Overview

Active Colloids and Emulsions
Active particles or emulsions are capable of harnessing energy from their surroundings and drive themselves out of thermodynamic equilibrium. Consequently, unlike Brownian particles, where equilibrium thermal fluctuations leads to random motion, artificial active colloids offer more control over the dynamics of particles and feature various novel transport and self-assembly behaviors. In our group, we are currently endeavoring into investigating several unexplored fundamental questions pertaining to their motion through Single Particle Tracking experiments.

Impact of Shock Waves on the Structure and Dynamics of Polymer Nano-composites (PNCs)
Addition of nano-particles (NPs) to polymer hosts is a well-practiced method for augmenting various properties of the host, including mechanical strength, thermal stability, barrier properties, and wear resistance. Hence, lately there has been an active interest in using PNCs as shock mitigater for protective equipments in case of a bomb explosion. In this work we are experimentally investigating the impact of shock waves on the fundamental physical properties of PNCs. Our long term goal is to design a nano-composite material offering best resistance to shock waves.

Awards

• INAE Young Engineer Award, (2020), Indian National Academy of Engineering
• Early Career Research Award, (2019-2022), Science and Engineering Research Board, Government of India
• Ramanujan Fellowship, (2017-2022), Science and Engineering Research Board, Government of India
• Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant, (2016), Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University
• McMullen Fellowship, (2012), Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University
• Academic Excellence, (2009), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur
• Academic Excellence, (2008), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur

Work Experience

• Manager, Reliance Industries Limited, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India (Jul.2010 – Jul.2012)

Recent Publications

• P. Dwivedi, A. Srivasatava, D. Pillai and R. Mangal, Physics of Fluids, 33, 082108 (2021).Rheotaxis of Active Droplets
• P. K. Jana, J. Lam, R. Mangal, M.K. Alava, N. Parveen and L.Laurson, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 23, 14, 8825 (2021).Impurity-induced nematic-isotropic transition of liquid crystals
• P. Dwivedi, B. R. Si, D. Pillai and R. Mangal, Physics of Fluids, 33, 022103 (2021).Solute Induced Jittery motion of self-propelled droplets
• M. Vinay, T. Deshpande, Y. R. Singh, S. Patil, A. Sharma and R. Mangal, ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 3, 1, 130 (2020).Fabrication and Characterization of Porous Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) Adhesives
• B. Ranjan Si, P. Patel, and R. Mangal, Langmuir 36, 40, 11888 (2020),Self-Propelled Janus Colloids in Shear Flow
• B. Chandra, R. Mangal, D. Das and V. Shankar, Phys. Rev. Fluids 4, 083301 (2019).Instability Driven by shear thinning and elasticity in the flow of concentrated polymer solutions through microtubes.
• P. Nath, R. Mangal, F. F. Kohle, S. Chodhury, S. Narayanan, U. B. Wiesner and L. A. Archer, Langmuir 34(1), (2017).Dynamics of nanoparticles in entangled polymer solutions.
• R. Mangal, N. Karthik, Y. K. Kim, E. Bukusoglu, U. M. Cordova-Figuerora and N. L. Abbott, Langmuir 33 (41), (2017).Active Janus Particles at Interfaces of Liquid Crystals.