Most of Prof. Bhargava’s work is centred around particulate materials. His group, while working on basic research, has always maintained a keen interest in application oriented or product development research. He and his group has also been undertaking research on scaling up of previously developed processes in the lab. He is a co­founder of several companies in the domain of particulate processing / ceramics (ANTS Ceramics, Digident LLP, Metwiz Materials). Some of the technology development work undertaken includes ­ Electrophoretic deposition of diamond particles on phosphor bronze wheels for jewellery diamond sawing applications, Conductive silver paste for flexible membranes for use in keyboards, Ceramic carbon resistors for electrical power applications, A process and machine for spinning ceramic (alumina) fibres, A process for making kg level quantity of nanozirconia, Ceramic foams for high temperature thermal insulation and machine for continuous production of ceramic foams.

Prof. Deepoo Kumar’s research interests are in the experimental and computational studies related to extraction and processing of metals. His experimental work includes reduction of hematite pellets using hydrogen, steel refining, steel­slag and slag­refractory interactions, inclusion characterization, processing of electronic waste 4 and quenching of steel. Laboratory and characterization facilities include atmosphere­controlled induction furnace, high temperature confocal laser scanning microscope 2 and SEM­based automated inclusion analysis. He has developed kinetic models for ladle refining 1 , RHdegassing and BOF process using FactSage macro. These models can predict changes in steel and slag composition during steel production. In addition, ladle refining and RH­degassing models can calculate changes in inclusion composition and amount with time as well. He works in close collaboration with major steel producers of the country on experimental, modeling and characterization related problems. Some examples are as follows: heat transfer model for a bell annealing furnace for Theis Precision Steel 3 , static models for BOF and EAF to perform sustainability studies for Tata Steel. He is currently working with JSW on developing ASPEN+ model for iron and steelmaking plant to find a balance between cost and CO2 emission. He has conducted workshops on FactSage and clean steel production.

1. High temperature protective coatings: a) Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) ­ i) New thermal barrier materials based on 'high entropy' ceramics. Indian Patent #381163 (Nov 2021), Application No. 201921032434 (Aug 2019). ii) Condition monitoring of TBC system by spectroscopic sensing iii) Phase transformations and property evolution in zirconia TBCs. Mater. Sci. Eng. A, 556, 927­935 (2012). b)Environmental barrier coatings (EBCs) ­ i) Thermodynamic explanation of multiple phase formation in rare earth silicate EBCs ii) Slurry spray deposited, in­situ reaction sintered, multilayered EBCs 
2. Multicomponent equimolar 'high entropy' oxides ­ a) Spinel, perovskite, pyrochlore/fluorite structured 'high entropy' oxides. Materialia (20) 101259 (2021) b) Advanced structural characterisation of 'high entropy' oxides c) Interesting properties: Thermal, optical, dielectric, and mechanical 
3. Alumina based glasses a) Rare­earth and transition metal oxide additives to stabilise glassy phase b) Low temperature sintering of alumina glasses c) Advanced structural characterisation of alumina glasses

Abhijeet works in the broad area of thin films of functional materials for various applications. He is particularly interested in employing nanostructuring to enhance various properties of thin films of functional materials. One of the main themes of his research is self­assembled vertically aligned nanocomposite (VAN) films incorporating functional materials such as piezoelectrics, ferroelectrics, thermoelectrics and photoactive materials for applications in the areas of tunable high frequency devices 1 , sensors and actuators; energy harvesting 2 and storage; non­volatile memories 3 , etc. Abhijeet leverages the pulsed laser deposition facilities available in the department to grow these films. Besides, he is also working towards building a multi­target co- sputter deposition facility equipped with advanced in situ diagnostics. Drawing inspiration from his prior work in aerosol­jet printing technology 4 , Abhijeet is also working on developing bespoke inks of functional materials for various printed electronic devices. In the past, Abhijeet was a part of the corporate R & D division of Applied Materials India, where he worked on large area deposition of thin films of various piezoelectric materials. Given his background in industry, Abhijeet is highly passionate about translational research, taking lab­scale ideas to working prototypes/scaling up studies.