Saket Asthana

Prof. Saket Asthana is a Professor in the Department of Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IIT Hyderabad), where he leads the Advanced Functional Materials Laboratory (AFML). His academic qualifications include a Ph.D. from IIT Bombay, an M.Tech. from IIT BHU, and an M.Sc. from Banaras Hindu University. He has held postdoctoral positions at Osaka University (Japan), ICMCB-CNRS (France), and Kyungpook National University (South Korea).

His research focuses on functional materials with emphasis on:

• Ferroelectrics and piezoelectric systems for energy storage
• Multiferroics and magnetoelectric composites
• Photocatalytic materials for energy conversion
• Lead-free relaxor ceramics and nanostructured oxides
• Cation engineering for property optimization

Analysis of his 50+ publications reveals dominant themes in lead-free piezoelectric ceramics, rare-earth substituted bismuth ferrites, magnetocaloric effects, and photoelectrochemical materials. His work consistently bridges fundamental property characterization with applications in energy storage, sensors, and catalysis.

Honors include being elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has supervised 10+ PhD students and 15+ Master's students, with current advisees working on piezoelectric ceramics, multiferroic composites, and energy storage materials. His laboratory conducts research funded by DST-SERB, CSIR, DRDO, and international collaborations, including active projects on relaxor ferroelectrics (2020-2023) and organic solar cells (2019-2022).

The Advanced Functional Materials Laboratory specializes in materials synthesis (hydrothermal/solid-state), structural characterization (XRD/SEM), and property measurements (ferroelectric/magnetic hysteresis, impedance spectroscopy, piezoelectric coefficient analysis).