Washington: An Indian-origin scientist has received a USD 500,000 award to develop ultrathin metal sheets that can help produce better rechargeable batteries. The prestigious USD 500,000 National Science Foundation CAREER award was won by Gurpreet Singh, assistant professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering at Kansas State University. Singh will use the award to develop ultrathin metal sheets that can help produce better rechargeable batteries, supercapacitors and catalysts for photoelectrochemical hydrogen production.

The award will help with more than research - Singh will also organise educational activities. He is planning nanotechnology-oriented summer workshops for high school science teachers and female high school students. "I want to create excitement about the opportunities in nanotechnology and also make others aware of the challenges related to scalable manufacture and high-cost that is currently hindering introduction in practical applications," Singh said. With his CAREER award, Singh will study large-scale production of ultrathin sheets - a few atoms thick and several micrometres wide - of transition metal dichalcogenides, or TMDs.