Solar Nano-photocatalytic Disinfection and Mineralization of Treated Wastewater from Sewage Treatment Plants. Reuse of the treated wastewater from sewage treatment plants (STPs) has become significantly important in Australia due to dwindling water resources. The poor quality of the wastewater has limited its use for agriculture and aquaculture. This project aims to develop a solar nano-photocatalytic tertiary wastewater treatment process for disinfection and mineralization of the treated waste ....Solar Nano-photocatalytic Disinfection and Mineralization of Treated Wastewater from Sewage Treatment Plants. Reuse of the treated wastewater from sewage treatment plants (STPs) has become significantly important in Australia due to dwindling water resources. The poor quality of the wastewater has limited its use for agriculture and aquaculture. This project aims to develop a solar nano-photocatalytic tertiary wastewater treatment process for disinfection and mineralization of the treated wastewater from STPs, making the wastewater suitable as a water resource. The newly developed nano-fibre catalysts and photocatalytic technology in the teatm will be used and further developed in this novel process. The research will focus on the water quality objectives in terms of technical reliability, and economic and environmental sustainability.Read moreRead less
Utilisation of dense gas technology for the development of controlled release active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) delivery systems. The aim of this project is to develop an orally administered drug formulation for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome and other diseases of the colon. Irritable bowel syndrome is a debilitating condition and the cost to society is similar to that of asthma. As such, the project has the potential to have a major impact on society.
Bio-inspired Nanoparticles for Mechano-Regulation of Stem Cell Fate. Mechanical stimulation plays a critical role in regulating stem cell fate. Nanostructure-mediated mechanical cues can precisely stimulate stem cells, but predicting their impact on stem cell differentiation is challenging. This project aims to engineer nanostructures to regulate stem cell fate and gain a fundamental understanding of the mechanical properties that affect cell function. The expected outcomes and benefits of this ....Bio-inspired Nanoparticles for Mechano-Regulation of Stem Cell Fate. Mechanical stimulation plays a critical role in regulating stem cell fate. Nanostructure-mediated mechanical cues can precisely stimulate stem cells, but predicting their impact on stem cell differentiation is challenging. This project aims to engineer nanostructures to regulate stem cell fate and gain a fundamental understanding of the mechanical properties that affect cell function. The expected outcomes and benefits of this project include a new fundamental understanding of the effect of mechanical properties on cell function, novel insights into the regulation of stem cell fate, and the development of a new class of roughness-tunable materials suitable for use in tissue engineering and pharmaceutical applications. Read moreRead less
Micro Process Plants - Non-Newtonian flow and particle synthesis in confined geometries. Understanding the flow behaviour of well characterised non-Newtonian fluids within microfluidic and nanofluidic devices is of vital importance to development of novel high-value added services, products and devices within Australia's burgeoning biotechnology, environmental technology, communications and information technology industries. The outcomes of this project will provide new 'systematic' design stand ....Micro Process Plants - Non-Newtonian flow and particle synthesis in confined geometries. Understanding the flow behaviour of well characterised non-Newtonian fluids within microfluidic and nanofluidic devices is of vital importance to development of novel high-value added services, products and devices within Australia's burgeoning biotechnology, environmental technology, communications and information technology industries. The outcomes of this project will provide new 'systematic' design standards for microdevice manufacture for these industries, ultimately leading to the creation of new, exciting avenues for tailoring novel biotechnology and 'point-of-care' products for Australia.Read moreRead less
Photonic Crystal Enhanced Wavelength Selective, Multi-Colour Quantum Dot Infrared Photodetectors. Photonic crystal enhanced quantum dot infrared photodetectors are a new generation of detectors developed from integrating nanotechnology with material science and optics. This would not only enhance the detector performance but the structure will now detect a narrow band around the desired wavelength with multi-colour detectivity. The technology developed in this project is anticipated to attract i ....Photonic Crystal Enhanced Wavelength Selective, Multi-Colour Quantum Dot Infrared Photodetectors. Photonic crystal enhanced quantum dot infrared photodetectors are a new generation of detectors developed from integrating nanotechnology with material science and optics. This would not only enhance the detector performance but the structure will now detect a narrow band around the desired wavelength with multi-colour detectivity. The technology developed in this project is anticipated to attract interest from the industries and government agencies. It will be pervasive for use at home, in the manufacturing and mining industry, environmental and pollution monitoring, defence and national security. Applications include spectral imaging, remote sensing, environmental/pollution monitoring, toxic gas and bio-hazardous material detection.Read moreRead less
Structure of Epitaxial Semiconductor Quantum Dots. Epitaxially grown semiconductor quantum dots have received extensive attention in recent years due to their potential applications in electronic and optoelectronic devises. However, the quality of current grown quantum dots is still very far from that required for real device applications due to a lack of detailed knowledge of their nanostructures. This project aims to combine the strength of growing semiconductor quantum dots at Fudan Universit ....Structure of Epitaxial Semiconductor Quantum Dots. Epitaxially grown semiconductor quantum dots have received extensive attention in recent years due to their potential applications in electronic and optoelectronic devises. However, the quality of current grown quantum dots is still very far from that required for real device applications due to a lack of detailed knowledge of their nanostructures. This project aims to combine the strength of growing semiconductor quantum dots at Fudan University and the world-class characterisation facilities (advanced transmission electron microscopy) at the University of Queensland to actively explore optimum paths for epaxially growing device-quality semiconductor quantum dots.Read moreRead less
Using solar photocatalytic oxidation processes to treat organic pollutants in wastewater. The proposal is to use physical-chemical and solar engineering approaches to increase the efficiency of solar photons in the photocatalytic oxidation process applied to the detoxification of organic pollutants in wastewater. New photocatalyists and the effects of photocatalysts's superficial characteristics on the treatment perfomance will be studied. A specific structure for a solar collector for the proce ....Using solar photocatalytic oxidation processes to treat organic pollutants in wastewater. The proposal is to use physical-chemical and solar engineering approaches to increase the efficiency of solar photons in the photocatalytic oxidation process applied to the detoxification of organic pollutants in wastewater. New photocatalyists and the effects of photocatalysts's superficial characteristics on the treatment perfomance will be studied. A specific structure for a solar collector for the process will be developed. A more efficient way to use solar photons in the process and a better conceptual design of solar collector will be two main outcomes expected from the project.Read moreRead less
Tailoring the Shape, Size and Orientation of Metal Nanocrystals via Swift Heavy Ion Irradiation. This proposal is consistent with National Research Priority 3: Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries and the Priority Goals: Breakthrough Science, Advanced Materials and Frontier Technologies. Our ability to tailor the shape, size and orientation of metal nanocrystals will broaden the domestic knowledge base, enhance the national research profile and train young ....Tailoring the Shape, Size and Orientation of Metal Nanocrystals via Swift Heavy Ion Irradiation. This proposal is consistent with National Research Priority 3: Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries and the Priority Goals: Breakthrough Science, Advanced Materials and Frontier Technologies. Our ability to tailor the shape, size and orientation of metal nanocrystals will broaden the domestic knowledge base, enhance the national research profile and train young scientists, particularly in the use of two national facilities: the Australian Synchrotron and the ANU Heavy-Ion Accelerator Facility. Furthermore, domestic capabilities in materials characterisation and nanotechnology will be bolstered, state-of-the-art domestic industry will be enhanced and new technological applications will be enabled.Read moreRead less
Development of Solid-state cooling chips. The performance of modern electronic, microelectronic, optoelectronic and photonic devices improves as they are cooled. We aim to develop semiconductor cooling elements that can be directly integrated into existing circuits and devices. The new solid-state cooling elements will be reliable, robust, scalable and operate in any orientation. The proposed international collaboration combines the expertise of the Chinese Academy of Science in device fabricat ....Development of Solid-state cooling chips. The performance of modern electronic, microelectronic, optoelectronic and photonic devices improves as they are cooled. We aim to develop semiconductor cooling elements that can be directly integrated into existing circuits and devices. The new solid-state cooling elements will be reliable, robust, scalable and operate in any orientation. The proposed international collaboration combines the expertise of the Chinese Academy of Science in device fabrication with the expertise of the University of Wollongong in device characterisation and modelling. The outcome of this research has the potential to revolutionize cooling of diverse electronic systems, from computer motherboards to mobile phones.Read moreRead less
Analysis, simulation, fabrication and characterization of reliable, robust and scalable compact cooling elements based on semiconductor nanostructures. Modern electronic, microelectronic and optoelectronic devices generally work better when they are cooler. We aim to develop a semiconductor nanostructure cooling element which directly integrates into existing devices. The solid-state cooling element will be reliable, robust, scalable and operate in any orientation. The basis of operation is ....Analysis, simulation, fabrication and characterization of reliable, robust and scalable compact cooling elements based on semiconductor nanostructures. Modern electronic, microelectronic and optoelectronic devices generally work better when they are cooler. We aim to develop a semiconductor nanostructure cooling element which directly integrates into existing devices. The solid-state cooling element will be reliable, robust, scalable and operate in any orientation. The basis of operation is thermionic emission - electrons are the working fluid. Our project combines (1) analysis and simulation, (2) fabrication of nanostructures and (3) experimental test-benching using optical and electrical methods. The outcome of this research has the potential to revolutionize cooling of modern electronic and photonic systems, from computer motherboards to mobile phones.Read moreRead less