Tiju Thomas holds MS and PhD degrees from Cornell University (NY, USA). He works in interdisciplinary areas that straddle materials engineering and allied areas (nanochemistry, electrical engineering, applied physicists and solid state chemistry). He also has an MS (Engg.) from the Theoretical Sciences Unit in Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. His group focuses on developing compositionally complex oxides, oxynitrides and nitrides, and nanometals for achieving engineering ends. Problems concerning the functional properties of materials are of abiding interest to him.
In particular next-generation energy storage (supercapacitors, hybrid energy storage systems), nanotech-enabled solar energy harvesting, and solar-driven water treatment have been the group's recent focus. The group's work on, on-demand hydrogen production is internationally well-known.
Eco-friendly, green engineering perspectives guide the computational materials design, synthetic chemical and fabrication routes that the group develops. Furthermore, correlations between materials processes and device performance are emerging in the group's activities.
The group is diverse and vibrant because of his inter-disciplinarity. In the recent past, Tiju has worked extensively with chemists, physicists, electrical engineers, chemical and polymer engineers, materials and metallurgical engineers, and mechanical engineers. An applied approach to materials science makes this trans and inter-disciplinary work possible.
Energy storage (supercapacitors, hybrid energy systems)
Clean hydrogen
Solar energy harnessing (PV, plasmon-enhanced solar distillation)
Solar-driven water treatment
Computational materials design
2024 - Till date
2019 - 2024
2015 - 2019
Professor
Associate Professor
Assistant Professor
2022-Elected Member, Royal Society of Chemistry (London)
2022-Young Scientist Award (Engineering Sciences), Academy of Sciences (Chennai)
2022-'Early Career' Board recognition (award) by Elsevier's Chemical Engineering Journal (2022); one of two Indian academicians selected for this
2020-IIT Madras Early Career - Institute Research and Development Award
2019-Best Reviewer award of the Transactions of Indian Institute of Metals
