IIT-Hyderabad, University of Hyderabad joint team granted patent for nanomaterial fabrication

Researchers from the University of Hyderabad (UoH) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Hyderabad have secured patent for a novel method to fabricate thin transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) nanosheets using Bessel beam femtosecond laser ablation.

The patented technology offers a rapid, cost-effective, and scalable alternative to conventional fabrication techniques, UoH said in a release.

The innovation was developed by Sai Santosh Kumar Raavi, Challa Rajendra Kumar, and Moram Sree Satya Bharati from IIT-H, and senior professor at UoH’s School of Physics, Soma Venugopal Rao.

TMDCs are two-dimensional materials with applications in next-generation electronics, optoelectronics and photonics. Existing methods to isolate ultra-thin TMDC layers are often slow, expensive, or difficult to scale. The new approach uses a specially shaped femtosecond laser beam to precisely separate TMDC layers by breaking weak van der Waals forces (short-range intermolecular attractions) without altering the material’s chemical structure. The process enables the instant production of pristine single- and few-layer nanosheets, the release explained.