The laboratory is equipped with excellent synthesis and analytical facilities crucial for research in nanomaterials and nano biotechnology. Facilities such as TEM, SEM with EDX facility, AFM, Langmuir-Blodgett trough, DLS, XPS, DNA synthesizer, circular dichroism etc. are available. between amino acid-capped nanoparticles (, , 6262) have been developed leading to the possibility of controlling their cooperative behavior. Size dependent, insulating-to-metallic transition has been observed in Ag, Au and Cu clusters irrespective of the nature of the capping agent and these transitions observed for smaller than core size spacing have potential implications in molecular electronics (Appl.Phys.Lett.,2001,79,689).

Biosynthesis of nanoparticles is an exciting recent addition to the large repertoire of nanoparticle synthesis methods. New enzymatic approaches using fungi in the synthesis of nanoparticles of metals/metal sulfides both intra- (Angew.Chem.Int.Ed., 2002, 40, 3585) and extra cellularly have been demonstrated (ChemBioChem, 2002, 3, 461; J.Am.Chem.Soc. 2002, 124, 12108). Efforts are underway to extend this approach to other chemical compositions such as oxides, nitrides etc. and to modulate the size and shape of the biosynthesized nanomaterials.

A single-step method involving the use of the multifunctional molecule, 4-hexadecylaniline, has been developed for the synthesis of gold (Chem. Commun., 2002, 1334) and highly catalytically active Pt nanoparticles (Chem.Commun, 2002, 3001) of different sizes in organic media. This method has been modified to yield nanorods, nanowires and nanotapes of organically dispersible gold nanostructures with exciting application potentials.

An area of considerable expertise is the assembly of nanomaterials in thin film form. The focus has been on the use of electrostatic interactions between surface-modified inorganic nanoparticles and suitable charged templates as a means of immobilizing nanoparticles in monolayer and multilayer structures. Nanoparticles have been assembled at the air-water interface and in thermally evaporated lipid matrices (Acc.Chem.Res. 35, 2002, 847). The formation of gold nanowires by stringing together gold nanoparticles on DNA strands (Adv.Mater., 2001, 13, 1554) is a recent exciting development.

New methods for cross-linking of metal nanoparticles via, for example, hydrogen bonding between amino acid-capped nanoparticles (Langmuir, 2001, 17, 6262) have been developed leading to the possibility of controlling their cooperative behavior. Sizedependent, insulating-to-metallic transition has been observed in Ag, Au and Cu clusters irrespective of the nature of the capping agent and these transitions observed for smaller than core size spacing have potential implications in molecular electronics (Appl.Phys.Lett., 2001, 79, 689).

Nanoscale assembly has been demonstrated using hydrophobic interactions to organize nanoclusters with controllable spacing (Langmuir, 2001, 17, 7487) as well as on high aspect ratio structures like carbon nanotubes using a similar methodology (J.Mater.Chem., 2001, 11, 1711).

The lipid-based method for the electrostatic assembly of inorganic nanoparticles has been extended to the immobilization of charged biomacromolecules such as proteins/enzymes and DNA/PNA (Trends Biotech., 2002, 20, 185; Chem.Commun., 2001, 2622). This methodology shows promise for generation of DNA/protein chips. Lipid films have proven to be versatile matrices for the controlled growth and assembly of minerals such as calcite, barite, barium chromate and strontianite, often of nanodimensions (Cryst.Growth..Des., 2002, 2, 197, Langmuir; 2002, 18, 6075) Gold nanoparticles entrapped in MCM-41 (Stud.Surf.Sci.Catal., 2002, 141, 641) and on fumed silica particles (Chem.Mater., 2002, 14, 1678) exhibit outstanding catalytic activity in hydrogenation reactions.