The Research group of Prof. Abhijit Patra, Department of Chemistry, developed a range of solution-processable cross-linked porous organic polymers for task-specific applications. This account article explores the design strategies and functional applications of solution-processable cross-linked porous organic polymers (SCPOPs). Traditional porous organic polymers (POPs) often face solubility challenges due to their highly cross-linked and rigid structures, limiting their practical applications. To address this, our research focuses on fine-tuning noncovalent interactions within the polymer network, achieving a balance between porosity and solubility to enable solution processing. A key strategy involves the incorporation of long alkyl chains, which help mitigate strong ?–? stacking interactions and excessive cross-linking, thereby enhancing solubility. Additionally, molecular weight restriction approaches, such as hyperbranching and confined polymer growth strategy, further improve solubility by controlling polymer chain propagation. Maintaining a balance between flexibility and rigidity in the polymer backbone ensures processability without compromising porosity. Furthermore, miniemulsion polymerization offers a method for fabricating stable dispersions of porous polymer nanoparticles, expanding their potential applications. The versatility of SCPOPs is demonstrated in fluorescence-based sensing, white-light generation, and photocatalytic applications, including biphasic and dip-catalysis. More details at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/accountsmr.4c00197.

The coherent optical response is important from the perspective of applications in quantum information. Two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy (2DCS) is a powerful technique to study such properties in a variety of systems. Such experiments are typically performed in relatively low-excitation regime, particularly due to theoretical limitations of interpreting the data for high-intensity excitation. Dr. Rohan Singh and coworkers have demonstrated technique to perform exact calculations of 2D spectra even in the high-intensity regime. They have used these simulations to model experiments performed on semiconductor nanostructures, both in their group and previously reported results. These results are significant for the community of researchers performing spectroscopy with intense light. This work was published in the David Jonas Festschrift collection of the Journal of Chemical Physics. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0249809

The Research group of Dr. Jasbanta Patro, Department of Data Science and Engineering developed Hate detection has long been a challenging task for the NLP community. The task becomes complex in a code-mixed environment because the models must understand the context and the hate expressed through language alteration. Compared to the single language setup, we see much less work on code-mixed hate as large-scale annotated hate corpora are unavailable for the study. To overcome this bottleneck, Dr Jasabanta Patro’s lab in DSE proposed a unique strategy where they relied on native language hate samples to improve code-mixed hate performance. They hypothesised that in the era of multilingual language models (MLMs), hate in code-mixed settings can be detected by majorly relying on native language samples. This work has been recently published in ACM TALLIP. More details at https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3726866

Dr Somil Swarnkar’s research team from IISER Bhopal, along with a collaborator from the USA, studied how human activities—especially building and running big dams and other water structures—have affected the Godavari River, the largest river basin in peninsular India. They looked at 50 years of data on water flow and sediment (soil and particles carried by the river). Their study found that building dams in the central part of the river has caused a big drop (about 62%) in the amount of sediment the river carries. However, smaller rivers without dams helped reduce some of the negative effects during high water flow. They also found that building many barrages (small dam-like structures) downstream has further reduced how much sediment reaches the delta (where the river meets the sea). This is a problem because less sediment means the delta cannot grow naturally, which increases the chances of coastal flooding and erosion, especially as sea levels rise due to climate change. This research could help guide better planning and management of dams and water structures in the Godavari basin to keep the river system healthy in the long run. More details at url https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2025.2486160

The Research group of Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Jha, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences has developed a district-level avalanche vulnerability framework—the Combined Avalanche Vulnerability Index (CAVI) to assess avalanche vulnerability across 11 districts in the Indian Western Himalayan Region. This study integrates various meteorological, topographical, and anthropogenic factors to assess vulnerability. The findings indicate that Lahaul and Spiti are the most exposed district, Shimla is the most sensitive, and Rudraprayag is the least adaptive district to avalanches. Three out of five districts in Himachal Pradesh are highly vulnerable, while five out of six districts in Uttarakhand exhibit moderate vulnerability. To address the vulnerability, the study proposes a phased adaptation plan encompassing pre-hazard, during-hazard, and post-hazard measures aimed at mitigating avalanche impacts. More details at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-025-06015-8

India’s green vegetation plays a crucial role in mitigating climate change by sequestering CO? from the atmosphere. The decline in green cover due to natural as well as anthropogenic disturbances raises concerns about its long-term effectiveness in carbon sequestration. A novel study led by Dr Dhanyalekshmi Pillai and Dr Aparnna Ravi from the Greenhouse Modelling and Applications group in IISERB has developed an innovative approach using plant fluorescence detected by satellite radiance measurements along with physics-based models to quantify the carbon sequestration potential of Indian biomes. This methodological development and dissemination of application at a national level leverage recent high-resolution satellite techniques for the terrestrial carbon budget, which are of the first kind all over India. The findings reveal that while India’s ecosystems absorb more carbon than they emit—sequestering between 380 to 530 million tonnes annually—this trend is declining due to climate extremes. Central India's deciduous forests, for instance, act as carbon sources, releasing 210 million tonnes of carbon per year as respiration surpasses primary productivity. In contrast, evergreen forests remain highly efficient in CO? uptake, and croplands contribute significantly due to their vast coverage. This research is supported by the ongoing collaboration involving IISER Bhopal, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Germany, the University of Exeter United Kingdom, and India’s National Remote Sensing Centre. These insights are vital for shaping India’s emission reduction policies, supporting its 2070 net-zero goal, and strengthening climate resilience through effective ecosystem management and sustainable land-use strategies. More details at https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2752-664X/adabed

Dr. Akshay Modi’s research group at the Department of Chemical Engineering is working to improve membrane-based water filtration technology. Their research focuses on tailoring polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membranes, which are widely used for filtration due to their strength and chemical resistance but often struggle with clogging over time. To address this issue, the team incorporated polyethylene glycol (1000 Da) into PAN membranes. This addition changed the membrane’s structure, making it a more uniform and spongy structure and increasing its ability to repel contaminants. The blended membranes also became more water-friendly, which helped prevent clogging. Although water flow through the membranes decreased slightly, the benefits of reduced clogging and improved filtration performance outweighed this effect. When tested with municipal wastewater, the modified membranes maintained better filtration efficiency, with over 80% of their performance restored after cleaning. They also effectively removed >99% of water pollutants. Further testing over multiple cycles confirmed their long-term stability. This study demonstrates that adding PEG-1000 to PAN membranes is a promising approach to making wastewater reclamation more efficient and durable, ultimately contributing to cleaner and more sustainable water management. This work has been published and can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.5c00095.

The Research group of Dr. Auditya Sharma, Department of Physics and Dr. Ankur Raina, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science developed a method to simulate Quantum mechanical phenomenon using Boson Sampling. Quantum simulation in its current state faces experimental overhead in terms of physical space and cooling. The authors propose boson sampling as an alternative compact synthetic platform performing at room temperature. Identifying the capability of estimating matrix permanents, the authors explore the applicability of boson sampling for tackling the dynamics of quantum systems without having access to information about the full state vector. By mapping the time-evolution unitary of a Hamiltonian onto an interferometer via continuous-variable gate decompositions, they present proof-of-principle results of localization characteristics of a single particle. The computational results obtained using boson sampling are in complete agreement with the dynamical and static results of noninteracting tight-binding systems obtained using conventional numerical calculations. The main work was carried out by Anuprita Kulkarni as part of her MS thesis. More details at journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.111.032622

The research group of Dr. Rohit Ranganathan Gaddam in the Department of Chemical Engineering developed a promising new material, NaFe2-xInx(PO4)(MoO4)2 (NFIPM), poised to advance sodium-ion battery (SIB) technology. By strategically substituting iron with indium in the NASICON-type structure, the team expanded the lattice spacing, creating faster sodium-ion pathways and slashing the energy barrier for ion migration-key hurdles in SIB efficiency. First-principles calculations confirmed enhanced Na? mobility, while magnetic and electron paramagnetic resonance studies revealed a higher iron spin state, stabilizing redox activity. The optimized NFIPM10 cathode delivers a robust specific capacity of 111.85 mAh g-1 at 0.1C and exceptional longevity, retaining performance over 800 cycles at 2C, a leap in durability for SIBs. In situ X-ray diffraction demonstrated reversible single-phase reactions during charging/discharging, avoiding structural degradation common in conventional cathodes. This innovation addresses SIB challenges of slow kinetics and poor cycle life, bolstering their viability for grid-scale energy storage. While indium’s scarcity poses scalability questions, its minimal yet strategic use here balances cost and performance. The study, published in Small, underscores the potential of atomic-level doping to unlock high-performance, sustainable batteries, accelerating the shift from lithium-dependent systems to affordable, eco-friendly alternatives for a renewable energy future. More details at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/smll.202501004

Dr. Mitradip Bhattacharjee’s [Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences] research group has developed a high-performance flexible sensing circular ring antenna designed for smart packaging applications. The antenna, which operates at approximately 3.9 GHz in the C-band, is fabricated on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate using a coplanar waveguide (CPW) feeding technique. It exhibits sensitivity to bending deformations, with frequency shifts and variations in return loss (S11) that allow for qualitative and quantitative strain measurements. The study records sensitivities of 8.25 and 7.37 for different longitudinal bending conditions and 16.8 and 15.22 for transverse and longitudinal packaging deformations. The antenna was successfully integrated into a smart chemical packaging system, detecting lateral and longitudinal bending deformations up to 1.5 cm with a resolution of 25 mm. The experimental results demonstrated that changes in S11 were more reliable for quantitative analysis, while frequency shifts could be used for qualitative detection. The paper also highlights the advantages of flexible antennas in IoT applications, wearable electronics, and structural health monitoring. The proposed antenna outperforms prior designs in terms of sensitivity and adaptability, making it a promising solution for real-world smart packaging and deformation monitoring applications. More details at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10740059

Dr. Mitradip Bhattacharjee’s [Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences] research group has developed and characterized a flexible and printed graphene field-effect biosensing (Gr-FET biosensor) platform to detect ferritin. The Gr-FET based biosensor demonstrates a stable transfer characteristic with Ag/AgCl gate. A significantly low gate leakage current of 0.06 % of the drain current is observed for this Gr-FET. Further, the proposed Gr-FET shows 1.5 - 3 times higher transconductance (gm) with a value of gm,hole up to 400 µS and gm,electron up to 250 µS, compared to the reported printed electrolyte-gated Gr-FET. The Gr-FET operation is also optimized to have a minimal hysteresis effect for reliable sensing operation. The Gr-FET shows considerably linear characteristics at a low ferritin concentration (0.05-0.5 µg/lt) with sensitivity as high as ~230 mV/(µg/lt) and a very low limit of detection (LOD) ~27 ng/lt. Given the cost-effective fabrication process and scalability, the proposed printed Gr-FET biosensor can be deployed on a large-scale for early diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia. More details at https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/admt.202401292

Dr. Akshay Agarwal’s “Trustworthy BiometraVision Lab”, Department of Data Science and Engineering has developed a novel adversarial patch detector, AdvPatchXAI, that significantly strengthens modern security AI systems against physical adversarial threats. Adversarial patch attack is a process of adding a patch in an image that can fool any AI systems. Unlike conventional defenses, AdvPatchXAI employs a patch decorrelation strategy to reduce feature redundancy, enhancing robustness and interpretability. It excels at detecting and neutralizing unseen adversarial patches, even under corrupted conditions, thus aligning model decisions more closely with human perception. Additionally, its self-supervised approach provides clearer insights into how the model identifies threats. This groundbreaking work has been accepted for publication in the prestigious IEEE/CVF Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR2025), marking a major step forward in securing AI systems. More details at https://tbvl22.github.io/website

Research group of Dr Dimpy Kalia, Department of Chemistry developed BHoPAL (Baylis Hillman orchestrated Protein Aminothiol Labelling) technology to link chemical tags to proteins for facilitating drug development.

Dr. Rohit Gaddam’s lab from Chemical Engineering Department as developed a novel sodium-ion battery (NIB) cathode material NaFe1.93Al0.07(PO4)(SO4) that outperforms current benchmarks in terms of energy density (372 Wh/Kg) and durability for such NASICON-type cathode.

On the journey toward sustainable energy and wastewater treatment, urea electrooxidation is paving the way to cleaner energy solutions. Research group of Dr Sankar Chakma, Department of Chemical Engineer , IISER Bhopal published the research entitled ‘Physical insight into the enhanced urea electrooxidation using Ni and Fe-based LDH, LDO, and hydroxides under different dissolved gas saturation conditions in electrolyte’ in International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2024.08.380).

Recent collaborative research work carried out by Dr. Sankar Chakma, Chemical Engineering, IISER Bhopal and Dr. S K Sonkar (MNIT Jaipur) demonstrated the utilization of industrial waste as photocatalysts to produce carbonate to Acetic Acid under various monochromatic light sources.

IISER Bhopal secured research projects under National Quantum Mission funded by the Department of Science and Technology, India.