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PULICKEL M. AJAYAN

Career Highlights

Dr. Ajayan has been a member of the Rensselaer materials science and engineering department since 1997. He previously spent two years at the Max-Planck-Institute for Metallforschung in Stuttgart. He left there in 1997 to join the Universite of Paris-Orsay for two years, then spent three years in Tsukuba, Japan as a post-doctoral researcher for the company's fundamental research laboratory. Ajayan is an editorial board member for the following publications: Advanced Materials, Zeitschrift fur Metallkunde, TIP Revista Especialzada en Ciencias Quimco-Biologicas and Journal of Science and Nanotechnology. He won the National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 1998, the Burton Award from the Microscopy Society of America in 1997, and the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship in 1995. Ajayan also was awarded the Presidential Student Award from the Electron Microscopy Society of America in 1989; the Hadfield Medal for Outstanding Metallurgist in Calcutta, India in 1985; and the Bachelor of Technology Gold Medal from Banaras Hindu University in 1985.

Research Areas

Professor Ajayan's research interests are mainly focused on the synthesis of nanostructures, the study of their structure and properties in relation to size and confinement. He is one of the pioneers in the field of carbon nanotubes and has demonstrated several possibilities for using these quasi-one-dimensional structures as templates and molds for fabricating nanowires, composites, and novel ceramic fibers. Major goals of his research include producing macro-assemblies made of nanostructures for applications, understanding growth mechanisms of nanostructures and designing new structures and multifunctional nanocomposites. Other research interests are phase stability in metal clusters, the graphite-diamond phase transition, and growth of nanostructures under electron irradiation. He has expertise in different electron microscopy techniques.

Selected Publications

• A. Cao, V. P. Veedu, X. Li, Z. Yao, M. N. Ghasemi-Nejhad and P. M. Ajayan, “Multifunctional brushes made from carbon nanotubes“, Nature Materials, 4, 540 (2005).
• G. W. Meng, Y. J. Jung, A. Cao, R. Vajtai and P. M. Ajayan, “Controlled fabrication of hierarchically branched nanopores, nanotubes and nanowires“, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 102, 7074 (2005).
• J. Suhr, N. Koratkar, P. Keblinski and P. M. Ajayan, “Viscoelasticity in carbon nanotube composites“, Nature Materials, 4, 134 (2005).
• Y. J. Jung, Y. Homma, R. Vajtai, Y. Kobayashi, T. Ogino and P. M. Ajayan, “Straightening suspended single walled carbon nanotubes by ion irradiation“, Nanoletters, 4, 1109 (2004).
• A. Srivastava, O. N. Srivastava, S. Talapatra, R. Vajtai and P. M. Ajayan, “Carbon nanotube filters“, Nature Materials, 3, 610 (2004).
• N. Chakrapani, B. Q. Wei, A. Carillo, P. M. Ajayan and R. Kane, "Capillarity driven assembly of two-dimensional cellular carbon nanotube foams“, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 101, 4009 (2004).
• M. Yoon, S. Han, G. Kim, S. B. Lee, S. Berber, E. Osawa, J. Ihm, M. Terrones, F. Banhart, J. C. Charlier, N. Grobert, H. Terrones, P. M. Ajayan, and D. Tomanek, "Zipper Mechanism of Nanotube Fusion: Theory and Experiment”, Phys. Rev. Lett., 92, 75504 (2004).
• P. M. Ajayan and F. Banhart, "Strong bundles“, Nature Materials, (News and Views Section), 3, 135 (2004).
• P. M. Ajayan, "How does a nanofiber grow?“, Nature (News and Views Section), 427, 402 (2004).
• G. Viswanathan, N. Chakrapani, H. Yang, B. Q. Wei, H. Chung, K. Cho, C. Y. Ryu, P. M. Ajayan, "Single-Step in Situ Synthesis of Polymer-Grafted Single-Wall Nanotube Composites" J. Am. Chem. Soc., 125, 9258 (2003).
• Y. J. Jung, B. Wei, R. Vajtai, and P. M. Ajayan, "Mechanism of Selective Growth of Carbon Nanotubes on SiO2/Si Patterns", Nano Letters, 3, 561 (2003).
• M. Terrones, F. Banhart, N. Grobert, J.-C. Charlier, H. Terrones, and P.M. Ajayan, "Molecular Junctions by Joining Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes", Phys. Rev. Letters, 89, 075505 (2002).
• B.Q. Wei, R. Vajtai, Y.J. Jung, F. Banhart, G. Ramanath, and P.M. Ajayan, "Massive Icosahedral Boron Carbide Crystals", J. Phys. Chem. B , 106, 5807 (2002) .
• H. W. Zhu, C. L. Xu, D. H. Wu, B. Q. Wei, R. Vajtai and P. M. Ajayan, "Direct synthesis of Long Nanotube Strands", Science, 296, 884 (2002).
• Y.-C. Chen, N. R. Raravikar, L. S. Schadler, P. M. Ajayan, Y.-P. Zhao, T.-M. Lu, G.-C. Wang, and X.-C. Zhang, "Ultrafast optical switching properties of single-wall carbon nanotube polymer composites at 1.55 µm", Applied Physics Letters, 81, 975 (2002).

Professional Appointments

2004-Present		Henry Burlage Professor of Engineering (MS&E) (RPI)
2002-2004		Professor (MS&E) (RPI)
1999-2002		Associate Professor with tenure (MS&E) (RPI)
1996-1999		Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering (MS&E), tenure track, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY
1995-1996		Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute, Stuttgart, Germany
1993-1995		Researcher au CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Universite Paris-Sud, Orsay, France
1990-1993		Postdoctoral Researcher, Fundamental Research Laboratory, NEC Corporation, Tsukuba, Japan

Professional Preparation

Northwestern University		Materials Science and Engineering		Ph. D. 1989
Banaras Hindu University, India		Metallurgical Engineering		B. Tech. 1985