Anish Thukral receives DARPA Young Faculty Award
The award is for his work on new nanocomposite laminates that could protect pliable electronics and batteries from moisture and oxygen without sacrificing stretch.
The highly competitive Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award (YFA) program provides funding, mentoring, and industry and national security contacts to researchers in junior faculty positions at academic and non-profit research institutions across the United States. The goal is to develop the next generation of academic scientists, engineers, and mathematicians whose long-term research could address national security needs.
Thukral was selected for a proposal titled “Dynamically Interfaced, High Loading Nanoplatelets in Multiphase Polymer Nanocomposite for Pliable Environmental Barrier Packaging (Dyna-EBP).” The project builds on SRI’s Linked Particle Network technology to create nanocomposites with very high filler loading. Dyna-EBP will use it to develop nanocomposite laminates for environmental barrier packaging, a critical component for stretchable electronics and batteries.
“I’m grateful to DARPA for its support, to SRI for fostering an environment where ambitious materials research can move from the lab toward real-world impact, and to my colleagues across chemistry, engineering, and business who make that possible,” commented Thukral.
At SRI, Thukral leads research on high-rate manufacturing of ceramic composites, closed-loop and recyclable thermoset manufacturing, and advanced materials for the energy sector. Over the past three years, he has developed Self-Cooling Coating Technology at SRI, which has recently been commercialized.