KOCHI: The Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) has been granted a patent for the invention of a new method for ‘Nickel Nanoparticle Synthesis’, for a term of 20 years. The patent is in accordance with the provisions of the Patent Act 1970, Government of India.
Nano magnetic scientist and a UGC-BSR faculty of the Department of Physics M R Anantharaman and former principal of the Government Arts and Science College, Kozhikode E Muhammad Abdul Jamal are the inventors. The invention provides a dry, rather than the conventional wet method, for the synthesis of nickel nanoparticles, which are ‘nickel nano sponges’ with high surface area.
It can be used for manufacturing anode fuel cells, catalytic converter of automobiles, magnetic fluids and Ferro fluids, biomedical equipment, computer, increasing the efficiency of petrol or diesel engines and protective coating on fibres and wires. The practice of ‘targeted drug delivery treatment’ in the medical field is one of the major highlights of this invention, said Anantharaman and Jamal.
It took four years of strenuous research for this, they said.