Development of advanced ceramic membranes: a robust solution to sustainable water treatment. Australia is one of the driest nations on Earth. While available fresh water supplies dwindle, options to treat 'used' water for reuse are gaining rapid popularity. Membranes are now state-of-the-art for water treatment, including all new desalination plants, but as they are polymeric based, they must be routinely cleaned with chemicals and replaced. The outcomes of this research will demonstrate innovat ....Development of advanced ceramic membranes: a robust solution to sustainable water treatment. Australia is one of the driest nations on Earth. While available fresh water supplies dwindle, options to treat 'used' water for reuse are gaining rapid popularity. Membranes are now state-of-the-art for water treatment, including all new desalination plants, but as they are polymeric based, they must be routinely cleaned with chemicals and replaced. The outcomes of this research will demonstrate innovative functional ceramic membranes which last longer and have lower requirement for cleaning chemicals and expert maintenance. This, in turn, will deliver water at lower cost and reduced environmental burden (chemical and membrane disposal), giving industry more sustainable solutions to treat water, which has now become an essential practice in society.Read moreRead less
Transistor-based sensor technology for fast, reliable and accurate in situ monitoring of recycled wastewater. Water recycling is becoming critical for water supplies worldwide, due to declining natural supplies of fresh water, combined with increasing demand. The greatest community and industry concerns over recycled water are quality assurance and relative cost. Ensuring quality requires monitoring of contaminants, yet no single real-time technology exists to measure the myriad of potential con ....Transistor-based sensor technology for fast, reliable and accurate in situ monitoring of recycled wastewater. Water recycling is becoming critical for water supplies worldwide, due to declining natural supplies of fresh water, combined with increasing demand. The greatest community and industry concerns over recycled water are quality assurance and relative cost. Ensuring quality requires monitoring of contaminants, yet no single real-time technology exists to measure the myriad of potential contaminants. This project will develop technology using AlGaN/GaN-based transistors, sensitised to different contaminants, enabling multi-analyte real-time sensor arrays. In situ monitoring systems based on such arrays will be fast, accurate, reliable, low-cost, and applicable to a broad variety of water recycling projects.Read moreRead less
Hybrid photocatalytic nanomaterials for water purification. This project aims to synthesise and characterise a range of porous photocatalytic materials (materials that absorb light to catalyse a reaction), and to establish high-throughput processes to simultaneously test the effectiveness of multiple photocatalytic materials. This interdisciplinary project expects to develop two new techniques that will lead to faster materials optimisation of materials that breakdown organic pollutants in water ....Hybrid photocatalytic nanomaterials for water purification. This project aims to synthesise and characterise a range of porous photocatalytic materials (materials that absorb light to catalyse a reaction), and to establish high-throughput processes to simultaneously test the effectiveness of multiple photocatalytic materials. This interdisciplinary project expects to develop two new techniques that will lead to faster materials optimisation of materials that breakdown organic pollutants in water under light irradiation. The intended outcomes include the production of industrially relevant photocatalysts and building capability in Australia to decrease photocatalytic testing time and cost. This should provide significant benefits to industry and the environment, and have an impact on human health.Read moreRead less
High performance multifunctional hierarchical structured membrane for water processing. The water processing industry is one of the most important economic sectors in Australia, though water scarcity is an economic limiting growth factor. The project targets at developing the next generation water processing technology affordable to residential consumption and applications in the industry and agriculture.
Scalable and Applicable Nanostructured Adsorbents for Arsenic Removal with High Performance. Arsenic contamination in groundwater and drinking water affects over 100 million people worldwide and causes severe health problems. This project aims to use a recently patented technology to develop a new generation of adsorbents with controlled nanostructure and morphology for arsenic removal. The novel low-cost adsorbents are expected to have superior performance for the treatment of water containing ....Scalable and Applicable Nanostructured Adsorbents for Arsenic Removal with High Performance. Arsenic contamination in groundwater and drinking water affects over 100 million people worldwide and causes severe health problems. This project aims to use a recently patented technology to develop a new generation of adsorbents with controlled nanostructure and morphology for arsenic removal. The novel low-cost adsorbents are expected to have superior performance for the treatment of water containing arsenic at both high and low concentrations. The engineered products will be tested in high-throughput wastewater treatment in pharmaceutical factories and as a household drinking water treatment device. This project aims to bring economic and social benefits to Australian industry and improve the quality of life for people all over the world.Read moreRead less
Advanced electrochemical capacitors. This project aims to design electrochemical capacitors that can provide self-sustaining power for equipment using renewable energy sources, such as sunlight. Electrical power systems are needed to supply both the peak power and the energy demand that users, particularly those without grid electricity, and their equipment need. This project will match the capacitator electrochemistry to the power attributes of the load and charging source, making them more eff ....Advanced electrochemical capacitors. This project aims to design electrochemical capacitors that can provide self-sustaining power for equipment using renewable energy sources, such as sunlight. Electrical power systems are needed to supply both the peak power and the energy demand that users, particularly those without grid electricity, and their equipment need. This project will match the capacitator electrochemistry to the power attributes of the load and charging source, making them more efficiently charged and able to supply both peak power and energy demand for improved off-grid power supplies and integration of renewable energy into electricity grids.Read moreRead less
Carbon nanotube fluidic channels for desalination - interplay of nanoscale confinement and electrostatics. Tiny tubes of carbon, ten thousand times smaller than human hair, allow water to pass through at extraordinary speed. This project aims to understand and improve their salt rejection properties using comprehensive experimental and theoretical approaches. This will provide the impetus and knowledge for developing advanced membranes for desalination
Multi-scale Modelling and Simulation of Self-assembling Photonic Crystals. By using bandgaps and introduced defect states, photonic crystals provide the opportunities to shape and mould the flow of light. A success in fabricating 3D photonic crystals with complete bandgaps in a controllable and large-scale fashion will revolutionise the information & telecommunication industry. This ability will provide Australia with a significant niche opportunity at the leading edge of this frontier technolog ....Multi-scale Modelling and Simulation of Self-assembling Photonic Crystals. By using bandgaps and introduced defect states, photonic crystals provide the opportunities to shape and mould the flow of light. A success in fabricating 3D photonic crystals with complete bandgaps in a controllable and large-scale fashion will revolutionise the information & telecommunication industry. This ability will provide Australia with a significant niche opportunity at the leading edge of this frontier technology. It builds on Australia's established strength in material science, photonics, and information & communication technology. The mathematical models, simulation platform, and fabrication methods developed in this project will also be applicable to creating other highly-structured, functional materials.Read moreRead less
Design of reactive foils for joining amorphous alloys. Amorphous alloys or metallic glasses are special materials that retain the random structure of a liquid but in a solid form. They can show special properties of very high strength, toughness and corrosion resistance. The enormous difficulty in joining amorphous alloys to make larger assemblies is greatly curbing their uptake in technology. In this research, state of the art experimental and computational tools will be used to investigate the ....Design of reactive foils for joining amorphous alloys. Amorphous alloys or metallic glasses are special materials that retain the random structure of a liquid but in a solid form. They can show special properties of very high strength, toughness and corrosion resistance. The enormous difficulty in joining amorphous alloys to make larger assemblies is greatly curbing their uptake in technology. In this research, state of the art experimental and computational tools will be used to investigate the extremely fast high temperature reactions occurring in reactive foils of layered metals which, when inserted at the proposed join and ignited, quickly produce a bond. The research will lay the foundation for a robust and reliable means for joining amorphous alloys by means of reactive foils. Read moreRead less
Modelling soft filled viscoelastic solids. Wheat flour doughs are made in vast quantities daily, and improvements in processing, especially in sheeting (rolling) and extrusion are needed. To enable this we will create a novel mathematical description of the material which will be useful for predicting the shapes of processed products. Wheat breeding cycles can be shortened by using the model rheological parameters, since baking quality is closely linked to dough rheology. A number of Australian ....Modelling soft filled viscoelastic solids. Wheat flour doughs are made in vast quantities daily, and improvements in processing, especially in sheeting (rolling) and extrusion are needed. To enable this we will create a novel mathematical description of the material which will be useful for predicting the shapes of processed products. Wheat breeding cycles can be shortened by using the model rheological parameters, since baking quality is closely linked to dough rheology. A number of Australian wheats will be considered and their rheologies will be compared.Read moreRead less