environment. The photoinduced electron transfer (PET) rate constants were measured from PL-lifetime decay measurement. The amine-free PNCs show the highest PET which is 9 times higher than conventional ligands capped PNCs. These results highlight the impact of surface chemistry on excited-state interactions of CsPbBr3 NCs and in photocatalytic applications.More importantly, this work concludes that amine-free PNCs maintain a redox-active surface with a high photoinduced electron transfer rate which makes them an ideal candidate for photocatalytic applications.
To read the full paper: Please Click Here
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