Nanocomposites for Environmental, Energy, and Agricultural Applications

Dr. Chidambaram Thamaraiselvan is member of DST Inspire Faculty in the Interdisciplinary Centre for Energy Research (ICER), at IISc Bangalore (India). He obtained his Ph.D. from Karunya Institute of Technology and Science (KITS), India, under the guidance of Prof. Michael Noel and Prof. Yoram Oren (visiting professor, Ben-Gurion University, Israel). Afterwards, he then moved to the Technion Israel Institute of Technology (TIIT), Israel, for his postdoctoral studies. He had been awarded an Indo-Israel government scholarship for his postdoctoral research. Then he started his second postdoc studies at the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. His Ph.D. research focused on preventing organic and inorganic fouling during textile dye wastewater treatment and enhancing brine recovery from dye wastewater. His research mainly focuses on biofouling control in the membrane filtration system, which includes developing electrically conductive membranes based on carbon nanotubes, and graphene and modifying feed spacer by nano-oxides for biofouling prevention in UF/RO membrane filtration systems. Dr. Woei Jye Lau is currently an associate professor in the School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Dr Lau has a very strong research interest in the field of membrane science and technology for water applications and has published >250 scientific papers with total number of Scopus citations exceeding 10,000. He is the author of the book Nanofiltration Membranes: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications published by CRC Press in 2017 and has edited several books published by CRC Press and Elsevier. Currently, Dr Lau serves as a subject editor for Chemical Engineering Research and Design (Elsevier) and is associate editor for Water Reuse (International Water Association). In recognition of his research excellence, Dr Lau received the Australian Endeavour Research Fellowship in 2015, UI-RESOLV Program 2016 (Indonesia), Mevlana International Exchange Program 2017/2018 (Turkey), Sakura Exchange Program 2018 (Japan), TÜBİTAK’s Fellowships for Visiting Scientists 2018 (Turkey), ASEAN-India Collaborative R&D Scheme 2019 and the 6th Science & Technology Exchange Program (Iran). Dr. Antonio Juárez Maldonado is a professor and researcher in the Department of Botany at the Autonomous Agrarian University Antonio Narro, Mexico. He obtained his Master of Science in Horticulture and Doctorate in Production Systems Engineering from the Autonomous Agrarian University Antonio Narro. His research areas cover plant ecophysiology, crop stress, the stimulating effect of nanomaterials in agricultural crops, greenhouse crop production, control of pathogens in crops with the use of nanomaterials, and induction of tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress. Nur Hidayati Othman started her academic career at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia in 2008. She received her PhD from Imperial College London in 2015. She was awarded the Fellowships for Visiting Scientists and Scientists on Sabbatical Leave from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (Tubitak) in 2019 for a research attachment at Ege University, Turkey. She was the Head of Studies Centre (Oil and Gas) at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering, UiTM from 2019 to 2021. Her current research focuses on the development of functional nanomaterials, ceramic and composite-based membranes for wastewater treatment, gas separation, high-temperature oxygen separation, catalytic reaction and energy conversion. She has over 80 publications consisting of indexed journals, proceedings and book chapters. She is a Chartered Engineer from Engineering Council UK and a Professional Engineer from the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM).

Section 1: Environmental Applications
1. Fundamentals and Applications of Carbon Nanotube-based Carbocatalysts for Water Treatment
2. Hybrid Heterostructured Nanocatalysts for Artificial Photosynthesis
3. Piezoelectric-semiconductor Hybrid as a Novel Nanostructure for Water Remediation
4. Advances in Nanocomposite Membranes for Carbon dioxide Removal

Section 2: Energy Applications
5. Roles and Application of Nanocomposite Ion Exchange Resin for Biodiesel Production

Section 3: Agricultural Applications
6. Nanocomposite pesticides - A more Efficient and Ecologically Friendly Strategy to Protect Agricultural Crops
7. Nanocomposite fertilizers - A Tool for a Better and Efficient Nutrition of Plants
8. Bio stimulation of Plants with Nanocomposites: A New Perspective to Improve Crop Production
9. Improving Fruit Quality and Bioactive Compounds in Plants: New Trends using Nanocomposites
10. Impacts of Nanocomposites on the Postharvest Physiology and Shelf Life of Agricultural Crops