Central Electro Chemical Research Institute is one of a chain of forty national laboratories under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in New Delhi. Founded on 25 July 1948 at Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu, CECRI came into existence on the January 1953. During the last fifty years CECRI has been recognized as the premier institution for research and development in electrochemical science and technology not only in India but also in the South East Asia, with a total strength of over 600 personnel comprising scientists, engineers, technologists, skilled workers, administrative and other staff, with a combined laboratory space of 400,000 sq ft (37,000 m2). in a campus of 300 acres (1.2 km2). There are two extension centers for CECRI, located at Chennai, and Mandapam Major R&D programs at CECRI are in the areas of corrosion science and engineering, industrial metal finishing, batteries (primary and secondary), electrometallurgy, electropyrometallurgy, electrochemicals (organic and inorganic), Materials Science, and electrochemical instrumentation and pollution control. The programs are directed towards development of new processes or products or novel use of electrochemistry. Techniques, upgrading of the already developed technology, and basic research are carried out. An excellent library, computer center, workshop, and centralized characterization and measurement laboratory lend active support.
Bioactive glasses are mainly used in tissue engineering applications such as fabrication of resorbable scaffolds, bioactive composite bone cements, etc., as they release Na*, Ca2*, Mg2*, PO43-ions, which aid in repairing and regenerating damaged tissues. The inability of fabricated composite scaffolds or bone cements to impart antimicrobial activity may lead to bacterial infection and other inflammatory responses. This work attempted to develop acrylic polymer and bioactive glass composite bone cement with antibacterial activity. Initially, bioactive glass powders were synthesized by a simple sol-gel method with different concentrations of silver (Ag) to induce antibacterial properties. The physicochemical properties, like thermal stability and phase change, etc. with respect to the concentration of Ag loading were evaluated. The results showed that no significant structural and compositional change occurred due to heat treatment and the amorphous phase could be maintained upto 700 degrees C. Electrochemical analysis (Differential Pulse Voltammetry) of bioactive glass in simulated body fluid showed the peak current signifying the gradual release of Ag* ions. The released Ag* ions from the bioactive glass powders showed inhibition against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli bacterial systems. The cytocompatibility study of Ag-loaded bioactive glasses in MG-63 human osteoblast like cell lines showed no toxic effect for all the concentration ranges attempted. The developed Ag-loaded bioactive glass powder with optimum antimicrobial property and good cell viability was subsequently used as reinforcement in Poly Methyl Methacrylate (PMMA) matrix to develop porous composite scaffold using porogen leaching technique. Mechanical study (compression test) proved that the fabricated scaffolds have sufficient rigidity, and the thermal degradation phenomenon could be controlled by the addition of bioactive glass powders to the PMMA matrix. This interconnected porous scaffold with good bioactivity, antimicrobial property, mechanical rigidity and cell compatibility is expected to be potent in bone tissue engineering applications. (c) 2025 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.
Achieving carbon neutrality necessitates innovative strategies, such as CO2-driven conversion technologies, to convert carbon dioxide into useful chemicals and fuels. An initiative of surfactant-driven interfacial engineering holds promises for transforming copper catalysts in electrochemical CO2 reduction. This work demonstrates tailoring the surface contact using surfactant and its impact on reaction behaviour as a proof-of-concept. Herein we exploit a surfactant-directed interface via electrodeposition techniques with a treatment of CTAB (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide) to enhance the hydrophobicity of the copper surfaces. This modification strategy resulted in notable enhancements in electrocatalytic kinetics and a reduced onset potential, thereby facilitating more efficient initiation of CO2 reduction reactions. However, a remarkable improvement has been observed in Faradaic efficiency (FE) which rose from 40% with unmodified copper electrodes to 71% with CTAB-modified electrodes. This enhancement represents improved selectivity for the CO2 reduction reaction and significant improvements in formate synthesis. Furthermore, the copper surface treated with CTAB displayed outstanding stability, retaining a high level of FE over 12 h. These findings show that surfactant-driven interface engineering has the potential to revolutionise copper surfaces and improve the stability and efficiency of electrochemical CO2 reduction technologies.
The inconsistent charge and discharge patterns of electric vehicle batteries, coupled with their operation across varying voltage and current levels, pose a challenge for accurate capacity and state of health (SOH) assessment. Traditional methods rely on regular calibration, requiring controlled charge and discharge cycles, which are impractical in real-world scenarios. This research demonstrates an analysis-based method to obtain labeled capacity and SOH values in such conditions. This method not only provides labeled SOH values but also extracts health features that can be used for data-driven prediction of capacity or SOH.•Incremental capacity analysis (ICA) method has been presented to be used with electric vehicle (EV) battery data.•The approach to extract health features from a EV battery using ICA method as a function of age of the battery has been presented which can be used along with a machine learning or deep learning model.•State of health has been calculated for a vehicle battery using the proposed method.
The ever increasing dominance of macroalgae on coral reefs is posing new challenges for coral growth and reef resilience. As a part of the continuous coral community monitoring program in Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve (GoMBR) in India, we observed that a few species of macroalgae were persistent throughout the year and remained in physical contact with corals. The effects of such competitive macroalgal interaction on the functional traits of corals are least understood. A series of insitu experiments were conducted to investigate the impact of three macroalgal species on the calcification rates of two Indo-Pacific corals, Acropora muricata and Porites lutea, through alterations in seawater carbonate chemistry. The experimental results showed that macroalgae increased the pH and aragonite saturation state (Ωarag) throughout the day, that remained stable at night. This created a conducive environment for the corals to maintain their net calcification even at night. However, the corals A. muricata and P. lutea displayed a mixed response, wherein the net calcification rate of the former was enhanced and the latter was significantly reduced in the presence of macroalgae, irrespective of the species. Such disparity in the calcification rates between coral species indicates both affirmative and detrimental effects of coral-macroalgal interactions, highlighting the significance of considering the species-specific interactions between corals and macroalgae in the context of climate change and coral-macroalgal phase-shifts.
The present study investigates the impact of controlled shock waves on developing porous activated carbons (ACs) derived from low-cost Strychnos potatorum (Clearing-Nut) seeds for supercapacitor applications. ACs were synthesized using high-temperature carbonization (HTC) followed by physical activation. Uniquely, the process incorporated controlled dynamic shock waves on SPAC (ambient), SPAC 100, SPAC 200, and SPAC 300 to investigate their influence on the AC properties. Characterization techniques including physicochemical and electrochemical revealed that the application of shock waves significantly enhanced the ACs' capacitance. Notably, SP-AC200 exhibited the best performance, achieving a specific capacitance of 290 F/g in a three-electrode system with 1 M H2SO4 electrolyte. Even in a two-electrode configuration, SPAC200 demonstrated an effective combination of high specific capacitance (118.3 F/g), energy density (23.1 Wh/Kg), and power density (583.09 W/kg). Additionally, SPAC200 displayed potential cyclic stability, retaining over 92.4 % of its capacitance after 10,000 cycles. This study highlights the potential of shock waves as a processing tool for fabricating high-performance supercapacitor electrodes from a sustainable and low-cost source.
