@article {43928,
	title = {Template -free assembly in living bacterial suspension under an external electric field},
	journal = {ACS Omega},
	volume = {2},
	year = {2017},
	month = {MAR},
	pages = {1019-1024},
	type = {Journal Article},
	abstract = {<p>Although template-assisted self-assembly methods are very popular in materials and biological systems, they have certain limitations such as lack of tunability and switchable functionality because of the irreversible association of cells and their matrix components. With an aim to achieve more tunability, we have made an attempt to investigate the self-assembly behavior of rod-shaped living bacteria subjected to an external alternating electric field using confocal microscopy. We demonstrate that rod-shaped living bacteria dispersed in a low salinity aqueous medium form different types of reversible freely suspended structures when subjected to an external alternating electric field. At low field strength, an oriented phase is observed where individual bacterium orients with its major axis aligned along the field direction. At intermediate field strength, bacteria align in the form of one-dimensional (1D) chains that lie along the field direction. Further, at high field strength, more bacteria associate with these 1D chains laterally to form a two-dimensional (2D) array. At higher bacterial concentration, these field-induced 2D arrays extend to form three-dimensional columnar structures. These results are discussed in the context of previously reported studies on bacterial self-assembly.</p>},
	keywords = {Bacteria, Electric Properties, Self- Assembly},
	doi = {10.1021/acsomega.6b00541},
	author = {Samantaray, Kunal and Bhol, Prachi and Sahoo, Bhaban and Barik, Subrat Kumar and Jathavedan, Kiran and Sahu, Bikash Ranjan and Bikash Ranjan and Suar, Mrutyunjay and Bhat, Suresh K. and Mohanty, Priti Sunda}
}
@article {43774,
	title = {Thermo-responsive PNIPAM-metal hybrids: an efficient nanocatalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol},
	journal = {Applied Surface Science},
	volume = {420},
	year = {2017},
	month = {OCT},
	pages = {753-763},
	type = {Article},
	abstract = {Micron size thermoresponsive cross-linked polymeric microgels of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) are used as "microreactor" for embedding metal nanoparticles of different shapes. Using a simple and robust method, we have synthesized various polymer-metal hybrid nanostructures incorporated with Au nanorods (AuNR), Au nanospheres (AuNS) and Ag nanospheres (AgNS). These hybrid nanostructures have been characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), UV-vis spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and static light scattering (SLS) followed by their catalytic activity. TEM studies directly confirmed the mondispersity of synthesized hybrid microgels and stability of the embedded metal nanoparticles within the microgels. Optical studies confirmed the presence of respective absorption bands that correspond to AuNS, AgNS and AuNR respectively. Extensive DLS studies demonstrated that although these hybrid microgels preserve their thermoresponsive properties, i.e their hydrodynamic radius decreased with increasing temperature, their thermosensitivity were comparatively lesser than pure PNIPAM microgels. Combining with studies using static light scattering, we further found that AuNS and AgNS were inhomogeneously distributed within microgels where the majority of the nanoparticles present within the loosely cross-linked shell. On the other hand AuNR were distributed more homogeneously within the microgels. Catalytic performance of various nanostructures loaded onto PNIPAM microgel beads were evaluated by studying the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol. Complete catalytic conversion using AgNS occurred in similar to 30 min with a first-order rate constant of 0.159 min(-1) having a 7 min induction period. On the other hand no induction period was observed for AuNS and AuNR and the reaction completed in 3-4 min with a first-order rate constant of 1.607 min(-1) and 1.627 min(-1) respectively. Further, PNIPAM-AuNS and PNIPAM-AuNR possess better catalytic activity as well as recyclability compared to that of PNIPAM-AgNS. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.},
	doi = {10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.05.172},
	author = {Satapathy, Smith Sagar and Bhol, Prachi and Chakkarambath, Aswathy and Mohanta, Jagdeep and Samantaray, Kunal and Bhat, Suresh K. and Panda, Subhendu K. and Mohanty, Priti S. and Si, Satyabrata}
}
