Unravelling mechanisms in plasma growth of polymers. Surface engineering broadens the breadth of applications for many materials, and enhances the performance and value of current and emerging technologies. Surface engineering is particularly important to maintaining the competitiveness of manufacturing in developed economies such as Australia, that can not compete on a cost basis with emerging economies. Plasma coating replaces (alternative) environmentally-questionable surface treatments. This ....Unravelling mechanisms in plasma growth of polymers. Surface engineering broadens the breadth of applications for many materials, and enhances the performance and value of current and emerging technologies. Surface engineering is particularly important to maintaining the competitiveness of manufacturing in developed economies such as Australia, that can not compete on a cost basis with emerging economies. Plasma coating replaces (alternative) environmentally-questionable surface treatments. This project enhances Australian competitiveness; it cuts across industrial sectors and will deliver the new knowledge required to enhance material/technology functionality/performance. A PhD student will receive a multi-disciplinary training in a frontier technology and advanced analytical tools.Read moreRead less
Highly Crosslinked Poly(urea-co-urethane) Copolymer Concrete Floor Coatings. Recently developed, poly(urea-co-urethane) concrete floor screeds are used, in the construction industry, to provide protection against corrosive chemicals and abrasive wear; properties unmatched by other commercial floor treatments. Significantly such material has reduced environmental emissions and toxicity hazards. Factors, which affect the cure and performance of poly(urea-co-urethane) flooring materials will now ....Highly Crosslinked Poly(urea-co-urethane) Copolymer Concrete Floor Coatings. Recently developed, poly(urea-co-urethane) concrete floor screeds are used, in the construction industry, to provide protection against corrosive chemicals and abrasive wear; properties unmatched by other commercial floor treatments. Significantly such material has reduced environmental emissions and toxicity hazards. Factors, which affect the cure and performance of poly(urea-co-urethane) flooring materials will now be studied, including the uncontrolled release of carbon dioxide, which results in sporadic blister formation, leading to the on-site product failures that have severely limited the product's commercial growth. Clear understanding of cure chemistry and adhesion will be established for the first, allowing for the products further development.Read moreRead less
The Nanotechnology Desalination Research Project - Low Energy Desalination Membranes. Population growth and global warming is rapidly increasing the strain placed on fresh water supplies. Environmentally sustainable solutions to this water shortage need to be found urgently. This project will develop new, low energy desalination technologies which can be powered by renewable energy sources, to enable desalination to be widely applied with low environmental impacts. It addresses several national ....The Nanotechnology Desalination Research Project - Low Energy Desalination Membranes. Population growth and global warming is rapidly increasing the strain placed on fresh water supplies. Environmentally sustainable solutions to this water shortage need to be found urgently. This project will develop new, low energy desalination technologies which can be powered by renewable energy sources, to enable desalination to be widely applied with low environmental impacts. It addresses several national priorities: Water - a critical resource; Transforming existing industries; Overcoming soil loss, salinity and acidity; Responding to climate change and variability; Frontier technologies and Advanced materials.Read moreRead less
Surface engineering of oriented nano-layers for performance control. This research project will deliver knowledge on how to graft oriented, self assembled films from a surface, develop structure-property relationships at a nano-scale, develop a means to control these properties and develop characterization techniques at nano-scales. This research project, if successful, will deliver the ability to tailor the properties of a surface in a manner and over a range of properties that is not even cont ....Surface engineering of oriented nano-layers for performance control. This research project will deliver knowledge on how to graft oriented, self assembled films from a surface, develop structure-property relationships at a nano-scale, develop a means to control these properties and develop characterization techniques at nano-scales. This research project, if successful, will deliver the ability to tailor the properties of a surface in a manner and over a range of properties that is not even contemplated today.
In addition to the scientific benefits, there are also immediate commercial applications in Australia and worldwide for ophthalmic products (e.g. anti-fog and easy to clean lenses), if the balance of properties can be obtained.
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Modifying and Improving Porous Sol-Gel Materials for Water Purification. XeroCoat is commercialising nanotechnology research out of UQ's Physics department. XeroCoat has received much local and international interest in its signature product 'XeroCoat'. The company is rapidly expanding and has established new research facilities with production facilities to be set-up. This will result in high technology, employment growth for Australia. Links with Flinders could see expansion into SA. The c ....Modifying and Improving Porous Sol-Gel Materials for Water Purification. XeroCoat is commercialising nanotechnology research out of UQ's Physics department. XeroCoat has received much local and international interest in its signature product 'XeroCoat'. The company is rapidly expanding and has established new research facilities with production facilities to be set-up. This will result in high technology, employment growth for Australia. Links with Flinders could see expansion into SA. The company operates in 'Sol-Gel' nanotechnology, which has huge global, academic and commercial interest. However in Australia this technology has only been serviced by Flinders, ANSTO and ANSTO's spin-out company Ceramisphere. The project will help to build a new Australian high tech industry in sol-gel nanotechnology.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE120100021
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$150,000.00
Summary
A diagnostics platform for advanced plasma-chemical analysis. A wide range of production processes involve the use of plasmas to modify materials, but they are not well understood. This project will give Australian researchers the tools to look inside plasma processes and fully characterise them for the first time, unlocking new knowledge and providing new insight into the plasma processing environment.
Smart polymer-DNA hybrids as recognition sites for advanced DNA nanotechnology applications. This project aims to design and synthesise a new family of DNA-conjugated chain transfer agents for the positional control of DNA in a broad range of 2D and 3D 'smart' polymer-DNA hybrid materials. These bioconjugated materials will be investigated to understand the fundamental self-assembly processes which underpin emerging dynamic DNA nanotechnologies. This timely research will revolutionise the use of ....Smart polymer-DNA hybrids as recognition sites for advanced DNA nanotechnology applications. This project aims to design and synthesise a new family of DNA-conjugated chain transfer agents for the positional control of DNA in a broad range of 2D and 3D 'smart' polymer-DNA hybrid materials. These bioconjugated materials will be investigated to understand the fundamental self-assembly processes which underpin emerging dynamic DNA nanotechnologies. This timely research will revolutionise the use of biologically inspired intelligent metamaterials for use in medical diagnostics, DNA computing and DNA nanomachines.Read moreRead less