Kishan Jayanand and Ravindra Mehta, who are conducting their PhD research in the Nanoscale Materials and Devices Laboratory (NMDL) directed by Professor Anupama Kaul, have earned 2nd place in a student competition at the 149th Annual TMS Meeting and Exhibition held in San Diego.   Jayanand is the lead on the work, and Mehta gave the oral presentation in the Advanced Real Time Imaging Symposium of the conference, with the talk entitled “Sc3N@C80 and La@C82 doped graphene photodetectors.” 

The talk focused on how graphene’s ability to interact with incoming light is enhanced with the addition of zero dimensional cage molecules that sit on top of it.  This enhancement in light-matter interaction through the incorporation of other nanomaterials creates unique opportunities to further use graphene hybrids in high-performance sensors, photodetectors and optical communication platforms in the future.

The presentation at TMS was based on a recent peer-reviewed article from the Kaul group, which appeared in the Journal of Materials Chemistry C where Jayanand served as first author. The journal also selected this work as a back cover image. 

“I feel greatly honored to receive a recognition award from the Advanced Imagining Symposium at the TMS 2020 meeting,” said Jayanand. “I am extremely grateful to my doctoral advisor, Professor Anupama Kaul for her mentoring, inspiration and never-ending support, which was instrumental in this accomplishment. Also, winning this recognition would not have been possible without the support of my colleagues in NMDL for whom I have the deepest respect. I believe that this recognition will further inspire me to achieve many more accomplishments in the future.”

“I am thankful to TMS for recognizing our efforts to strive for research excellence that can make an impact in the area of electronic materials,” said Mehta. I am also very thankful to Dr. Anupama Kaul, my research advisor, for her continuous guidance and motivation and for allowing me to present at one of the most prominent conferences within the materials science research community. I would also like to thank my co-worker, Kishan Jayanand, who led the efforts in generating high-quality work that enabled me to present it elegantly. Such kind of recognition only reinforces my desire to keep striving for research excellence in my future work.”

Both students are affiliated with the PACCAR Technology Institute where Kaul serves as director.

“Recognition at important international venues such as the TMS, which typically hosts more than 6,000 attendees from all over the world, is significant and helps encourage our students to continue to excel in research and reach even greater heights in the future. This type of recognition is important to further enhance UNT’s visibility as a Tier One Research University so we can continue to attract a high-caliber of graduate students into our graduate programs,” said Kaul.