Handbook of Biopolymers

Dr. Ajitha A R is a senior researcher at International and Interuniversity Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IIUCNN), Mahatma Gandhi University. She completed her Doctoral research in the area of Polymer Science, incorporating Nano materials in thermoplastics. Her research area includes preparation of nanocomposites, their characterization and modification of nanofillers. She received two patents and published eleven research articles in international journals of high impact factor. She edited one book titled “Compatibilization of Polymer Blends” (Elsevier publication). She has also authored more than fourteen book chapters in international books and presented papers in many international conferences and seminars. She is an expert in the field of engineering application of nanomaterials. Dr. Cintil Jose Chirayil is Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry, Newman College, Kerala, India. She received her Ph.D. in Polymer Science from Mahatma Gandhi University, India, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Centre for Advanced Materials, Qatar University, Doha. She has 12 years of research experience in the field of Nanoscience and nanocellulose with 20 publications in international peer reviewed journals and fifteen book chapters and one edited book Elsevier International publishing company. In addition to the Young Scientist Award, 2011 (Leed’s University London and NIT Calicut), she was the recipient of Foreign scholarships from University of Potsdam-Germany; University of Mara-Malaysia, Institute of Chemistry-Austria, for in depth research in the field of Nano science. She is an approved research guide of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, in the subject area Chemical sciences. Dr. Bejoy Thomas studied chemistry at the University of Bangalore (India) and received his PhD in Physical Chemistry from Cochin University of Science and Technology (India). As a DFG (German Chemical Society) postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Chemical Technology, University of Stuttgart, he moved to Germany after working for a few years in NMR spectroscopy at the NMR Research Centre at the Indian Institute of Science (India) under CSR-SRF. Before returning to India to join Newman College in Thodupuzha- Kerala as Assistant Professor of Chemistry in 2011, Dr. Bejoy first moved to Paris, France as a CNRS postdoctoral associate at the Laboratoire de Chimie de la Matière de Condensee de Paris (LCMCP), UPMC-P6- Paris. His research focuses on the self-assembly of biosurfactant molecules, such as long chain fatty acids and their esters, small proteins, polysaccharides, etc. for the development of new materials, the creation of organized mesoporous materials, surface science, catalysis, and hierarchical zeolites, as well as in situ NMR spectroscopy of working catalysts.  The extraction, properties, and use of nanocellulosic materials from biomass resources have recently been the subject of the active research, particularly with regard to catalytic applications. Nearly 50 research articles by Dr. Bejoy have been published in high impact journals, including one in Chemical Reviews that has received the highest citations in recent years from authors in India.   Professor Sabu Thomas is currently Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University He is also a full professor of Polymer Science and Engineering at the School of Chemical Sciences of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, Indiaand the Founder Director and Professor of the International and Interuniversity Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.. Prof. Thomas is an outstanding leader with sustained international acclaims for his work in Nanoscience, Polymer Science and Engineering, Polymer Nanocomposites, Elastomers, Polymer Blends, Interpenetrating Polymer Networks, Polymer Membranes, Green Composites and Nanocomposites,  Nanomedicine and Green Nanotechnology. Dr. Thomas’s ground breaking inventions in polymer nanocomposites, polymer blends, green bionanotechnological and nano-biomedical sciences, have made transformative differences in the development of new materials for automotive, space, housing and biomedical fields. In collaboration with India’s premier tyre company, Apollo Tyres, Professor Thomas’s group invented new high performance barrier rubber nanocomposite membranes for inner tubes and inner liners for tyres. Professor Thomas  has received a number of national and international awards which include: Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London FRSC, Distinguished Professorship from Josef Stefan Institute, Slovenia, MRSI medal, Nano Tech Medal, CRSI medal, Distinguished Faculty Award, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Award for Scientific Excellence – 2016,Mahatma Gandhi University- Award for  Outstanding Contribution –Nov. 2016, Lifetime Achievement Award of the Malaysian Polymer Group, Indian Nano Biologists  award 2017and  SukumarMaithy Award  for the best polymer researcher in the country. He is in the list of most productive researchers in India and holds a position of No.5. Because of the outstanding contributions to the field of Nanoscience and Polymer Science and Engineering, Prof. Thomas has been conferred HonorisCausa (D.Sc) Doctorate by the University of South Brittany, Lorient, France and University of Lorraine, Nancy, France. Very recently, Prof. Thomas has been awarded Senior Fulbright Fellowship to visit 20 Universities in the US and most productive faculty award in the domain Materials Sciences. Very recently he was also awarded with National Education Leadership Award – 2017 for Excellence in Education. Prof Thomas also won 6th contest of "mega-grants" in the grant competition of the Government of the Russian Federation (Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation) designed to supportresearch projects implemented under the supervision of the world’s leading scientists. He has been honoured with Faculty Research Award of India’s brightest minds in the field of academic research in May 2018.  Professor Thomas was awarded with Trila – Academician of The Yearin June 2018 acknowledging his contribution to tyre industry. In 2019 Professor Thomas has been selected as a member of Prestigious European Academy of Sciences. Last year he was honoured with C.N.R Rao Award Prize Lecture In Advanced Materials” by Materials Research Society of India (MRSI). In 2019 Professor Thomas has been selected as a Member of Prestigious European Academy of Sciences. He was also selected as the Fellow of International Academy of Physical Sciences and was honoured with Life Time Acheivement award from Indian Association of Solid State Chemists and Allied Scientists (ISCAS).  This year he was selected for the DST Nanomissionaward and very recently in May 25th  2020 he was selected for the Honorary title of “Honoured Professor of Siberian Federal University”. Professor Thomas has published over 1000 peer reviewed research papers, reviews and book chapters. He has co-edited and written  137 books published by Royal Society, Wiley, Wood head, Elsevier, CRC Press, Springer, and Nova etc. He is the inventor of 15 patents. Prof Thomas has guided nearly 107 Ph.D scholars in India and abroad. The H index of Prof. Thomas is 101 and has more than 50356 citations. Prof. Thomas has delivered over 350 Plenary/Inaugural and Invited lectures in national/international meetings over 30 countries.  

Biopolymers: State of the art and new challenges.- Biopolymers from renewable sources.- Recent approaches towards Bacterial NanoCellulose (BNS) synthesis.- Bacterial nanocellulose from agro-industrial wastes.- Biopolymers from marine prokaryotes.- Biomolecules from humus oil.- Soy protein biopolymer.- Piezoelectric Properties of Biopolymers.- Optical properties of biopolymers: Theoretical and experimental advances.- Mechanical properties of biopolymers.- Thermal properties of biopolymers.- Gas barrier properties of biopolymers.- Structural, morphological and textural properties of biopolymers.- Tuning the hydrophilic/hydrophobic behavior of biopolymers: Surface modifications