Assistant Professor
Ranajit Mondal
A-510
···
PhD: Ph.D, IIT Madras
Research Interests: Colloids, Drying drops, Desiccation cracks, Functional Soft Materials
“Colloids are a broad category of complex materials where interactions between phases and interfaces dominate the system’s behavior.”
Research Overview
As part of the Soft Matter Group @ChE IITH, our broad research theme is the fundamental aspects of colloids & interfacial Science. Our research interests are understanding the evaporative patterning of colloids, fracture mechanism in the colloidal film, Pickering emulsion, and foams, and designing particle-polymer hybrid material. We aim to design sustainable and functional soft materials for food, pharmaceutical, sensing, and separation applications.
Research Highlights
Droplet Drying and Assembly of Colloids
Drying particle-laden drop is ubiquitous. We seek to understand the drying kinetics of a particle-laden drop and investigate the various physical factors that affect the assembly of particles.
Desiccation cracks in a dried film
Desiccation cracks are quite prevalent in nature, and examples include dried mud, old paintings, colloidal crystals, etc. Using colloids as a model system, we look at the origin of diverse crack morphologies and investigate the possibilities of manipulating the desiccation cracks by employing external fields.
Capillary suspension, Pickering emulsions, and foams
Designing capillary suspensions, Pickering emulsions, and foams are of interest. We aim to better understand the significance of particle shape and bridge the gap between microstructural change and properties.
Porous Hybrid Materials
The rapid technological growth paved the way for developing novel materials. Porous hybrid materials are appealing, and we aim to use the ice-templating method to design macroporous hybrid materials and seek to understand their structure-property relations.
Associated Projects
Ongoing
KISEM: Environment and Sustainable Development (Phase-III)
Start Year: 2025
Sponsor: IIT Madras
Ongoing
Understanding the freezing induced self-assembly of colloids rods in designing light-weight solid foams
Start Year: 2025
Sponsor: Anusandhan National Research Foundation
Ongoing
Detailed Energy Assessment at Malladi Drugs & Pharmaceuticals LTD Unit-5
Start Year: 2024
Sponsor: MALLADI DRUGS AND PHARMACEUTICALS LIMITED
Ongoing
Energy Assessment P.O.No:4300124783 & Dt: 06.10.2023
Start Year: 2023
Sponsor: BIOCON Ltd
Ongoing
Self-assembly of shape anisotropic colloids in confined drops
Start Year: 2022
Sponsor:
Selected Publications
Synthesis and Characterization of Monolayer Colloidal Sheets
Santosh Vasant Daware; Ranajit Mondal; Mansi Kothari; Arindam Chowdhury; Amelia CY Liu; Ranganathan Prabhakar; Guruswamy Kumaraswamy