Smart Materials

Biography

Ashok Batra has completed his PhD at the age of 28 years from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. With more than 24 years of experience in the diverse areas of solid state physics/materials and their applications, he is presently a Professor of Physics. He is currently engaged in research related to the development of ambient energy harvesting and storage devices, nano particle-based chemical sensors, and organic photo voltaic solar cells. He has obtained various research grants as the principal or co-investigator from the U. S. Army/SMDC, NSF, DHS and NASA. The NASA grant was related to the International Micro gravity Laboratory-1 experiment flown aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. A recipient of a NASA Group Achievement award and the Alabama A&M University School of Arts and Sciences Researcher of the Year award, he has published over 180 publications, including two book, book chapters, proceedings, review articles, and NASA TMs. Batra is a member of SPIE, MRS, AES, and AAS. He is an editorial board member of refereed international journal: Advanced Science, Engineering and Medicine.

Research Interest

Nanostructures Materials: Growth, Characterization, and Applications in Sensors; Chemical Sensors; Crystal Growth; Microgravity Research, Thin/Thick Films; Nanocomposites; Pyroelectric, Piezoelectric, Photo-thermal and Photovoltaic Devices; Relaxors and Nonlinear Optical Materials.