Chakraborty's research interest lies in fundamentals of micro/nano scale fluid dynamics, miniaturization, and its applications focused towards sustainable technology goals for promoting good health and well-being of the underserved.
[4] Some notable fundamental discoveries emerging from his research endeavours include: surface roughness-aided slippery flow,[5][6][7][8] massively-amplified ionic-pumping in highly confined water,[9] sticky-flow of water on nano-engineered hydrophobic interfaces,[10] programmable manoeuvring of tiny droplets along arbitrary preferential directions,[11][12][13] generating controlled microbubbles on portable spinning-disc,[14] reversing thermally-driven spontaneous migration of nano-droplets[15] – defying common scientific intuitions in all cases.
[16][17][18] He innovated a biomimetic tumour-on-a-chip technology for unleashing the mechanisms of cancer progression, aiding highly-effective drug screening, and throwing light on the efficacy of suggestive therapies.
[19][20][21][22] Chakraborty is the inventor of ‘Paper and Pencil Microfluidics’ technology - a new class of electrically manipulative miniaturized devices that does not require any sophisticated fabrication facility.
[23][24] This emerged as a backbone of manufacturing niche low-cost medical diagnostic devices, as well as facilitating water desalination[25] and energy-harvesting systems on simple paper-strips.
By harnessing such spontaneous ion-water interaction in an interlaced fibrous cellulose network, he further demonstrated electrical power generation using wet textiles,[26] drawing analogies with water transpiration in living plants.
By analysing the pattern formation in a blood drop on a pre-wetted paper-strip, he put forward a new approach of reagent-free screening of anaemic patients in resource-limited settings.
His invented devices have come into practical use in several rural healthcare centres after rigorous clinical-validation, with proven efficacy in extreme dirt, dust, humidity and rugged conditions where many of the high-end technologies are more likely to fail.
[60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68] He also established a research-inspired teaching lab of microfluidics, the first of this kind where innovated frugal open-source bench-top experimental rigs have subsequently been advanced to develop industrial products.
[89] Chakraborty has received high-value research grants from Government and premiere International funding agencies (British Council, Royal Academy of Engineering-UK, Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, NSF- USA, JSPS-Japan).