Smart and Sustainable Functional Materials (SSFM-2026)

  • ORGANIZERS

    Institute of Physics , Bhubaneswar

    DATE

    19 - 21 Mar 2026

    VENUE

    Institute of Physics (IOP), Bhubaneswar

The National Conference “Smart and Sustainable Functional Materials (SSFM-2026) ” is being organized at the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar from 19-21 March 2026. This conference brings together researchers and scientists to discuss recent advancements in materials science and physics that contribute toward sustainable development. It provides a platform for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and exploration of scientific solutions to address global challenges related to energy, environment, and sustainability. We look forward to your participation in this exciting event!

Scope of the Conference

  • To provide a unique interdisciplinary platform in materials physics for discussing emerging challenges and opportunities in sustainable energy and environmental technologies.
  • To enhance understanding of advanced functional materials for energy conversion, storage, hydrogen energy, and environmental remediation.
  • To review current trends, technological barriers, and practical challenges in sustainable materials, including quantum materials, nanostructures, and accelerator-based modifications, while highlighting successful strategies and solutions.
  • To explore computational materials physics, AI-driven design, sustainable manufacturing, and circular economy approaches, and to outline future research directions for developing environmentally responsible and high-performance materials.
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SSFM-2026 Programme Schedule

March 19-21, 2026

Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar

Venue: Prof. Trilochan Pradhan Lec. Hall
(Block-A)

Day 1 – March 19, 2026

Inagural Session

Time Programme
08:30 – 09:30 am Registration
09:30 – 10:15 am Guest of Honour: Prof. P. K. Nanda

(Vice Chancellor, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar)

Introductory lecture on Role of O2 in Materials
(Prof. K.K. Nanda, Director of Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar)
10:15 – 10:45 am Tea Break

Time Title Speaker & Affiliation
Technical Session – I Session Chair: Shaibal Sarkar
10:45 – 11:15 am
(IT – 01)		 Exciton dynamics in semiconductor nanocrystals: from curiosity to applications Anindya Datta
INST Mohali
11:15 – 11:45 am
(IT – 02)		 Co-Catalysts in Photo catalysis: MXene, A Sustainable Materials for Energy and
Environmental Application 		Kulamani Parida
S’O’A University, Bhubaneswar
11:45 – 12:15 pm
(IT – 03)		 From Substitutional Doping to Screw Dislocations: Defect-Controlled Optoelectronics in
2D TMDs		 Atikur Rahman
IISER Pune
12:15 – 12:30 pm Tea Break
Technical Session – II Session Chair: Udai P. Singh
12:30 – 01:00 pm
(IT – 04)		 Crystal Engineering in Ionic Semiconductor Nanostructures for Light Harvesting Narayan Pradhan
IACS Kolkata
01:00 – 01:30 pm
(IT – 05)		 Tailoring Magnetic and Electrochemical Properties of α-MnO₂ Nanorods via Dy Doping Chandana Rath
IIT BHU
01:30 – 02:45 pm Lunch
Technical Session – III Session Chair: Binaya K. Panigrahi
02:45 – 03:15 pm
(IT – 06)		 Influence of Fano Asymmetry and Electron-Phonon Coupling in Photocatalytic Properties of
TiO₂ Micro
flowers		 Pratap Kumar Sahoo
NISER, Bhubaneswar
03:15 – 03:45 pm
(IT – 07)		 Defect and Strain Induced Ferromagnetism in 1.2 MeV Proton Implanted ZnO Nanostructures:
An Experimental
and DFT Study		 Neeraj Shukla
NIT Patna
03:45 – 04:15 pm
(IT – 08)		 Ion–Solid Interaction Induced Functional Control in Semiconductors for Energy and
Neuromorphic
Applications		 Prasanta Karmakar
VECC Kolkata
04:15 – 04:30 pm Tea Break
Technical Session – IV Session Chair: Debakanta Samal
04:30 – 05:00 pm
(IT – 09)		 2D heterostructured materials and organic network membranes for hydrogen generation Simantini Nayak
CSIR IMMT, Bhubaneswar
05:00 – 05:30 pm
(IT – 10)		 Solid-state hydrogen storage advances and the potential of reduced graphene oxide as a
storage material 		Surajit Hazra
JUIT, Waknaghat
05:30 – 07:00 pm Poster Session
07:00 pm onwards Dinner

Day 2 – March 20, 2026

Time Title Speaker & Affiliation
Technical Session – V Session Chair: Prasanta Karmakar
09:30 – 10:00 am
(IT – 11)		 Inorganic Thin Film Photovoltaics Progress and Future ahead U.P. Singh
KIIT University, Bhubaneswar
10:00 – 10:30 am
(IT – 12)		 Dimension Controlled Ferroelectricity and Bulk Photovoltaic Effect in CsPbBr₃ Perovskite
Nanocrystals		 Somobrata Acharya
IACS Kolkata
10:30 – 11:00 am
(IT – 13)		 Application of Graphene for Energy Harvesting and Storage Pitamber Mahanandia
NIT Rourkela
11:00 – 11:15 am Tea Break
Technical Session – VI Session Chair: Dinesh Topwal
11:15 – 11:45 am
(IT – 14)		 Vanadate Oxide Cathodes for Secondary Zn-ion Batteries Prabeer Barpanda
IISc Bangalore
11:45 – 12:15 pm
(IT – 15)		 Memristor-Based Artificial Nociceptor and Neuromorphic Accelerator for Next-Generation
Energy-Efficient AI		 Debashis Panda
Sri Sri University, Bhubaneswar
12:15 – 12:45 pm
(IT – 16)		 The Impact of Evolving Interface and Interphase on the performance of Halide solid
electrolyte based ASSB		 Lily Mandal
TCG CREST, Kolkata
12:45 – 02:00 pm Lunch Break
Technical Session – VII Session Chair: Pratap K. Sahoo
02:00 – 02:30 pm
(IT – 17)		 Growth of polycrystalline-Si and -Ge under ion irradiation in metal/a-semiconductor
bilayer thin films		 Shiv Poojan Patel
Delhi University
02:30 – 03:00 pm
(IT – 18)		 Lasers and Ion beams for solid-state quantum technologies Kaushalya Jhuria
IIT Delhi
03:00 – 03:30 pm
(IT – 19)		 Metal Oxide on Halide Perovskites: A Journey from ~4% to >35% Bifacial Perovskite
Photovoltaic Device		 Shaibal Sarkar
IIT Bombay
03:30 – 04:30 pm Sponsored Talks
04:30 – 04:45 pm Tea Break
Technical Session – VIII Session Chair: Shyamal Chatterjee
04:45 – 05:15 pm
(IT – 20)		 White EL from rGO-capped Silicon Quantum Rods Syed Minhaz Hossain
IIEST Shibpur
05:15 – 05:45 pm
(IT – 21)		 Advanced Nanostructured Functional Materials for Next-Generation Optoelectronic Devices Ritu Srivastava
NPL, New Delhi
05:45 – 06:15 pm
(IT – 22)		 Optoelectronic applications of binary chalcogenide thin films Piraviperumal Malar
SRMIST Chennai
06:15 – 07:00 pm Bus to the Suryansh Hotel & Resort
07:00 pm onwards Cultural Programme and Dinner at Suryansh Hotel &
Resort

Day 3 – March 21, 2026

Time Title Speaker & Affiliation
Technical Session – IX Session Chair: Biplab Patra
09:30 – 10:00 am
(IT – 23)		 Van der Waals Josephson-junction-based Superconducting diodes Madhu Thalakum
IISER TVM
10:00 – 10:30 am
(IT – 24)		 Pulse schemes for increasing coherence time in an ensemble of nitrogen vacancy centres
in diamond		 Chiranjib Mitra
IISER Kolkata
10:30 – 11:00 am
(IT – 25)		 A cadmium metal organic framework for in gas, organic and aqueous phase iodine
adsorption		 Arup Ghosh
SVNIT Surat
11:00 – 11:15 am Tea Break
Technical Session – X Session Chair: Satyaprakash Sahoo
11:15 – 11:45 am
(IT – 26)		 High refractive index materials nano-patterning using direct laser lithography Shobha Shukla
IIT Bombay
11:45 – 12:15 pm
(IT – 27)		 Designing Materials for Multifunctional Energy Storage applications Bikash Jena
CSIR IMMT, Bhubaneswar
12:15 – 12:45 pm
(IT – 28)		 Two-Dimensional (2D) Layered Materials for Next-Generation Optoelectronics Asutosh Rath
CSIR IMMT, Bhubaneswar
12:45 – 02:00 pm Lunch Break
02:00 – 03:00 pm Panel Discussion → Bridging the Gap: Scaling Sustainable Materials
from Research to Commercial Realities
03:00 – 03:30 pm Closing and Award Ceremony

  • Somobrata Acharya (IACS, Kolkata)
  • Prabeer Barpanda (IISc, Bangalore)
  • Anindya Datta (INST, Mohali)
  • Arup Ghosh (SVNIT, Surat)
  • Surajit Hazra (JUIT, Waknaghat)
  • Syed Minhaz Hossain (IIEST, Shibpur)
  • Bikash Jena (CSIR-IMMT, Bhubaneswar)
  • Kaushalya Jhuria (IIT Delhi)
  • Prasanta Karmakar (VECC, Kolkata)
  • Pitambar Mahanandia (NIT Rourkela)
  • Piraviperumal Malar (SRMIST, Chennai)
  • Lily Mandal (TCG CREST, Kolkata)
  • Chiranjib Mitra (IISER Kolkata)
  • Simantini Nayak (CSIR-IMMT, Bhubaneswar)
  • Debashis Panda (Sri Sri University)
  • Kulamani Parida (S’O’A University, Bhubaneswar)
  • Shiv Poojan Patel (Delhi University)
  • Narayan Pradhan (IACS, Kolkata)
  • Atikur Rahman (IISER Pune)
  • Ashutosh Rath (CSIR-IMMT, Bhubaneswar)
  • Chandana Rath (IIT-BHU, Varanasi)
  • Pratap K. Sahoo (NISER, Bhubaneswar)
  • Shaibal K Sarkar (IIT Bombay)
  • Neeraj Shukla (NIT Patna)
  • Shobha Shukla (IIT Bombay)
  • Udai P. Singh (KIIT, Bhubaneswar)
  • Ritu Srivastava (NPL, New Delhi)
  • Madhu Thalakulam (IISER TVM)

Travel Information
The Institute is situated approximately 7 km from Bhubaneswar Railway Station and 9 km from Bhubaneswar Airport. It is located on Sachivalaya Marg, 1 km from Acharya Vihar Square (NH-5), en route to Sainik School. Nearby landmarks include the Doordarshan TV Centre and Apollo Hospital.

Airport to Institute :
There is a prepaid taxi counter at the Bhubaneswar Airport (normal fare is approximately ₹ 500/-)

Railway Station to Institute :
From the Railway Station one can hire an Autorickshaw (or OLA, Uber, Odisha Yatri) to reach the Institute. The normal fare is approximately ₹ 300/-.

General guidelines

General guidelines

  • The official language of the conference is English.
  • All presentations, including discussions, shall be made in English.
  • All the invited speakers are requested to upload their PowerPoint presentations well before (during session breaks).

Invited talks :

The invited talks will be of 25 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of Q&A.

Poster presentation :

Your poster should have the following dimensions:
Poster size : A1 Size 23.4 inches (59.4 cm) wide x 33.1 inches (84.1 cm) high.

Abstract Submission

Please submit your abstract here

Note :

  • Fields marked with * are mandatory.
  • Abstract Submission Date:
    Till 7th March 2026 .
  • Registration charges to be: ₹4000*
    for Research Scholars / Post Doctoral Fellows .

  • Registration charges to be: ₹6000*
    for Faculties / Scientists .
    *Included accommodation, food, registration fee & daily transport from conference venue to guest house / hotel.





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* Please upload in PDF / DOC / DOCX format only(file size must be between 10KB and 2MB).


Fee

Registration

Faculty ₹ 6000
All other categories ₹ 4000
Industry
(Stalls are available)		 ₹ 20000
(*Included accommodation, food, registration fee & daily transport from conference venue to guest house / hotel.)

Accommodation

Accommodation will be available in Govt. Guest House (for research scholars and post doctoral fellows) on single / double occupancy basis.
All invited speakers will be accommodated in a nearby hotel (Deluxe room).

Contact us
Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar
Email : ssfm-2026@iopb.res.in
Contact No : +91 9437010830