Somnath Bhattacharyya

Bio: Somnath Bhattacharyya is an academic researcher from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. The author has contributed to research in topics: Charge density & Dielectric. The author has an hindex of 37, co-authored 361 publications receiving 5876 citations. Previous affiliations of Somnath Bhattacharyya include Indian Institutes of Technology & Indian Institute of Science.

Synthesis and characterization of highly-conducting nitrogen-doped ultrananocrystalline diamond films

Abstract: Ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) films with up to 0.2% total nitrogen content were synthesized by a microwave plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor-deposition method using a CH4(1%)/Ar gas mixture and 1%–20% nitrogen gas added. The electrical conductivity of the nitrogen-doped UNCD films increases by five orders of magnitude (up to 143 Ω−1 cm−1) with increasing nitrogen content. Conductivity and Hall measurements made as a function of film temperature down to 4.2 K indicate that these films have the highest n-type conductivity and carrier concentration demonstrated for phase-pure diamond thin films. Grain-boundary conduction is proposed to explain the remarkable transport properties of these films.

Spectroscopic determination of the structure of amorphous nitrogenated carbon films

Abstract: Studies on structure and electronic properties of amorphous nitrogenated carbon films prepared in dual electron cyclotron resonance–radio frequency plasma from a mixture of methane and nitrogen are presently reported. These films are characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS), electrical conductivity measurement, and optical absorption spectroscopy. Symmetry breaking of aromatic rings are at a very small amount of nitrogen incorporation is understood from FTIR spectra. The relative contribution of C=N and C–N bonds is found to change with the variation of the nitrogen content in the samples, which shows a similar trend with the shift of the G peak to a higher wave number and the increase of the ID/IG ratio. From decomposition of XPS C 1s and N 1s peaks a three-phase model of CN bonds is proposed. UPS valence band spectra obtained by using a Helium II source, are decomposed into p-...

M–Au/TiO2 (M = Ag, Pd, and Pt) nanophotocatalyst for overall solar water splitting: role of interfaces

Abstract: M–Au/TiO2 (M = Ag, Pd, Pt) composites were prepared through a facile one-pot photodeposition synthesis and evaluated for solar water splitting (SWS) with and without a sacrificial agent. The M–Au combination exhibits a dominant role in augmenting the H2 generation activity by forming a bi-metallic system. Degussa P25 was used as a TiO2 substrate to photodeposit Au followed by Au + M (M = Ag/Pd/Pt). The SWS activity of the M–Au/TiO2 was determined through photocatalytic H2 production in the presence of methanol as a sacrificial agent under one sun conditions with an AM1.5 filter. The highest H2 yield was observed for Pt0.5–Au1/TiO2 and was around 1.3 ± 0.07 mmol h−1 g−1, with an apparent quantum yield (AQY) of 6.4%. Pt0.5–Au1/TiO2 also demonstrated the same activity for 25 cycles of five hours each for 125 h. Critically, the same Pt0.5–Au1/TiO2 catalyst was active in overall SWS (OSWS) without any sacrificial agent, with an AQY = 0.8%. The amount of Au and/or Pt was varied to obtain the optimum composition and it was found that the Pt0.5–Au1/TiO2 composition exhibits the best activity. Detailed characterization by physico-chemical, spectral and microscopy measurements was carried out to obtain an in-depth understanding of the origin of the photocatalytic activity of Pt0.5–Au1/TiO2. These in-depth studies show that gold interacts predominantly with oxygen vacancies present on titania surfaces, and Pt preferentially interacts with gold for an effective electron–hole pair separation at Pt–Au interfaces and electron storage in metal particles. The Pt in Pt0.5–Au1/TiO2 is electronically and catalytically different from the Pt in Pt/TiO2 and it is predicted that the former suppresses the oxygen reduction reaction.

Experimental evidence of self-limited growth of nanocrystals in glass.

Abstract: Growth of nanocrystals precipitated in glasses with specific compositions can be effectively limited by diffusion barriers forming around crystallites. For the first time, we do experimentally prove this concept of self-limited growth on the nanoscale for a SiO2/Al2O3/Na2O/K2O/BaF2 glass in which BaF2 nanocrystals are formed. As shown by advanced analytical transmission electron microscopy techniques, the growth of these BaF2 crystals, having great potential for photonic applications, is inherently limited by the formation of a ca. 1 nm wide SiO2 shell.

Fluid motion around and through a porous cylinder

Abstract: The flow-field and solute transport through and around a porous cylinder is investigated numerically. The range of Reynolds number (based on the cylinder diameter and the uniform sinking rate of the cylinder) considered here is between 1 and 40 with Darcy number (Da) in the range 10 - 6 ⩽ Da ⩽ 1.5 and porosity in the range 0.629 ⩽ e ⩽ 0.999 . The motivation of the present study is the application of flow through porous cylinder extensively applied in nuclear biological chemical filters as well as reduction of carbon fines in filtered water. The influence of Da on the drag coefficient, separation angle, recirculation length, streamline and vorticity pattern are investigated. The drag ratio, defined as the ratio of drag coefficient of porous cylinder to that of solid cylinder, is found to approach zero from unity as Da is increased from 10 - 6 to 1.5 . The separation point shifts towards the rear stagnation point as Da is increased. The time evolution of the solutal field at different Reynolds number and Darcy number is presented. A long slender concentration plume is found to evolve from the cylinder with decreasing concentration at the outer edge.

Fast parallel algorithms for short-range molecular dynamics

Abstract: Three parallel algorithms for classical molecular dynamics are presented. The first assigns each processor a fixed subset of atoms; the second assigns each a fixed subset of inter-atomic forces to compute; the third assigns each a fixed spatial region. The algorithms are suitable for molecular dynamics models which can be difficult to parallelize efficiently—those with short-range forces where the neighbors of each atom change rapidly. They can be implemented on any distributed-memory parallel machine which allows for message-passing of data between independently executing processors. The algorithms are tested on a standard Lennard-Jones benchmark problem for system sizes ranging from 500 to 100,000,000 atoms on several parallel supercomputers--the nCUBE 2, Intel iPSC/860 and Paragon, and Cray T3D. Comparing the results to the fastest reported vectorized Cray Y-MP and C90 algorithm shows that the current generation of parallel machines is competitive with conventional vector supercomputers even for small problems. For large problems, the spatial algorithm achieves parallel efficiencies of 90% and a 1840-node Intel Paragon performs up to 165 faster than a single Cray C9O processor. Trade-offs between the three algorithms and guidelines for adapting them to more complex molecular dynamics simulations are also discussed.

Phd by thesis

Abstract: Deposits of clastic carbonate-dominated (calciclastic) sedimentary slope systems in the rock record have been identified mostly as linearly-consistent carbonate apron deposits, even though most ancient clastic carbonate slope deposits fit the submarine fan systems better. Calciclastic submarine fans are consequently rarely described and are poorly understood. Subsequently, very little is known especially in mud-dominated calciclastic submarine fan systems. Presented in this study are a sedimentological core and petrographic characterisation of samples from eleven boreholes from the Lower Carboniferous of Bowland Basin (Northwest England) that reveals a >250 m thick calciturbidite complex deposited in a calciclastic submarine fan setting. Seven facies are recognised from core and thin section characterisation and are grouped into three carbonate turbidite sequences. They include: 1) Calciturbidites, comprising mostly of highto low-density, wavy-laminated bioclast-rich facies; 2) low-density densite mudstones which are characterised by planar laminated and unlaminated muddominated facies; and 3) Calcidebrites which are muddy or hyper-concentrated debrisflow deposits occurring as poorly-sorted, chaotic, mud-supported floatstones. These