Tuning the electrolytes for high efficiency solar splitting of water. This project will develop a new technology that uses ionic liquids and sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen to be used as a clean fuel. Australia has abundant sunlight, is very close to the growing energy markets of the Asia-Pacific region, and is ideally placed to benefit from this new technology.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE130100158
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$200,000.00
Summary
Supercontinuum fibre laser consortium for the chemical and materials sciences. A supercontinuum fibre laser facility will be established across nodes at The University of Adelaide and The University of Melbourne, and used to probe the chemical basis of photosynthesis, explore the properties of organic solar cell materials and biomaterials, develop efficient metal catalysts, and detect metal vapours in gases.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100164
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$339,429.00
Summary
Precisely doped metal oxide nanostructures for thin film optoelectronics. This project aims to develop efficient and low-cost transparent electrodes for optoelectronic devices. Transparent electrodes are core components in devices such as solar cells, touch panel displays and LED lighting, but require scarce and costly materials and expensive deposition technologies. This project will design materials based on earth-abundant elements with precise control on doping and morphology, and develop dep ....Precisely doped metal oxide nanostructures for thin film optoelectronics. This project aims to develop efficient and low-cost transparent electrodes for optoelectronic devices. Transparent electrodes are core components in devices such as solar cells, touch panel displays and LED lighting, but require scarce and costly materials and expensive deposition technologies. This project will design materials based on earth-abundant elements with precise control on doping and morphology, and develop deposition methods which use liquid precursors to form thin transparent conductive coatings. The anticipated outcome is inexpensive and efficient optoelectronic devices with reduced carbon footprint, which will affect the consumer electronics, solar energy and smart window markets.Read moreRead less
Photonic crystals at visible wavelengths. Three dimensional sculptured nano-structures made at a very high spatial resolution will open way to control light emission, propagation, and transmission at the visible wavelengths. Optically thin and transparent solar cells will be able to harvest light using structures.
Stable Non-toxic Organic-inorganic Halide Perovskite Solar Cells. The project aims to develop next-generation organic-inorganic halide solar cells which are stable and non-toxic. Although rapid progress has been made in the emerging perovskite solar cell technology, it currently relies on lead as a key perovskite component. The elimination of lead from organic-inorganic halide perovskite solar cells would greatly increase their acceptance as an alternative thin film photovoltaic solution because ....Stable Non-toxic Organic-inorganic Halide Perovskite Solar Cells. The project aims to develop next-generation organic-inorganic halide solar cells which are stable and non-toxic. Although rapid progress has been made in the emerging perovskite solar cell technology, it currently relies on lead as a key perovskite component. The elimination of lead from organic-inorganic halide perovskite solar cells would greatly increase their acceptance as an alternative thin film photovoltaic solution because of their low cost and non-toxic nature. The dearth of lead-free perovskite solar cell demonstrations and the relatively low conversion efficiencies demonstrated understate their potential. This project plans to improve understanding of their photovoltaic enabling attributes by characterising and modelling their optical and electrical properties. It then plans to apply new fabrication methods to develop lead-free solar devices.Read moreRead less
Novel Ionic Composites with superior transport and mechanical properties for Clean Energy Systems. Electroactive materials are key components of technologies desperately needed to allow the efficient production of energy from sustainable sources. Of equal importance, large amounts of this energy needs to be stored in safe, stable devices that also allow high rates of energy storage and release. This project addresses these requirements using both fundamental and applied aspects of electromateria ....Novel Ionic Composites with superior transport and mechanical properties for Clean Energy Systems. Electroactive materials are key components of technologies desperately needed to allow the efficient production of energy from sustainable sources. Of equal importance, large amounts of this energy needs to be stored in safe, stable devices that also allow high rates of energy storage and release. This project addresses these requirements using both fundamental and applied aspects of electromaterials science and electrochemistry. This project will design and characterise novel solid state electrolyte membranes composed of plastic crystals and polymer nanofibres. These materials will have enhanced physical and chemical properties, yielding advanced thin film membranes for application in a range of energy production and storage technologies.Read moreRead less
Nanostructuring and nanocharacterisation of organic semiconductor devices. This research project will utilise new approaches to pattern organic solar cells on the nanoscale to realise improved efficiencies and improved understanding of device operation. It will also develop soft x-ray techniques to probe the nanostructure of organic semiconductor films with increased chemical and interfacial specificity.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100427
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$330,000.00
Summary
All-in-one Functional Nanocrystal Inks for Printed Inorganic Solar Cells. At present, manufacturing solar panels involves expensive high temperature and high vacuum processes. The bottleneck to cheaper solar power is the ability to design new methods of manufacturing. The ability to print the active components of a solar cell is an excellent way to mitigate these costs. This project aims to focus on developing the knowledge to print the most crucial component of a solar cell - the light absorbin ....All-in-one Functional Nanocrystal Inks for Printed Inorganic Solar Cells. At present, manufacturing solar panels involves expensive high temperature and high vacuum processes. The bottleneck to cheaper solar power is the ability to design new methods of manufacturing. The ability to print the active components of a solar cell is an excellent way to mitigate these costs. This project aims to focus on developing the knowledge to print the most crucial component of a solar cell - the light absorbing layer. Innovative nanoscience will be used to develop novel solar inks composed of tiny semiconductor crystals. The formulation and transformation of these inks into efficient semiconductor light absorbing layers, with a clear view to cheaper printed solar cells, will be the key objective of this project.Read moreRead less
van der Waals epitaxy for advanced and flexible optoelectronics. This project aims to investigate the growth of compound semiconductors directly on two-dimensional material templates, via the so-called van der Waals epitaxy. Two-dimensional materials combined with compound semiconductors as optoelectronic materials can have many uses. This project expects to design flexible solar cells, which could be integrated with fabrics or building products, and lasers that need small drive currents. It wil ....van der Waals epitaxy for advanced and flexible optoelectronics. This project aims to investigate the growth of compound semiconductors directly on two-dimensional material templates, via the so-called van der Waals epitaxy. Two-dimensional materials combined with compound semiconductors as optoelectronic materials can have many uses. This project expects to design flexible solar cells, which could be integrated with fabrics or building products, and lasers that need small drive currents. It will use the Anderson localisation effect, a photon management concept, to control the interaction between photons and material and improve device efficiencies.Read moreRead less
Investigation into a graphene ultra-flat lens array for silicon solar cells breaking the Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit. Based on a recent discovery of the giant refractive index modulation associated with graphene oxide to graphene transition upon laser exposure and the breakthrough of graphene silicon solar cells. This project aims to investigate a new concept of an integratible, broadband, dispersionless, ultraflat lens array from nanostructured graphene oxide/graphene. This conceptually ....Investigation into a graphene ultra-flat lens array for silicon solar cells breaking the Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit. Based on a recent discovery of the giant refractive index modulation associated with graphene oxide to graphene transition upon laser exposure and the breakthrough of graphene silicon solar cells. This project aims to investigate a new concept of an integratible, broadband, dispersionless, ultraflat lens array from nanostructured graphene oxide/graphene. This conceptually new development of functional graphene oxide/graphene lens array in combination with a lumpy nanoparticle enabled back light trapping layer will allow for the non-reciprocal coupling of the broadband solar light into the photovoltaic devices with minimised entropy losses. Thus ultrahigh efficiency solar cells exceeding the conventional theoretical limit can be developed.Read moreRead less