The soft matter engineering group pursues excellence in theoretical, computational and experimental expertise in synthesis, characterization and processing of soft matter. The group  focuses on providing smart, holistic, engineering solutions to challenging problems in soft matter which fall under the two key areas of national interest, namely Energy and Environment and Health and Hygiene. The research problems can be further classified under the following five broad areas of chemical engineering, namely, (i) Hydrodynamics, Rheology and Granular Flows, (ii) Nano-structured Materials, (iii) Micro-fluidics and Micro-devices, (iv) Colloids and Interface Engineering, and (v) Electro-hydrodynamics. The general approach in the Soft Matter Engineering group has been to provide innovative solutions with an emphasis on fundamentals. The diverse expertise available in the department to address problems at  microscopic, mesoscopic and continuum scales ensures a multi-scale understanding of any problem, a typical characteristic of soft matter. One of the major thrust areas of the soft matter engineering group is in synthesizing and developing new materials (biomaterials, composites, other soft materials) and uncovering the properties and applications of these materials, by investigating their structure and dynamics through experiments, theory and simulations. Specifically, under the broad area of Energy and Environment, the faculty of the soft matter research group focus on problems related to electro-emulsification, electro-spinning, electro-patterning, interplay of interfacial rheology and electric fields, tribology of soft  interfaces, dynamics of charging/discharging process in conducting polymers, physics of film formation and cracking of paints and coatings, atomization processes applied to combustion, microfluidics as a tool for generation of polymer based nanomaterials, dynamics of particle laden fluid flows, hydrodynamics of hydraulic jumps and cavitation, shear banding in amorphous solids, and development of molecular models to predict materials properties for catalysis and electronics applications. In the broad area of Health and Hygiene, the faculty are interested in problems related to development of aerogels for drug delivery from synthetic and natural materials, development of microfluidic devices for biological studies such as cell sorting and behavioral studies of microorganisms such as C. elegans, biophysics of bacterial locomotion, and physics of liposomes and elastic capsules. As the soft matter engineering group looks to the future, it aims to work on problems that are critical to the needs of the nation. These include design of hierarchically structured materials for carbon capture, energy storage, and water purification, suite of porous nanoparticle hosts for sensing, catalysis and drug delivery and mathematical models to address size and shape-controlled nanoparticle synthesis technologies for energy generation, harvesting and storage; and building lab-on chip technology for diagnostics and therapeutics and for sensing of trace molecules in air and water.

A controled noncoalescence of water droplets in oil manipulating with an externally applied electric field

Kinetic States of Capillary-Bound Particles Under External Flow: A Numerical Investigation With Lattice Boltzmann Method

We look at dynamics of capillary-bridge-bound solid particles under external flow. The aim is to investigate kinetic states of these particles as bridges break and reform and their effect on rheological properties. The project involves the development of robust and accurate numerical models based on the lattice Boltzmann method, together with their implementation through scientific computing.

Technologies for Clearing Blockages in Pipelines Using Electric Fields

The project aims at developing innovative, energy-efficient methodologies—currently lacking in optimized pipeline management—for the electrohydrodynamic remediation and prevention of wax blockages in crude oil transport. Building on fundamental research demonstrating that electric fields can break down wax networks into low-viscosity fluids to restore flowability, the candidate will investigate the precise mechanisms governing electric field interactions with paraffinic microstructures.

Novel designs of air jet mills for pharmaceutical applications

Spiral air jet mills are widely used for grinding particles to a product size of 5-10 microns. The mill comprises a short cylindrical geometry with tangential air jets. Material is continuously fed to the mill and exits from a central opening. The grinding is done by high speed jets (larger than 100 m/s), and the mill has no moving parts. Further, the centrifugal motion in the mill results in simultaneous grinding and classification, with fine particles flowing out of the system once they become smaller than the cut size.

Rheology and dynamics of dense, turbulent fluid-solid flows

Turbulent, dense fluid-particle flows are commonly encountered in engineering and natural process, transport of suspensions in chemical and pharmaceutical industries, bed load sediment transport, movement of sand dunes, impingement of jets on planetary surfaces. High speed fluid flows on dense beds are complex in nature because of the coupling between the fluid and solid phases. Most of the studies, reported in the literature have focused either dilute phase turbulent flows or dense phase solid system with laminar flows.

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