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Research Projects

Irthasa Aazem

Current PhD Student

Development of Supercapacitor-Triboelectric Nanogenerators (SC-TENGs) for Wearable Electronics

Research Project Summary:

The long term goal of the proposed research programme is to develop Supercapacitor-Triboelectric Nanogenerators (SC-TENGs) for fabricating wearable electronic devices.  The demand for wearable and portable electronics such as on-body sensors, motion trackers and artificial electronic skin in the modern lifestyle is accelerating at an alarming rate.  SC-TENGs have been identified as a promising technology for mechanical sustainable energy harvesting and storage for self-powered devices.

Recently, Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), a novel energy harvesting system has been explored widely to address the challenges existing in the area of wearable electronics.  The coupling effect of contact electrification and electrostatic induction forms the basis of the working principles of TENGs.  Basically, a potential is created due to the triboelectric effect by the charge transfer between two materials through friction.  The electrode materials attached to the friction layers transfers the charge carriers to the external circuit. In wearable SC-TENG devices the mechanical energy due to vibrations and human motions are harvested by the TENG domain and are converted to electrical energy.  The SC domain will store this electrical energy for powering the device.

Primarily this work aims at developing potential materials with excellent supercapacitance and triboelectric performance for SC-TENGs. Also, this study is focused towards identifying suitable fabrication strategies for wearable SC-TENGs and evaluating their output performance.   Special emphasize is given to developing electrodes with inherent stretchability and very high conductivity to improve the performance of the device.

Bio:

Irthasa Aazem VS is an M. Tech graduate in Polymer Technology and B. Tech graduate in Polymer science and Engineering from Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), Kochi, India. His research interests include investigation of polymers and polymer nanocomposites for various fields with special emphasis on Energy storage, Nanotechnology and biomedical applications.

 

Before joining IT Sligo in 2021, he had been working as a senior research fellow in a project funded by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India, focusing on the investigation of therapeutically modified polymer based antibacterial formulations.  This work also developed antibacterial and antibiofilm agents based on intercalated layered double hydroxides (LDHs) of various metals which were successfully introduced to the natural rubber latex compound to develop formulations for antibacterial catheters. The functional properties of the materials were identified using various characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Transmission Electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Universal testing machine (UTM) and Contact Angle Goniometer. Additionally, as a part of his master’s thesis carried out at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, he has explored the microwave absorption properties of metal oxides incorporated polymer nanocomposites.   He has prepared Polyvinyl butyral and Polyaniline nanocomposites based on metal oxides with nanorods and nanospheres morphologies having excellent microwave absorption property. Apart from that, he has received hands-on experience in rubber compounding (Latex and dry rubber) and plastic processing during his project internship and trainings at Rubber Board and Apollo Tires, India.

Papers

  1. Aazem I, Rathinam P, Pillai S, Honey G, Vengellur A, Bhat SG, Sailaja GS. Active bayerite underpinned Ag2O/Ag: an efficient antibacterial nanohybrid combating microbial contamination. Metallomics. 2021 Aug 23;13(8): mfab049. doi: 10.1093/mtomcs/mfab049. PMID: 34351413.
  2. Aswin Arakkal1 | Irthasa Aazem1 | Gopinathan Honey2 | Ajith Vengellur2 | Sarita Bhat2| Gopalakrishnan Chettiar S. Sailaja 1,3,4. – “Antibacterial Polyelectrolytic chitosan derivatives conjugated natural rubber latex films with minimized bacterial adhesion”, J Appl Polym Sci. 2020;e49608.
  3. Irthasa Aazema, Prasanth Rathinamb, Saju Pillaic, Gopinathan Honeyd Ajith Vengellurd, Sarita G. Bhatd, Gopalakrishnan Chettiar S. Sailajaa,e,f * – “An excellent aluminum hydroxide supported silver oxide nanohybrid antibacterial system for combating microbial contamination”, (Manuscript submitted to Metallomics (Under review))
  4. Pritom J. Bora,† Irthasa Azeem,‡ J. Vinoy,§ Praveen C. Ramamurthy,*,†,‡ and Giridhar Madras†. – “Polyvinyl butyral−Polyaniline Nanocomposite for High Microwave Absorption Efficiency”, ACS Omega 2018, 3, 16542−16548
  5. Pritom J Bora1, Irthasa Azeem2, K.J. Vinoy3, Praveen C Ramamurthy*1, 2 and Giridhar Madras1. – “Morphology controllable microwave absorption property of polyvinylbutyral (PVB)-MnO2 nanocomposites”, Composites Part B (2017), doi: 10.1016/j.compositesb.2017.09.014.
  6. Irthasa Aazem, Aklesh Kumar, Manisha Mohapatra, Jung Hwi Cho, Jarin Joyner, Peter Samora Owuor, Jyotishkumar Parameswaranpillai, Vijay Kumar Thakur, Jinu Jacob George, and Raghavan Prasanth – “Thermal Properties of Epoxy/Thermoplastic ”, Springer International Publishing AG, (Book Chapter).

Presentations

  1. Irthasa Aazem V. S.1, Aswin A 1, Ajith Vengellur2,3, Sarita G. Bhat2,3, Sailaja G. S. – “Antibacterial formulation of Quaternized Chitosan intercalated anionic clay fillers for preventing urinary catheter associated infections” – NEW FRONTIERS IN MATERIAL AND ENVIORNMENTAL SCIENCES; 28-29 January 2020 (Best oral presentation)
  2. Irthasa Aazem V. S.1, Aswin A 1, Ajith Vengellur2,3, Sarita G. Bhat2,3, Sailaja G. S. “Antibacterial natural rubber latex formulation with melanin intercalated layered double hydroxides for urinary catheters; Kerala Science Congress, Jan 25-27, 2020
  3. Irthasa Aazem, Aswin A., Ajith Vengellur, Sarita G Bhatt, Sailaja G. S. – “Antibacterial formulations of quaternised chitosan intercalated layer double hydroxide nanoparticles for preventing nosocomial infections”, International Conference on Biomaterials”, “BIOTerm-2019”, IIT Kanpur, 28th Nov -1st Dec 2019
  4. Aswin A., Irthasa Aazem, Ajith Vengellur, Honey G, Sarita G Bhatt, Sailaja G. S., Chitosan based water soluble antibacterial agents for biomedical formulations, International Conference on Biomaterials, “BIOTerm-2019”, IIT Kanpur, 28th Nov -1st Dec 2019
  5. Irthasa Aazem V. S., Sailaja G. S., – “Green anionic conducting membrane from Natural rubber latex for solid state alkaline fuel cells”, National seminar on sustainable development and Climate change, Sacred Heart College, Thevara, 19th – 20th February 2019

Collaborations

University of Glasgow