After graphene, carbon nanocones are now an exciting form of carbon for material scientists. As the name suggests, they are conical structures made up of carbon, where graphene sheets are folded like a party cap with a height and diameter of a few nanometers (1 nanometer = 1/1,000,000,000th of a metre). With unique properties due to their conical shape, they have a wide range of applications, including being used as a tip of the probe of a high precision microscope used to record activity at an atomic level.

In a recent study, a team of researchers from Purdue University, USA, Northrop Grumman, USA, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India, and University of Florida, USA have studied the effect of using computer-aided design (CAD) simulations on teaching engineering design thinking to students.

A team of researchers from Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France and Technische Universität München, Germany has provided a material design strategy for polycrystalline piezoelectrics that could achieve electrostrain values larger than 1%. The breakthrough could result in cheaper and efficient piezoelectric actuators.

Researchers from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai have observed a new phenomenon in a semiconductor quantum dot-- particles of nanometre (a billionth of a meter) size which are also called artificial atoms) made of Cu₂ZnSnS₄  (CZTS). By shining Ultra Violet (UV) light, on the quantum dots immersed in an electrolyte, they noticed an increase in its capacitance. The effect could be engineered to serve as photocapacitors- capacitors that are charged using light.

Scientist from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, National Institute for Material Sciences, Ibaraki, Japan and Institute for Plasma Research, Gujarat have developed a novel composite material composed of carbon nanotubes decorated with thin films of zinc ferrite (ZnFe₂O₄) for practical applications like, energy storage.

Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru has for the third consecutive year, bagged the top rank in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) which was announced by the Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri. Prakash Javadekar on 03 March 2018.

Mending broken bones is a long and tedious process. Study from the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad aims to study the structure and composition of human bones to help in repairing them.

In research to be shared at the prestigious 56th International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS), researchers from the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (IISc)  will present a paper that details a breakthrough in significantly improving the reliability limits of 3D FinFET technology in sub-14nm technology for System-on-Chip integration. The study is the result of work in collaboration with Intel that sought to better understand various aspects of electrostatic discharge (ESD), latch-up and hot carrier reliability of ultra-dense FinFET technologies.

Scientists from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kgp) and GLA University, Mathura have developed a novel, low power humidity sensor using molybdenum disulphide nanoflakes and platinum nanocrystals.

In a first of its kind study in India, scientists from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) and National Institute of Solar Energy, New Delhi, conducted a detailed survey at 51 locations across India to check for the degradation in the performance of photovoltaic modules. This study, to establish reliability of the modules, could help India achieve the ambitious dream of 100 GW of solar energy by 2022.