Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130101550
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Functional polymer encapsulation to enhance biological performance of implantable materials. This project will develop biomaterial films from essential oils using a low-cost 'green' technology. Applied to commercial biomaterials, these films will minimise infections and inflammations commonly associated with implants. These films will also enable clinical use of metallic resorbable implants for tissue engineering and function restoration.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100607
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$302,624.00
Summary
Catalytically active surface for hydrogen evolution. This project aims to develop classes of active surface on catalysts for efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen production. Targeted catalysts with abundant transitional metal active sites are a new frontier in electrocatalysis. This project intends to develop vapour-phase hydrothermal approaches to effectively in-situ grow single crystal catalysts with rich metal centres and to further boost their activities by in-situ doping with heteroatoms. Ex ....Catalytically active surface for hydrogen evolution. This project aims to develop classes of active surface on catalysts for efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen production. Targeted catalysts with abundant transitional metal active sites are a new frontier in electrocatalysis. This project intends to develop vapour-phase hydrothermal approaches to effectively in-situ grow single crystal catalysts with rich metal centres and to further boost their activities by in-situ doping with heteroatoms. Expected outcomes include robust fabrication means for atomic construction of active surfaces and improved understanding of active sites for hydrogen evolution reaction.Read moreRead less
Towards High-quality Hetero-epitaxial III-V Semiconductor Nanowires. The use of semiconductor nanowires has uncovered many scientific curiosities and extended their potential applications in many fields. In general, nanowire growth is governed by metallic catalysts, involving nanowire nucleation and growth. So far, the role of catalysts during nanowire nucleation is not clear and needs urgent attention. This project aims to investigate the behaviour of catalysts before and during the nucleation ....Towards High-quality Hetero-epitaxial III-V Semiconductor Nanowires. The use of semiconductor nanowires has uncovered many scientific curiosities and extended their potential applications in many fields. In general, nanowire growth is governed by metallic catalysts, involving nanowire nucleation and growth. So far, the role of catalysts during nanowire nucleation is not clear and needs urgent attention. This project aims to investigate the behaviour of catalysts before and during the nucleation of III-V nanowires by means of nano-characterisation to ultimately integrate high-quality III-V nanowires on silicon substrates. The new knowledge developed from this project is expected to provide critical insights for developing high-quality III-V nanowires integrated on silicon substrates.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100892
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Designing compressible hybrid supercapacitors from graphene aerogels. This project aims to develop high-performance compressible energy storage devices. Compressible hybrid supercapacitors are promising energy storage devices for elastic and wearable electronics under large strain and deformation. However, the controlled fabrication of such devices is challenging. This project aims to design and synthesise compressible hybrid supercapacitors using graphene aerogels as substrates through structur ....Designing compressible hybrid supercapacitors from graphene aerogels. This project aims to develop high-performance compressible energy storage devices. Compressible hybrid supercapacitors are promising energy storage devices for elastic and wearable electronics under large strain and deformation. However, the controlled fabrication of such devices is challenging. This project aims to design and synthesise compressible hybrid supercapacitors using graphene aerogels as substrates through structural design and surface modification. The success of the project will benefit Australia’s booming graphite industry and promote Australian competitiveness in wearable electronics markets.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190101351
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$406,000.00
Summary
Designing new perovskite quantum dots for efficient solar energy conversion. This project aims to rationally design new perovskite quantum dots featuring prominent phase and thermal stability in humid air and remarkable optoelectronic properties. These will be crucial for the development of next-generation flexible, lightweight solar energy conversion devices. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the fundamental mechanism of functional materials for more efficient solar energy conve ....Designing new perovskite quantum dots for efficient solar energy conversion. This project aims to rationally design new perovskite quantum dots featuring prominent phase and thermal stability in humid air and remarkable optoelectronic properties. These will be crucial for the development of next-generation flexible, lightweight solar energy conversion devices. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the fundamental mechanism of functional materials for more efficient solar energy conversion. Expected outcomes include new advanced materials and commercially compelling technology for sustainable and decentralised energy utilisation. This project will position Australia at the frontier of clean energy, flexible optoelectronics and related research areas.Read moreRead less
Fabrication of Novel Core-Shell Nanocomposites as Targeted Carriers. This project intends to design and fabricate a group of core-shell nanocomposites as new-generation carriers for effective drug delivery applications. The unique core-shell functional materials possess radiation/magnetic-responsive release behaviour due to the nanoparticle core, and good biocompatibility, ultra-high loading capacity and outstanding targeting specificity due to the surface-modified mesoporous metal-organic frame ....Fabrication of Novel Core-Shell Nanocomposites as Targeted Carriers. This project intends to design and fabricate a group of core-shell nanocomposites as new-generation carriers for effective drug delivery applications. The unique core-shell functional materials possess radiation/magnetic-responsive release behaviour due to the nanoparticle core, and good biocompatibility, ultra-high loading capacity and outstanding targeting specificity due to the surface-modified mesoporous metal-organic frameworks shell. Development of such hybrid materials would overcome the existing challenges such as low loading capacity, poor release control. The application of such materials may help to improve the efficacy of pharmaceutical therapies.Read moreRead less
Printable technologies for high security documents and consumer products. Printable technologies for high security documents and consumer products. This project aims to develop two next-generation printable security feature technologies to protect users from counterfeiting, which costs the world economy billions in lost revenue and undermines the security of citizens. First, it aims to enhance the security of banknotes by developing printable active device patches with energy harvesting flexible ....Printable technologies for high security documents and consumer products. Printable technologies for high security documents and consumer products. This project aims to develop two next-generation printable security feature technologies to protect users from counterfeiting, which costs the world economy billions in lost revenue and undermines the security of citizens. First, it aims to enhance the security of banknotes by developing printable active device patches with energy harvesting flexible polymers as a power source and thin film graphene/polymer nanomaterial as an electrode/energy storage media. Second, it aims to design invisible carbon nanotube inks for optical authentication via near infrared activation. Both technologies are expected to thwart sophisticated counterfeits, particularly those supported by organised crime.Read moreRead less
Oxide-based high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are one of the most efficient energy conversion technologies for producing electricity from fuels such as hydrogen and methanol. Current PEMFCs use precious metal catalysts, and the performance of liquid methanol fuel is disappointingly low due to the inability of polymer or hybrid membranes to operate at temperatures above 160-180 degrees centigrade. This work aims to develop an all ox ....Oxide-based high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are one of the most efficient energy conversion technologies for producing electricity from fuels such as hydrogen and methanol. Current PEMFCs use precious metal catalysts, and the performance of liquid methanol fuel is disappointingly low due to the inability of polymer or hybrid membranes to operate at temperatures above 160-180 degrees centigrade. This work aims to develop an all oxide-based PEMFC technology using a recently developed sintered and heteropolyacid functionalised mesoporous silica membrane. The utilisation of all-oxide-PEMFCs using non-precious metal catalysts is expected to significantly enhance the power density, reduce costs, and enhance the commercial viability of PEMFC technologies.Read moreRead less
Vapour phase detection of chemical warfare agents. This project aims to create luminescent plastic optoelectronic materials that can detect airborne chemical warfare agents, particularly nerve agents. Such agents are often odourless and invisible at lethal concentrations, so technology must detect and identify them before exposure. The intended outcomes are design rules for sensitive and selective materials that can be used in a handheld infield detector to sense chemical warfare agents based on ....Vapour phase detection of chemical warfare agents. This project aims to create luminescent plastic optoelectronic materials that can detect airborne chemical warfare agents, particularly nerve agents. Such agents are often odourless and invisible at lethal concentrations, so technology must detect and identify them before exposure. The intended outcomes are design rules for sensitive and selective materials that can be used in a handheld infield detector to sense chemical warfare agents based on the materials’ photophysical properties, and new analytical methods and sensing protocols. This research will be of interest to security agencies in Australia and internationally, and will better protect our military.Read moreRead less
Tailoring nanocomposites with controllable structural-property relationship. This project aims to process and fabricate graphene-based materials into useful devices. Understanding nanocomposite structure-property relationships are crucial to rapidly develop functional devices. This project will use graphene in the form of nanocomposites and precisely construct them in devices via three-dimensional printing. This will be achieved through the polymer chemistry and interfacial engineering of graphe ....Tailoring nanocomposites with controllable structural-property relationship. This project aims to process and fabricate graphene-based materials into useful devices. Understanding nanocomposite structure-property relationships are crucial to rapidly develop functional devices. This project will use graphene in the form of nanocomposites and precisely construct them in devices via three-dimensional printing. This will be achieved through the polymer chemistry and interfacial engineering of graphene for enhanced dispersibility and self-assembly in the targeted polymer matrix, thus affording maximum synergistic properties. The project expects to develop three-dimensional printing techniques and control and understand the effect of micro-patterning and nano-structuring on printed graphene nanocomposites.Read moreRead less