The 11th Bengaluru India Nano conference and exhibition showcased technologies and products developed by academia and companies in nanotechnology.
The three-day event was organised by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the government of Karnataka and the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), in association with other government institutions and corporate companies.
JNCASR is an autonomous institution of the DST.
According to a press release, the exhibition showcased research work that covered new approaches to tackle infections related to antimicrobial resistance, eco-friendly batteries, and tools on nanotechnology developed for agriculture.
Some of the technologies exhibited included Rhino Lure and Rhyncho Lure. They are eco-friendly, cost-effective, and residual free control strategy tools to monitor and manage rhinoceros beetles and red palm weevil pests and protect crops like coconut, date palm, oil palm, and areca nut.
These technologies were developed by a team led by Prof. M. Eswarmoorthy from JNCASR in collaboration with Dr Kesavan Subaharan, ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources, Bengaluru and Dr Gautam Kaul M. from ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal.
A set of eco-friendly batteries were also displayed. These had been developed by the team from the Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit, JNCASR.
The fabricated Zn-air battery uses a metal-organic framework (MOF) derived core-shell nanocomposite as a cathode material, which is trifunctional in nature.
This means it is active for ORR (oxygen reduction reactions), OER (oxygen evolution reactions) as well as HER (hydrogen evolution reactions) catalytic reactions.
The fabricated Zn-air battery is safe, lightweight, and is recharged electrically as well as mechanically. Along with this, to exploit the HER activity, the same material was used as anode and cathode in water electrolyser which is powered by the fabricated Zn-air battery and thus, showing the self-powered overall water splitting process.
Scientists at the International Advanced Research for Powder Metallurgy & New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad have developed polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC).
As OpenGov reported earlier, PEMFCs have an advantage of operational capability at low temperatures with applications in decentralised power generation systems.
Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells stack, 5 kW capacity Image credit: Press Information Bureau
Through intense R&D efforts in the area of fuel cell technologies, ARCI at its Centre for Fuel Cell Technology in Chennai has developed in-house PEMFC systems in the power range of 1 to 20 Kilowatt (kW) and demonstrated the same in stationary (1-20 kW) and transport applications (1,3,5 kW).
The fuel cell stack provides sustainable electricity using hydrogen gas without grid power). There is a wide range of applications for his innovation.
Emergency operation centres backed with 10 kW system along with fuel cell stack, air moving subsystems, power control devices, and control and monitoring systems are being planned as natural disaster management measures.
The latest concept in disaster management all over the world is about the conversion of control rooms to emergency operation centres. Emergency operation centres respond immediately during an emergency with state-of-the-art communication systems.
Hence, the government decided to look at the prospect of converting the existing control room to emergency operation centres backed with 10 kW system along with fuel cell stacks, air moving subsystems, power control devices and control and monitoring systems.
