DESCRIPTION :

Dr. Manju Unnikrishnan earned her Ph D degree from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 2008. Her research work was on strongly correlated electronic systems, especially transition metal oxides exhibiting interesting phenomena like superconductivity, colossal magnetoresistance, metal-insulator transitions and related phenomena. Apart from gaining expertise in various sample synthesis and characterization techniques, she has extensively utilized advanced synchrotron based experimental facilities at various beamlines at Elettra Synchrotron Light Source, Italy, Photon Factory, Japan and Advanced Photon Source, USA for the above research work. Following her Ph D, she was awarded the ICTP-TRIL fellowship by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Italy to work as a post doctoral research fellow at Advanced Photoelectric Effect beamline at Elettra Synchrotron Light Source, Italy during 2008-2012. During this period she had worked on some of the hot topics of condensed matter physics like Topological insulators, magnetic surface alloys and magnetic superconductors. She also extended her expertise in designing, upgradation, calibration of beamlines as well as performing complex synchrotron based experiments at Sincrotrone Trieste, Italy and Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin BESSY II, Germany. Some of these techniques include Angle Resolved Photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy (XPS), Ultra-Violet Photoemission Spectroscopy (UPS), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD), Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS), X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES), Photoemission Electron microscopy (PEEM). In May 2012, Dr. Manju Unnikrishnan joined as a Senior Scientist at CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, Kolkata. She set up a Multipurpose photoelectron spectroscopy laboratory at CSIR-CGCRI, Kolkata which has the capability of performing conventional spectroscopy measurements like X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy (XPS), Ultra-violet Photoemission Spectroscopy (UPS), depth profiling etc., as well as the additional advantage of performing imaging (Scanning X-ray Imaging and photoemission imaging). She also was extensively involved in various research activities pertaining to (a) nanoparticles and bio-nanocomplexes: (i) Fe and Cu nanoparticles/complexes for targeted drug delivery applications (ii) Zinc oxides for dye sensitized solar cell applications (iii) Cerium doped mixed cation oxides for advanced technological applications. (b) metal doped optical communication fibers. (c) refractory materials (d) Multiferroics. She was also a joint course coordinator for AcSIR-M Tech/PhD programme for Material Characterization II. She availed a transfer to CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology in August 2014 and is presently associated with the Colloids and Material Chemistry department of the institute. Here she is continuing her research in Materials Science and Technology by exploring new materials for advanced technological applications.

• Senior Principal Scientist: (2021- till date)-CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology-IMMT, Bhubaneswar.
• Professor (Physical Sciences): (2021- till date)-Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR-CSIR), New Delhi.
• Principal Scientist: (2016-2021)-CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology-IMMT, Bhubaneswar.
• Associate Professor (Physical Sciences): (2016-2021)-Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR-CSIR), New Delhi.
• Senior Scientist: (2014-2016)-CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology-IMMT, Bhubaneswar.
• Senior Scientist: (2012-2014)-CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramics Research Institute-CGCRI, Kolkata.
• Asst. Professor (Physical Sciences): (2012-2016)-Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR-CSIR), New Delhi.
• Post Doctoral Fellow: (2008-2012)-Advanced Photoelectric Effect (APE) beamline, Elettra Synchrotron Light Source, Italy.

Designing and development of intelligent materials and prototypes for environment friendly energy applications and sensing technologies, catering to electronic and optoelectronic industries.

 Piezoelectric materials and composites for self-powered electronics and sensors

 Transparent conducting materials for optoelectronic applications

 New generation hybrid perovskite absorber materials for solar cells

 Magnetic materials for cryogenic applications-magnetic cooling and sensing

 Synchrotron based advanced spectroscopy and microscopy techniques

• State Rank Holder, SSLC: 1992.
• University First Rank Holder, B Sc (Physics): 1997.
• University First Rank Holder, M Sc (Physics): 2000.
• Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Research Fellowships -JRF-SRF: 2000-2005.
• Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) National Eligibility Test (NET) in Physical Sciences qualified.
• Interenational Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)-TRIL Fellowship: 2008-2012.

2015-Present

• “Piezoelectricity in Twisted Few-Layer Graphene Composites Enabling Real-Time FFT-Resolved Rotational Motion Sensing and Biomechanical Thumb-Grip Assessment” B. Sheetal Priyadarshini and Unnikrishnan Manju, Chem. Eng. J. 540, 177581 (2026). 
• "In-situ Enhanced Performance of Al-doped ZnO through in-situ Pressure Controlled Growth: An Alternate Approach for Developing n-type Transparent Conducting Materials for Optoelectronic Devices" Jiten Kumar Deuri, Puspanjali Sahu and Unnikrishnan Manju, ACS Appl. Electron. Mater. 8, 696 (2026). 
• "Deciphering the Role of Strain Effect in the Evolution of the Electronic Structure in Organic Lead Halide Perovskites" Dhiman Kalita, Dinesh Topwal and Unnikrishnan Manju, J. Phys. Chem. C 130, 394 (2026).

• “Giant Magnetocaloric effect in Cr- and Fe- Substituted Frustrated Magnet Gadolinium Gallium Garnets, Gd3Ga5O12, for Magnetic Cooling at Cryogenic Temperatures” Abinash Prusty, Soumya Ranjan Nayak, Tapas Ranjan Senapati, Kartik Senapati, D. Topwal, and U. Manju, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 17, 58432 (2025).
• “Harnessing the Morphotropic Phase Boundary in (Ba0.85Ca0.15)(Zr0.1Ti0.9)O3  perovskites for Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting: Experimental and DFT Investigations” Rahul Mitra and U. Manju, ACS Appl. Energy Mater. 8, 12591 (2025). *Selected as the front cover page of ACS Appl. Energy Mater. 8, issue 17.
• “Interplay of Jahn-Teller Distortion and Ionic Substitution: Probing Multifunctional Properties in Alkaline-Earth Hole Doped DyMnO3 Multiferroics” Rahul Mitra, Abinash Prusty, Andrei Gloskovskii, D. Topwal, and U. Manju, Phys. Status Solidi (A) 222, 2500366 (2025).
• “Giant Magnetocaloric effect in Fe doped Rare earth Orthochromite GdCr0.5Fe0.5O3" Abinash Prusty, Sudipta Mahana, B. Sheetal Priyadarshini, Andrei Gloskovskii, D. Topwal, and U. Manju, J. Mater. Chem. C 13, 1429 (2025).
• “Anti-perovskites for Photovoltaics: Materials Development and Challenges” Dhiman Kalita, Puspanjali Sahu and Unnikrishnan Manju, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 55, 243001 (2024).
• “Intertwined crystal structure, magnetic and charge transport properties in mixed valent A-site ordered manganite NdBaMn2O6” A. Khatun, P. Aich, A. Schoekel, A. Gloskovskii, S. K. Panda, N. Mohapatra, S. D. Mahanti, U. Manju and D. Topwal, J. Alloys Compd. 988, 174205 (2024).
• "Dynamic Structural Evolution and Dual Emission Behavior in Hybrid Organic Lead Bromide Perovskites" Dhiman Kalita, Pronoy Nandi, Puspanjali Sahu, Alexander Schoekel, Joel van Embden, Dinesh Topwal and Unnikrishnan Manju, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 9, 2557 (2024). 
• “Carbonaceous Two-Dimensional Electrode Materials for High Performance Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors” Dhiman Kalita, B. S. Priyadarshini and U. Manju, J. Electrochem Soc. India 73, 1 & 2, 72 (2024).
• “Anchoring 2D Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) for Electrochemical Energy Storage: Recent Advances, Challenges and Key Applications” Rahul Mitra, Swagatika Mohanty and U. Manju, J. Electrochem Soc. India 73, 1 & 2, 34 (2024).
• "Effect of substitution of Sr2+ on the structural, electrical, and optical properties of BaTiO3 synthesized by the modified solid-state reaction route" P. Elorika, Sharmistha Anwar, Manju Unnikrishnan and Shahid Anwar, Appl. Phys. A 130, 88 (2024).
• "Elucidating Phase Transitions and the Genesis of Broadband Emission in MA1-xFAxPbBr3 Perovskites" Dhiman Kalita, Puspanjali Sahu, Pronoy Nandi, Kishore K. Madapu, Sandip Dhara, Alexander Schoekel, Subhendra D. Mahanti, Dinesh Topwal and Unnikrishnan Manju, J. Phys. Chem. C 127, 24608 (2023). *Selected as the front cover page of J. Phys. Chem. C 127, issue 51.
• "Titania nanoparticle-stimulated ultra-low frequency detection and high-pass filter behavior of flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator: A self-sustaining energy harvester for active motion tracking" B. Sheetal Priyadarshini, Rahul Mitra and Unnikrishnan Manju, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 15, 45812 (2023).
  
• "In-situ Pressure Controlled Growth of ZnO nanoparticles: Tailoring Sizes, Defects and Optical Properties" Jiten Kumar Deuri, Puspanjali Sahu and Unnikrishnan Manju, Inorg. Chem. 62, 7868 (2023).
  
• "Negative Capacitance and Intrinsic Ferroelectric Behavior in α-MoO3 Culminating as a Robust Piezoelectric Energy Harvester" Rahul Mitra and Unnikrishnan Manju, ACS Appl. Electron. Mater. 5, 3130 (2023).
• "ZnTa2O6 - Holistic insights into a potential high-temperature piezoelectric candidate with tri-a- PbO2 structure" Rahul Mitra, A. Ramadoss, Shahid Anwar and U. Manju, Mater. Res. Bull. 157, 112038 (2023).
• “Stretchable polymer-modulated PVDF-HFP/TiO2 nanoparticles-based piezoelectric nanogenerators for energy harvesting and sensing applications” Rahul Mitra, Sheetal Bhatta, A. Ramadoss and U. Manju, Mater. Sci. Eng. B 286, 116029 (2022).
• “Enhanced voltage response in TiO2 nanoparticle embedded piezoelectric nanogenerator" Sheetal Bhatta, Rahul Mitra, A. Ramadoss and U. Manju, Nanotechnology 7, 10052 (2022). 
• "Plasmonic nanostructure integrated two-dimensional materials for optoelectronic devices" Dhiman Kalita, Jiten Kumar Deuri, Puspanjali Sahu and Unnikrishnan Manju, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 55, 243001 (2022). 
• “One-dimensional Rashba states with unconventional spin texture in Bi chains” P. M. Sheverdyaeva, D. Pacilè, D. Topwal, U. Manju, M. Papagno, V. Feyer, M. Jugovac, G. Zamborlini, I. Cojocariu, C. Tusche, X. L. Tan, K. Hagiwara, Y.-J. Chen, J. Fujii, P. Moras, L. Ferrari, E. Vescovo, G. Bihlmayer, and C. Carbone, Phys. Rev. B 106, 045108 (2022).
• Gd Induced Modifications in the Magnetocaloric Properties of Dysprosium Manganites.” Prusty, Abinash, Sudipta Mahana, Andrei Gloskovskii, D. Topwal, and U. Manju, J. Alloys Compd. 883, 160862 (2021). 
• “Prospects in Engineering Congested Molecular Diffusion at the Stabilizer Layer of Metal Nanocrystals for Ultrahigh Catalytic Activity.” Sahoo, Lipipuspa, Sanjit Mondal, Reeya Garg, Unnikrishnan Manju, D. Topwal, and Ujjal K. Gautam, J. Phys. Chem. C 7125, 9827 (2021).
• "Broad Beam-Induced Fragmentation and Joining of Tungsten Oxide Nanorods: Implications for Nanodevice Fabrication and the Development of Fusion Reactors" Manoj K Rajbhar, Wolfhard Möller, Biswarup Satpati, Unnikrishnan Manju, Yatendra S Chaudhary, and Shyamal Chatterjee, ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 3, 9, 9064 (2020).
• "Probing the Electronic Structure of Hybrid Perovskites in the Orientationally Disordered Cubic Phase" Pronoy Nandi, S. K. Pandey, Chandan Giri, Vijay Singh, L. Petaccia, U. Manju, Subhendra D. Mahanti,, D. Topwal, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 11, 5719 (2020). 
• "Tunable Wettability and Conductivity of the Graphene Oxide Surface with Insights from Density Functional Theory and Molecular Dynamics Investigations" Pritam Das, Bibhudutta Rout, Unnikrishnan Manju, and Shyamal Chatterjee, J. Phys. Chem. C 124, 10541 (2020).
• "Assessment of concrete properties with iron slag as a fine aggregate replacement" E. Rahmathulla Noufal, A.K. Kasthurba, J. Sudhakumar and Unnikrishnan Manju, Adv. Concr. Constr. 9, 589 (2020).
• "Hydrogen photosynthesis through Schottky junction of RGO-NiPO and the perspective of the mechanism" Alaka Samal, Smrutirekha Swain, Manju Unnikrishnan and Dipti Prakasini Das, ACS Sus. Chem. Eng. 7, 10052 (2019).
  
• "Room Temperature Growth of CH3NH3PbCl3 Single Crystals by Solvent Evaporation Method" Pronoy Nandi, Chandan Giri, Diptikanta Swain, U. Manju and Dinesh Topwal, Cryst. Eng. Comm. 21, 656 (2019).
• "Self-immobilized Pd nanowires as an excellent platform for a continuous flow reactor: efficiency, stability and regeneration" Lipipuspa Sahoo, Moumita Rana, Sanjit Mondal, Neeru Mittal, Pronoy Nandi, A. Gloskovskii, U. Manju, D. Topwal and Ujjal K. Gautam, Nanoscale 10, 21396 (2018).
• "Temperature Dependent Photo-induced reversible Phase Separation in Mixed Halide Perovskite" Pronoy Nandi, Chandan Giri, Diptikanta Swain, U. Manju, Subhendra D. Mahanti, and Dinesh Topwal, ACS Appl. Energy Mater. 1, 3807 (2018).
• “GdCrO3: Potential candidate for low temperature magnetic refrigeration” S. Mahana, U. Manju and Dinesh Topwal, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 51, 305002 (2018).
• “Role of local structural distortion in driving ferroelectricity in GdCrO3” Sudipta Mahana, U. Manju, Pronoy Nandi, Edmund Welter, K. R. Prilolkar and D. Topwal, Phys. Rev. B 97, 224107 (2018).
• “Non-precious transition metal oxide Calcium Cobaltite: Effect of dopant on Oxygen/Hydrogen evolution reaction and thermoelectric properties” Avinna Mishra, Aneeya K. Samantara, Swagatika Kamila, Bikash Jena, U Manju and Sarama Bhattacharjee, Materials Today Communication 15, 48 (2018).
• “Local inversion symmetry breaking and spin-phonon coupling in the perovskite GdCrO3” S. Mahana, B. Rakshit, R. Basu, S. Dhara, B. Joseph, U. Manju, SD. Mahanti and D. Topwal, Phys. Rev. B 96, 104106 (2017).
• “Band Structure of Topological Insulator BiSbTe1.25Se1.75” H. Lohani, P. Mishra, A. Banerjee, K. Majhi, R. Ganesan, U. Manju, D. Topwal, P. S. A. Kumar and B.R. Sekhar, Nature Scientific Reports 7, 4567 (2017).
• “Giant Magnetocaloric effect in GdAlO3 and a comparative study with GdMnO3” Sudipta Mahana, U. Manju and D. Topwal, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 50, 035002 (2017).
• “Complex magnetic behavior in GdCrO3” Sudipta Mahana, U. Manju and Dinesh Topwal, AIP Conference proceedings 1832 (1), 130046 (2017).
• “Optical and low temperature magnetic properties study on sol-gel derived misfit calcium cobaltite” Avinna Mishra, Sudipta Mahana, Dinesh Topwal, U. Manju and Sarama Bhattacharjee, AIP Conference proceedings 1832 (1), 030019 (2017).
• “Structural and electronic phase evolution of Tin dioxide” Sudipta Mahana, Pitambar Sapkota, Saptarshi Ghosh, U. Manju and D. Topwal, arXiv: 1606.08137 (2016).
• "CH3NH3PbI3 - A potential solar cell candidate: Structural and Spectroscopic investigations" Pranoy Nandi, Chandan Giri, B. Joseph, S. Rath, U. Manju and D. Topwal, J. Phys. Chem. A 120, 9732 (2016).
• “I-sand-An environment friendly alternative to river sand in reinforced cement concrete manufacturing” Rahmathulla Noufal E. and Unnikrishnan Manju, Constr. Build. Mater. 125, 1152 (2016).
• “Synthesis of Carboxylic Acid Terminated Solution Exfoliated Graphite Nanosheets via Organic Acylation” Koushik Bhowmik, Amrita Chakravarty, U. Manju, Gautam De and Arnab Mukherjee, J. Chem. Sci. 128, 1345 (2016).
• “Extremely fast Au-Ag alloy-dealloy associated reversible plasmonic modifications in SiO2 films” Sourav Pramanik, Shreyasi Chattopadhyay, Jugal Kishore Das, Unnikrishnan Manju and Gautam De, J. Mater. Chem. C 4, 3571 (2016).
• “Cu3(1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate)2 Metal-Organic Framework: A Promising Anode Material for Lithium-ion Battery” Sandipan Maiti, Atin Pramanik, U. Manju and Sourindra Mahanty, Micropor Mesopor Mat 226, 353 (2016).
• “Reversible Lithium storage in Mn-(1,3,5-benzenedicarboxylate) Metal-Organic Framework with High Capacity and Rate Performance” Sandipan Maiti, Atin Pramanik, U. Manju and Sourindra Mahanty, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 7, 16357 (2015).
• “Adhesive hydrophobicity of Cu2O nano-columnar array induced by nitrogen ion irradiation” Satyanarayan Dhal, Sriparna Chatterjee, Unnikrishnan Manju, Lokesh C Tribedi, K. V. Thulasiram, W. A. Fernandez and Shyamal Chatterjee, Soft Matter 11, 9211 (2015).
• “Defect engineered d0 ferromagnetism in ITO nanostructures and nanocrystalline thin-films” Gobinda Gopal Khan, Shyamsundar Ghosh, Ayan Sarkar, Guruprasad Mandal, Goutam Dev Mukherjee, Unnikrishnan Manju, Nasrin Banu and Bhupendra Nath Dev, J. Appl. Phys. 118, 074303 (2015).
• “A new method for synthesis of CuO nanoparticle in rare colloidal form: its characterization and mechanism of antibacterial role” Ruchira Chakraborty, Rajkumar Sarkar, Sourav Singha Roy, Arijit Kumar Chatterjee, Milon Banik, Asoke Prasun Chattopadhyay, Unnikrishnan Manju and Tarakdas Basu, Biochimica et Biophys. Acta (BBA)- General studies 1850, 845 (2015).
• “Correlation effects driven by reduced dimensionality in magnetic surface alloys” U. Manju, Pramana-J. Phys. 84, 999 (2015).
• “Highly fluorescent silver nanoclusters in alumino-silica composite optic fibres” Arindam Halder, Rik Chattopadhyay, Subir Majumder, Mukul C. Paul, Shyamal Das, Shyamal K. Bhadra, Sandip Bysakh and Unnikrishnan Manju, App. Phys. Lett. 106, 011101 (2015).

Books/Reports/Chapters/General articles etc.:

2015-Present:

• “Metal Oxide Doping for Optoelectronics Device Application” B S Priyadarshini, Suryasnata Saswati and Unnikrishnan Manju, Doping of Metal Oxides, Editing completed (2025) Elsevier, Netherlands.
• “Emergence and Recent Advances in MXenes for Diverse Sensing Applications” B S Priyadarshini, R Mitra and Unnikrishnan Manju, MXenes: Emerging 2D Materials, Pages 121-148 (2024) Springer Nature.
• “Self-trapped Excitons in Organic Lead halide Perovskites” Dhiman Kalita, Joel van Embden and Unnikrishnan Manju, MDPI (2024) Basel, Switzerland.
• “Non-layered two-dimensional Metalloids” Rahul Mitra, Ajay Kumar Verma, Unnikrishnan Manju and Yongxiang Li, (2023) Elsevier, Netherlands.
• “Ferroelectric Perovskites as Electro-optic Switching Devices, Modulators and Optical Memory” Rahul Mitra, Abinash Prusty and Unnikrishnan Manju, Perovskite Metal Oxides, Pages 617-643 (2023) Elsevier, Netherlands.
• “Metal–organic frameworks and MOF-derived materials for electrochemical CO2 reduction” Puspanjali Sahu and Unnikrishnan Manju, Electrochemical Applications of Metal-Organic Frameworks-Advances and Future Potential, Pages 95-116 (2022) Elsevier, Netherlands.
• “Analytical performances of electrochemical sensor based on metal-organic frameworks” Anulipsa Priyadarshini, Jaykishon Swain, Puspanjali Sahu, Unnikrishnan Manju, Saroj Kumar Rout and Rojalin Sahu, Electrochemical Applications of Metal-Organic Frameworks-Advances and Future Potential, Pages 117-133 (2022) Elsevier, Netherlands.
• “Insights into the Electronic Structure of Orientationally Disordered Hybrid Perovskite” P. Nandi, S. K. Pandey, C. Giri, V. Singh, L. Petaccia, U. Manju, S. D. Mahanti and D. Topwal, Elettra Research Highlights, 2021-22, 40.