Foremost, I would like to sincerely acknowledge Dr. Peter Reiss for supervising my PhD thesis for
last three years-with patience, professionalism and at times even steadfastness. I have benefited a lot
from his leadership quality, composed nature and sound knowledge of chemistry and nanoscience.
Moreover, this manuscript in its final form would not have been possible without meticulous
corrections and valuable suggestions from him. Dr. IsabelleTexier-Nogues has also been welcoming
and supportive to me. I thank her for extending support to me in capacity of a co-supervisor as and
when needed.
My deepest sense of gratitude to Angela, Antoine, Elsa, Chiara, Aurélie, Cécile, Grégory, Lucia,
Anastasia, Thuy, Emanuela, Fleur, Axel and all other current as well as past members of our group at
CEA for their support and love. I could not have wished for more congenial and healthy working
environment than one I witnessed in the laboratory during my tenure from July 2008 to June 2011. I
have been moved by the warmth my colleagues have bestowed upon me all these years. I will always
be thankful to Antoine and Angela for their invaluable help when my days had been inundated with
thesis related stuffs and had also to cope up with the chaos of moving back to India.
A project as interdisciplinary as this could not have been possible without a team work. Therefore, I
would like to acknowledge collaborators Dr. Marco Giardiello, Dr. Graeme Stasiuk, Dr. Daniel Imbert
and Dr. Marinella Mazzanti from SCIB/CEA; Dr. Cathy Poillot and Dr. Michael De Waard from
Grenoble Institute of Neuroscience; and Dr. Samuel Clarke and Dr. Maxime Dahan from Laboratory
Kastler Brossel (ENS Paris). Dr. Liang Li and Dr. Toufic Jean Daou are sincerely acknowledged for
setting up a strong foundation for the project initially.
Thanks and appreciation to the people in the administration at CEA and University of Joseph Fourier
for their support. Christian Lombard and Yann Kervella are thanked for their assistance with various
types of laboratory related works.
I would like to thank Dr. Stéphanie Pouget for help with XRD, Dr. Julien Gravier for DLS
measurements. Prof Adam Pron and other researchers of LEMOH are sincerely acknowledged for
helping me at various times.
I also take this opportunity to thank some of the individuals who I have helped me to shape my life
during formative years and other pre-PhD engagements. All the teachers who taught me at Rangli
Primary School, Griffith’s High School, St. Robert’s Higher Secondary School, St. Joseph’s College
tel-00665109, version 1 - 1 Feb 2012Darjeeling and North Bengal University are sincerely acknowledged for helping me built a decent
academic foundation needed for the PhD journey. I thank Dr. B.LV Prasad for his help and support
during my tenure as a junior research fellow at National Chemical laboratory, Pune. I also thank Prof
Mathias Brust for extending help during my short visit at University of Liverpool, UK.
Finally, I express heartfelt thanks to my parents for instilling in me positive values and right spirit to
live. And big big thanks to my wife, Tshering for her love and support. Without her by my side,
journey to PhD would have been perhaps akin to climbing a greased pole.
