Meet the editors

Dr. Jitendra Pal Singh is a Ramanujan Fellow at Manav Rachna University, Faridabad, Haryana, India. He earned his Ph.D. from the Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India. He has worked at international laboratories in India and abroad. He has published more than 150 articles in reputed journals. Dr. Singh received a Young Scientist Award from the Uttarakhand Council of Sci-

ence and Technology, Uttarakhand, India, in 2009; a Young Scientist Award (Fast Track Scheme) from the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, India, in 2014; and a Ramanujan Fellowship Award from the Science and Engineering Research Board, New Delhi, India, in 2022. He has edited several journal issues and books and is the founder and editor-in-chief of *Prabha Materials Science Letters.*

Dr. Shakti Shankar Acharya is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha, India. Dr. Acharya obtained a Ph.D. in Physics from Siksha O Anusandhan Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India, in 2017. He worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, India in 2017–2019. Dr. Acharya was a visiting research fellow at UGC-DAE, CSR, Indore, India,

in 2013, and at Linkoping University, Germany, and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India, in 2014. Dr. Acharya visited Julich Research Centre, Germany, in October 2022 to present his paper "Electronic Structure of Fe-Ni Invar Alloys." His research interests include magnetism and transport properties of strongly correlated systems, topological insulators, and nanomaterials.

Dr. Sudhanshu Kumar, a researcher specializing in materials science, completed his Ph.D. at the University of Delhi, India, in 2022. During that time, he conducted extensive research on the structural, electrical, and magnetic properties of magnesium ferrite (MgFe2O4) powders and ceramics. Dr. Sudhanshu demonstrated exceptional proficiency in material characterization techniques. He is an expert in the synthesis of ferrite mate-

rials via the sol–gel auto combustion technique. Dr. Sudhanshu was a postdoctoral fellow at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany, in 2023–2025, under the Global Neutron Scientist (GNeuS) scheme.

Dr. Shiv Kumar Dixit is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics, Manav Rachna University, Faridabad, India. He was awarded a Ph.D. from the Department of Electronics, University of Delhi, India, in 2014. During his Ph.D. work, he was awarded a senior research fellowship from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. He has more than 10 years of teaching and research experience and is a Ph.D. supervisor.

He has expertise in the fabrication and characterization of nanocomposite thin films. Dr. Dixit has made significant contributions to organic and hybrid solar cells, including structural, optical, and electrical properties of films and devices.

## Contents



Preface

New materials and homogeneous multicomponent systems like mixed oxides can be prepared following different approaches. For example, the sol-gel method is a conventional method for synthesizing nanostructures. It can also be used to synthesize ceramics and materials used in optics, electronics, energy, surface engineering,

The sol-gel process emerged in 1921 and became significant in 1960 because of its application in the nuclear industry. It allows for effortless control of the composition, properties, and architecture of nano-systems. It is a cost-effective method due to its low-temperature reaction and good control over chemical composition at the molecular level to prepare advanced materials in bulk as well as in the form of powders, fibers, and thin films. This book provides insights into the sol-gel process, with three sections on the basics and fundamentals of the method, using the method to synthesize selected materials and the various applications of these developed

**Jitendra Pal Singh**

Faridabad, India

**Sudhanshu Kumar**

University of Delhi,

**Shiv Kumar Dixit** Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Manav Rachna University,

Faridabad, India

Researcher,

Delhi, India

Department of Sciences (Physics),

Manav Rachna University,

**Shakti Shankar Acharya** Department of Physics, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha, India

biosensors, and pharmaceutical research.

materials.

*and Mohamed A. Basyooni*
