Sanatana Dharma (SD) College, Alappuzha, has been granted a patent for an invention titled ‘A Process of Preparing Metal Nanoparticles’.
The patent has been granted by the Patent Office, Government of India, for a period of 20 years in accordance with the provisions of the Patents Act, 1970. It is the first patent awarded to the college, which is poised to celebrate its Platinum Jubilee in June 2021, SD College authorities said in a statement here on Friday.
As per the statement, the invention paves the way for the synthesis of nano metals in a very cost-effective manner by single-stage auto-decomposition method. “Usually various toxic reducing agents are used for the reduction of metal ion to zero-valent metal. In this method, it is very effectively replaced by citrus fruit extract. Proper tuning of the ratio of extract volume to metal ion concentration is very essential for the successful conversion of metal ion to metal nanoparticles. At present this method is applied to synthesis nano nickel, an efficient catalyst for hydrogenation, coupling reaction and reduction of nitro compounds. This can reduce the cost of synthesis of many industrially important organic compounds,” the research team said.
The team
The process leading to the patent was developed in the research lab of the Chemistry Department of SD College, which is an approved research centre of the University of Kerala, under the guidance of Prema K.H., associate professor of Chemistry. The research team behind the invention included research scholar Raji R. Krishnan; Edamana Prasad, professor, Department of Chemistry, IIT- Madras; Sreekanth J. Varma, assistant professor of Physics, SD College; and Aswathy Gopan, postgraduate student, Department of Chemistry, SD College.
According to the researchers, other industrially important catalysts such as platinum and palladium and various other metals such as silver, copper and cobalt can also be synthesised by this method. The researchers said that they were working to increase the scale of production of nano metals on an industrial level and to transfer the technology to industry.
Grants
The high-end equipment procured using grants from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment along with financial support from the college management were instrumental in getting the patent, they said.
