PU to set up centre for advanced materials

LAHORE:Punjab University (PU) Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad Akhtar has said that there is a need to remove missing connection between science and engineering subjects in universities to address the challenges being faced by the country in science and technology.

He was addressing the inaugural session of an international symposium, ‘Advanced Energy Storage Materials’, organised by the Department of Physics here on Tuesday. He said PU would establish Centre for Advanced Materials to remove gap between science and engineering.

Dean Faculty of Science Dr Muhammad Sharif, Dr Tim Patrick Fellinger from Germany, Chairman Department of Physics Prof Dr Mahmood Ul Hassan, faculty members, research scholars and a large number of students were present.

Prof Niaz Ahmad said: “Nobody could work in isolation and we must prepare to cope with the challenges being faced by the world. Nano-materials had reduced the size of materials manifold. Such conferences were indicators of the volume of research and provided an opportunity to network researchers in their relevant fields and interact with each other. Students must see what was being done in their fields at advanced level”.

On the occasion, Dr Mahmood-ul-Hassan said the symposia had been organised on advances in various topics of theoretical and applied physics.

He said it would also cover topics on electrode materials for batteries and supercapacitors and focus on the computational materials for energy storage. He said the symposium had served as platform for students to exchange knowledge and experiences with each other.

Dr Fellinger said there was no doubt that the humanity was benefiting from various materials however the materials were contaminating environment too. He said Pakistan had abundance of sunlight and there was a need to have good storage devices to capture solar energy in Pakistan. We want to generate energy through cheap means without risking environment of our planet, he said.