Research output
Explore Prabakaran Shankar's peer-reviewed publications on functional materials, nanostructures, sensors, polymers, thin films, gas sensing, and research interfaces.
Materials Letters2026Vol. 412Article 140405
A bio-derived Pebax polymer loaded with just 0.4 wt% carbon nanotubes becomes a sustainable, multi-stage piezoresistive strain sensor that stays stable over 1,000 stretch-release cycles.
Macromolecular Materials and Engineering2026Vol. 311(7)Article e70294
A Design-of-Experiments study of 3D-printed PNIPAm-PEGDA hydrogels links monomer ratio to a 50-fold range in mechanical strength and a predictive model for tuning stiffness, swelling, and drug release.
Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry2024Vol. 132Pages 383-394
A V2O5-graphene oxide hybrid made by electrochemical exfoliation offers a lower-cost, non-noble-metal alternative for direct glucose electrooxidation and sensing.
Thin Solid Films2022Article 139126
Optimized spray pyrolysis conditions grow c-axis oriented boron-doped ZnO films instead of the usual crystallinity loss, with 10 mol% boron giving the strongest, most selective room-temperature ammonia response.
Materials2022Vol. 15(22)Article 8101
Zn-loaded PLLA nanosheets release therapeutic zinc ions steadily over 10-12 hours and show antibacterial activity against E. coli, supporting their use as wound-healing patches.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces2020Vol. 12Pages 1775-1788
Applied current and electrolyte counter-ion control the crystal phase and shape of iron electrocoagulation coagulants, with carbonate and bicarbonate electrolytes removing over 90% of pharmaceutical micropollutants.
Applied Surface Science2020Vol. 531Article 147365
A one-pot, chemical-free laser-ablation route sequentially builds ZnO@graphene-oxide core-shell nanoparticles in water, with longer graphite ablation producing thicker GO shells.
International Journal of Molecular Sciences2019Vol. 20Article 4142
A review traces how cells sense a material's stiffness, morphology, and chemistry, following that signal from the cell surface through nuclear mechanotransduction to changes in gene expression.
Particle & Particle Systems Characterization2019Vol. 36Article 1800292
A gold nanoparticle's surface charge, more than its size, governs whether it aggregates inside a hydrogel: negatively charged particles aggregate while positively charged ones stay dispersed.
Advanced Materials2019Vol. 31Article 1803432
A review of 2D inorganic SERS substrates, including graphene, boron nitride, metal oxides, and transition metal chalcogenides, surveys their enhancement mechanisms and the path toward portable SERS sensors.
Surfaces and Interfaces2019Vol. 17Article 100363
Ultrasonically treated, annealed carbon-nanotube networks show a striking dual response to ammonia: resistance rises with concentration, then drops three orders of magnitude above 2500 ppm.
Semiconductor Science and Technology2018Vol. 33Article 095005
Fluorine doping shrinks ZnO crystallite size and increases micro-strain, and a 4 wt% fluorine-doped film gives the strongest, most selective room-temperature acetaldehyde response.
Materials Chemistry and Physics2018Vol. 212Pages 394-402
HMTA plays a dual capping role in ZnO growth, steering crystal shape between nanoprisms and nanodisks, with the nanoparticle-decorated nanoprisms giving the best acetaldehyde selectivity.
Journal of Alloys and Compounds2018Vol. 753Pages 771-780
Precursor chemistry alone tunes spray-pyrolysis CeO2 sensing performance: the acetate-derived film forms nanosheets and gives the fastest, strongest room-temperature xylene response.
Journal of Electronic Materials2018Vol. 47Pages 6000-6006
A PANI-CdO nanocomposite with 10 wt% CdO outperforms the authors' earlier PANI-only sensor, reaching a room-temperature methanol response of 1580 with fast recovery.
Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology2018Vol. 18Pages 7923-7926
Hydrothermal, solution-combustion, and microwave heating each shape V2O5 into a distinct nanostructure, with the solution-combustion nanoflowers giving the most selective ethanol response.
Journal of Alloys and Compounds2018Vol. 731Pages 805-812
Higher precursor concentration turns spray-pyrolysis V2O5 into interconnected, flower-like nanofibers that give the strongest, most selective room-temperature xylene response among eight tested vapors.
Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology2018Vol. 18Pages 4371-4379
An Au/ZnO-PVA/CAT/Chitosan biosensor detects hydrogen peroxide with a 9.13 nanomolar detection limit and under 1-second response time, validated directly in human blood serum.
Journal of Materials Chemistry C2017Vol. 5Pages 10869-10880
A single-step electrospinning route grows ZnO nanorods with three distinct tip shapes, and the flat-ended, loosely packed nanorods give the strongest room-temperature ethanol response.
Japanese Journal of Applied Physics2017Vol. 56Article 080304
ZnO nanospheres and nanorods made by chemical-free laser ablation in water both show clear room-temperature selectivity for ethanol, detectable down to 50 ppm.
New Journal of Chemistry2017Vol. 41Pages 11308-11316
Laser pulse duration controls the size and oxide-shell chemistry of tin nanoparticles made by ablating a tin target in water, with the resulting core-shell particles able to sense ethanol vapor.
Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics2017Vol. 28Pages 10799-10805
A PANI-ZnO nanocomposite thin film with 20 wt% ZnO gives the strongest, most selective room-temperature methanol response among several tested loadings, responding in just 7 seconds.
Applied Nanoscience2017Vol. 7Pages 309-316
A TiO2-Mn3O4 hybrid electrode detects glucose without any enzyme, reaching a 0.01 micromolar detection limit and successfully measuring glucose directly in fruit samples.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces2017Vol. 9Pages 38135-38145
A template-free electrospinning route self-assembles ZnO into nanospheres, nanobushes, or pearl-chain nanowires, with the nanowire form reaching a room-temperature ethanol response of 78 at 100 ppm.
Ceramics International2016Vol. 42Pages 1408-1415
Cobalt doping shifts a spray-pyrolysis ZnO film's gas selectivity between acetaldehyde and ethanol depending on doping level, without changing its 19-25 nm crystallite size range.
Journal of Alloys and Compounds2016Vol. 688Pages 422-429
Magnesium doping tunes spray-pyrolysis ZnO crystallite size and band gap, with the lowest-doping film reaching a room-temperature ammonia response of 796 at 100 ppm.
Ceramics International2016Vol. 42Pages 18289-18295
Cerium-doped ZnO thin films sense acetone and ethanolamine, breath biomarkers for diabetes and liver disorders, with dopant concentration tuned separately for each target.
Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology2016Vol. 16Pages 489-496
Raising the spray-pyrolysis substrate temperature shifts ZnO grain shape from spherical to pebble-like and strengthens the room-temperature ammonia response, peaking at 623 K.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces2016Vol. 8Pages 24924-24932
A single sputter-deposited ZnO film shows the 'racetrack effect' creates a real spatial gradient in crystallite size, carrier mobility, and gas-sensing response across one nominally uniform substrate.
Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis2015Vol. 111Pages 272-277
Substrate temperature and annealing steer spray-pyrolysis copper oxide films toward the tenorite (CuO) phase over cuprite (Cu2O), with 623 K giving the best crystallinity.
Journal of Food Engineering2015Vol. 144Pages 103-111
A review of electronic-nose research across milk, wine, tea, coffee, fish, and meat quality monitoring finds shared sensor hardware and algorithms, with sensor drift and cost the main barriers to industrial adoption.
RSC Advances2015Vol. 5Pages 85363-85372
Adding chloride ions to an electrospinning precursor steers ZnO growth from nanospheres to pencil-like nanorods, and the nanorod morphology gives the strongest room-temperature ethanol response.
Science Letters Journal2015Vol. 4Pages 79 (8 pp.)
Manganese doping shrinks ZnO crystallite size from 28 to 7 nm while keeping films selective to ammonia, with the best-performing film giving roughly 5x the undoped response and 60-day stability.
Science Letters Journal2015Vol. 4Pages 126
A review of the redox chemistry behind metal-oxide gas sensing compares n-type (ZnO, SnO2, In2O3, WO3) and p-type (CuO, NiO) oxides across humidity, grain size, and dopant effects on sensitivity.
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Letters2015Vol. 7Pages 885-891
Substrate temperature controls ZnO film thickness and grain size in this zinc-nitrate-precursor study, with the thinnest, highest-resistance film giving the strongest acetaldehyde response.
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Letters2014Vol. 6Pages 1046-1052
Spray-pyrolysis ZnO films made with different water-ethanol precursor solvents show the ethanol-only film selectively detects ethanolamine at room temperature, with a stable response over 30 days.
Research Journal of Pharmaceutical, Biological and Chemical Sciences2014Vol. 5Pages 605-614
Pure and manganese-doped ZnO thin films are synthesized by sol-gel dip coating to characterize how manganese doping affects their structure and properties.
Ceramics International2014Vol. 40Pages 7993-8001
Nickel doping narrows the optical band gap of spray-deposited ZnO thin films, and a 0.008 M nickel-doped film gives the strongest room-temperature ethanol response, responding in about 50 seconds.
Journal of Nanoelectronics and Optoelectronics2014Vol. 9Pages 529-533
Increasing the spray-pyrolysis precursor volume from 15 to 45 mL thickens ZnO films from 225 to 781 nm and raises conductivity, with the thicker film's open structure favoring gas sensing.
Research Journal of Pharmaceutical, Biological and Chemical Sciences2014Vol. 5Pages 615-623
Pure and iron-doped ZnO thin films are grown by sol-gel dip coating, a low-temperature alternative to spray pyrolysis, to study how iron doping shapes the resulting nanostructure.
Materials Letters2014Vol. 134Pages 47-50
Precursor volume alone steers spray-pyrolysis ZnO toward either better conductivity or better gas sensing, with a distinctive nanopetal morphology forming at 30 mL.
Research Journal of Pharmaceutical, Biological and Chemical Sciences2014Vol. 5Pages 670-678
A thick ZnO film is evaluated for its room-temperature sensing performance across a range of volatile organic compounds.
Sensor Letters2014Vol. 12Pages 1451-1456
A nanopebble-textured ZnO film made by high-temperature spray pyrolysis selectively senses ammonia at room temperature down to 1 ppm.
European Physical Journal: Applied Physics2014Vol. 67Article 20301
Switching the spray-pyrolysis precursor solvent between water and ethanol tunes ZnO film thickness from 875 down to 150 nm, producing a distinctive water-hyacinth nanostructure along the way.
Sensor Letters2013Vol. 11Pages 1956-1959
Annealing transforms a zinc-dominant spray-deposited film into polycrystalline ZnO, and only the film annealed at 623 K gives a useful room-temperature ethanol response.
Superlattices and Microstructures2013Vol. 62Pages 39-46
Increasing iron-dopant concentration drives a clear shape transition in spray-deposited ZnO from rounded nanospheres to elongated nanorods, narrowing the optical band gap along the way.
Journal of Applied Sciences2012Vol. 12(16)Pages 1666-1670
Silica and titanium dioxide powders made by stirred bead milling were pressed into pellets and separately deposited as thin films to compare their room-temperature oxygen response.
