Handbook of Carbon Nanotubes

This Handbook covers the fundamentals of carbon nanotubes (CNT), their composites with different polymeric materials (both natural and synthetic) and their potential advanced applications. Three different parts dedicated to each of these aspects are provided, with chapters written by worldwide experts in the field. It provides in-depth information about this material serving as a reference book for a broad range of scientists, industrial practitioners, graduate and undergraduate students, and other professionals in the fields of polymer science and engineering, materials science, surface science, bioengineering and chemical engineering.

Part 1 comprises 22 chapters covering early stages of the development of CNT, synthesis techniques, growth mechanism, the physics and chemistry of CNT, various innovative characterization techniques, the need of functionalization and different types of functionalization methods as well as the different properties of CNT. A full chapter is devoted to theory and simulation aspects. Moreover, it pursues a significant amount of work on life cycle analysis of CNT and toxicity aspects.

Part 2 covers CNT-based polymer nanocomposites in approximately 23 chapters. It starts with a short introduction about polymer nanocomposites with special emphasis on CNT-based polymer nanocomposites, different manufacturing techniques as well as critical issues concerning CNT-based polymer nanocomposites. The text deeply reviews various classes of polymers like thermoset, elastomer, latex, amorphous thermoplastic, crystalline thermoplastic and polymer fibers used to prepare CNT based polymer composites. It provides detailed awareness about the characterization of polymer composites. The morphological, rheological, mechanical, viscoelastic, thermal, electrical, electromagnetic shielding properties are discussed in detail. A chapter dedicated to the simulation and multiscale modelling of polymer nanocomposites is an additional attraction of this part of the Handbook.

Part 3 covers various potential applications of CNT in approximately 27 chapters. It focuses on individual applications of CNT including mechanical applications, energy conversion and storage applications, fuel cells and water splitting, solar cells and photovoltaics, sensing applications, nanofluidics, nanoelectronics and microelectronic devices, nano-optics, nanophotonics and nano-optoelectronics, non-linear optical applications, piezo electric applications, agriculture applications, biomedical applications, thermal materials, environmental remediation applications, anti-microbial and antibacterial properties and other miscellaneous applications and multi-functional applications of CNT based polymer nanocomposites. One chapter is fully focussed on carbon nanotube research developments: published papers and patents. Risks associated with carbon nanotubes and competitive analysis of carbon nanotubes with other carbon allotropes are also addressed in this Handbook.

Dr. Jiji Abraham is working as Asst. Professor in Chemistry in Vimala College (Autonomous) Thrissur. She completed PhD from International and Inter University Centre for Nanoscience and nanotechnology Mahatma Gandhi University Kottayam. Here research interests include Polymer nanocomposites, synthesis of nanomaterials etc. Dr. Abraham has published over 60 research articles which includes 33 journal paper sand 32 book chapters. She has edited one book entitled Rheology and processing of polymer nanocomposites published by Wiley. The H index of Dr. Abraham is 15 and has more than 800 citations. Dr. Abraham was a visiting research student in Institut Charles Sadron CNRS UPR 22, University de Strasbourg, France from 10.12.2014 to 30.06.2015. She has presented papers in European Polymer Congress 2015, during 21-26 June, 2015, Dresden, Germany, Malaysia Polymer International Conference (MPIC 2017), during 19-20 July, 2017, Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia, International Polymer Characterization Conference POLY-CHAR 2019 [Kathmandu, Nepal] Polymer for Sustainable Development 19-23 May 2019. Dr. Abraham has delivered many presentations in National/International meetings. 

Prof. Sabu Thomas is one of India’s most renowned scientists known for his contributions in Polymer Science and Nanotechnology. He is a scientist, administrator and an excellent teacher who has students all over the world. He joined Cochin University of Science and Technology to pursue his bachelor’s degree in Polymer science and Rubber Technology. He went on to complete his Ph.D at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur under the eminent guidance of Prof. S K De. After attaining industrial experience, he returned to serve his homeland, Kottayam and joined Mahatma Gandhi University as a lecturer. He has been the Visiting Professor of several institutes abroad. He currently serves as the Vice Chancellor of the Mahatma Gandhi University.

He has guided over 118 Ph.D st­udents.  He has received several national and international awards for best researcher and is a member of numerous scientific bodies and committees. So far, 3 universities have honored him with honorary doctorates, which include University of South Brittany, France, University of Lorraine, France and Siberian Federal University, Russia. He received a total grant of Rs. 40 crores for research funding from India and abroad and have organised 50 international conferences in the campus. He has authored more than 1,200 research publications and 160 books. He has a notable h-index of 119­­ and has accumulated over 68776citations. Recently, he has been ranked 114^th in the list of the world’s best scientists that has been compiled by Stanford University in the US. He figures in the list as the 2^nd -best scientist in India in the field of polymer science. This year he was also selected for the DST Nanomission award 2020. He received Honorary Professorship from Siberian Federal University on May 2020. Last year he was honoured with C.N.R Rao Award Prize Lecture in Advanced Materials by Materials Research Society of India (MRSI). He was elected as the Foreign Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc)-2019. He had also won the 6th contest of “mega-grants” organized by the Government of the Russian Federation designed to support research projects implemented under the supervision of the world’s leading scientists -2017.Recently he was honored with Bailey Medal Award. In January 2021 Prof Sabu Thomas was awarded the Kairali Life time Research Award 2021 by Kerala Government. As per the new report of  German based “European Science Evaluation Centre” Prof Sabu Thomas is ranked 1st in the Kerala state 19th in the Country and 236th in Asia. Recently Prof Thomas was elected as a member of Editorial Boards and Editorial Key Reviewers Committees member in the World Academy of Materials and Manufacturing Engineering and the Association of Computational Materials Science and Surface Engineering, Poland.  Recently in February 2022, considering his merits in educational, scientific, educational and social activities, the Presidium of the Academic Union offered to award Prof Thomas  the title of Honorary Professor of the Academic Union Oxford with life membership in the Academic Union and the Honorary Professors Expert Council.

Professor Thomas has contributed a major part of academic life for the up-gradation of Mahatma Gandhi University to an international level. Prof Sabu Thomas has contributed a lot academically and under his tremendous effort and leadership. Under his leadership, now the University has been ranked 713 in the world University ranking and 154 in the Asian Ranking by TIMES and 142 The Times Higher Education -THE Young University Rankings 2021.Mahatma Gandhi University could bag Chancellor's award, NIRF ranking of 30 and “A” grade in NAAC reaccreditation. Recently Mahatma Gandhi University could win the Chancellors Award for the best Universities under his excellent leadership.

Prof. Nandakumar Kalarikkal is currently a Senior Professor at the School of Pure and Applied Physics, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India. His areas of interest are nanostructured materials and applications. He has received several national and international research grants. He was Professor@Lorraine, France; CNRS Professor@ILM Lyon, Claud Bernard University, France; and Visiting Professor at various international institutions in Europe. He has supervised 25 PhD and 30 Master’s theses. He has 6 patents and more than 30 books to his credit. In addition, he has more than research publications in peer reviewed journals and over 6000 citations, with an h-index of 43. Prof, Kalarikkal received his MSc in Industrial Physics and PhD in semiconductor physics from Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala, India.