The man who loves to think small

Being Bitten by A Spider exposed to Radiation turned Peter Parker into Spiderman. That was fiction. Fact is, Ashutosh Sharma of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur may soon have a glue on his hands that can be used to scale buildings and walls without any rope or harness. Sharma and his group of researchers at the department of chemical engineering are working on changing the properties of materials at the nano level, which would allow them to make non-sticky surfaces sticky, and vice versa, so that the glue can be used time and again.

One nanometre is one-billionth of a metre, or about one ten-thousandth the diameter of a human hair. “At the nano level, materials behave in a completely different way. By controlling factors such as temperature, pressure, and the flow of electric current, we can force a material to behave differently,” says 49-year-old Sharma.

A keen eye for nature helps Sharma get ideas. A gecko on the wall triggered the idea of the adhesive. “It prompted us to investigate why geckos never fall off, or why water never sticks to a bird’s feathers.”

The answer lay in nature, which has provided the gecko with a network of nano-size projections that allowed adhesion and movement with ease. In a bird’s feathers, micro-texturing—a coating of nanoparticles—acts as a water repellent. This clue led Sharma’s team to replicate the coating. Using external influencers, like an electrical field, a surface can be given adhesive or water repellent properties. The adhesive material that Sharma plans to make in the near future could help robots negotiate steep surfaces.

Sharma never wanted to become an engineer and would have preferred to study philosophy or pursue his interest in fine arts. But his parents wanted him to study at IIT. After his B.Tech. in chemical engineering from IIT Kanpur, Sharma completed his M.S. from Pennsylvania State University in 1984 and Ph.D. at State University of New York in Buffalo in 1987. He returned in 1990 to teach at IIT Kanpur and has since dedicated himself to nanoscience research.

“His interest in philosophy shapes his thoughts. We often see him sketching during conferences. It is as if he uses one side of his brain to follow the happenings [at the meeting] and the other to pursue his hobby,” says R. Venkataraghavan, a scientist at Unilever R&D, Bangalore, and Sharma’s friend, who has worked with him on many projects.

Sharma is the only scientist in India working in the field of fabrication technology. He has developed technologies that help make products more advanced and efficient. His research, recognised by his peers across the world, has received 4,000 citations, with the 10 most important papers being cited in over 100 instances.

Although companies such as Unilever and P&G, and the Tata group, have funded projects with Sharma, he can neither claim credit for such work nor talk about the products because he is bound by non-disclosure agreements.
But examples of his research being used are many. Nanoparticles are used in shampoos and detergents that help wash off stubborn dirt, a common problem in the humid and dusty conditions of India.

Sharma’s team has developed a process to coat fibres with nanoparticles to make filters which trap pollutants that normal filters let through. Such filters have found use in air-conditioners and automobiles, the scientist says. Sharma has also been working on nanocarbon capsules that are capable of precise drug delivery. These capsules of 200 nanometres or less can be used for applications such as better magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of tumours.

Sharma does not take up projects that are product oriented, in which companies would want to keep costs low to make the end product commercially viable. But he joins hands with R&D centres of companies on fundamental science research. He is working with Venkat Runkana of the Tata Research Development and Design centre for nanofibres and Marc Madou of the University of California, Irvine, for microbatteries and carbon sensor-related work.

“There are commercial projects running alongside our research that are related to discoveries in fundamental science. Short-term work is not our area of expertise. Our discoveries have to go through a long life cycle before they are adopted for commercial use. You have to be patient with such research,” he says. He mentions projects for Indian companies that use nanofibres to purify air and water, and nano surfaces for self-healing of wounds.

The nanoscience laboratory at IIT Kanpur is where Sharma and his team create products such as microbatteries and microlenses. Smaller than a thumbnail, the microbatteries can be embedded in chips to make them more energy efficient. The microlenses, the only of their kind, are similar to bugs’ eyes, offering a high level of clarity and resolution. “These low-cost lenses can be used in devices such as microscopes and monitors,” says Sharma. The lenses can cut the cost of microscopes from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 lakh. The team has filed for a patent for the microlenses.

Sharma and his team do not have many patents in their name, just five—one for materials and four for the fabrication of nanomaterials. The reason: the complex process and money involved. “[Spending] $40,000 (Rs 18.2 lakh) and applying [for patents] in different geographies is a difficult proposition,” he says. But over 200 of his papers, including one on using electric fields as tool for nano manufacturing, have appeared in reputable science journals.

Former director general of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, R.A. Mashelkar, who was on the jury that awarded Sharma the 2010 Infosys Prize for engineering and computer science from among 48 nominees, suggests that funding should be provided to get intellectual property patented, so that research does not go in vain.

Another missing link is the lack of commercialisation of his research. Sharma thinks floating companies to exploit scientific research defocusses scientists. In the West, a culture of entrepreneurship, commercially focussed research, and a ready ecosystem spawn new companies. There is only one from Sharma’s team, with a student selling machines to coat fibres with nanoparticles.

Mashelkar says the purpose of science isn’t merely to serve commercial ends. “The mandate for scientists like Sharma goes beyond converting knowledge into wealth.” He believes the research that Sharma is doing is all about opening new windows, holding the hope that some day it may be considered for a Nobel.