Building nanochips to address healthcare and environmental hazards

Infosys prize winner Navakanta Bhat's gas sensors are used by Isro to detect the minutest of leakages; his biosensors are much cheaper than conventional blood tests

Despite the advancement in battery technologies, most mobile smartphones need to be charged at least once a day. Besides, they guzzle even more battery when connected to the internet, for which they are primarily being used nowadays. Many a times we wonder why our smartphones can’t run for a week or even more without charging. It’s very much possible, says Professor Navakanta Bhat, who heads the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE) at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru. Bhat and his team are now spearheading a project to miniaturise the chips used in smartphones so as to