Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0668257
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,200,000.00
Summary
Combinatorial Deposition and Characterisation Facility for New Alloy Thin Film Materials. Australia's competitive edge in materials research is key to maintaining our economic prosperity. Infrastructure that enables our researchers to synthesize novel materials with precise control over composition and structure is crucial to maintaining our strengths in this field. The proposed infrastructure will accelerate progress on the preparation and characterisation of new alloy and nanostructured materi ....Combinatorial Deposition and Characterisation Facility for New Alloy Thin Film Materials. Australia's competitive edge in materials research is key to maintaining our economic prosperity. Infrastructure that enables our researchers to synthesize novel materials with precise control over composition and structure is crucial to maintaining our strengths in this field. The proposed infrastructure will accelerate progress on the preparation and characterisation of new alloy and nanostructured materials and will pay dividends by providing early access to the best materials. This will give our energy technology, biomedical engineering, tooling, electronics and mining industries a competitive edge. Access to this new generation equipment will enhance our pool of highly skilled materials technologists.Read moreRead less
Advanced Ionic Materials for Organic Photovoltaics. Australia will greatly benefit from the development of improved solar energy technology, as a means of addressing the issue of climate change as a result of continued fossil fuel use. Solar power is also advantageous as it also allows electricity to be generated locally where it is needed, which is particularly important for the many remote areas of Australia. The climate in Australia is ideally suited for the electricity production through pho ....Advanced Ionic Materials for Organic Photovoltaics. Australia will greatly benefit from the development of improved solar energy technology, as a means of addressing the issue of climate change as a result of continued fossil fuel use. Solar power is also advantageous as it also allows electricity to be generated locally where it is needed, which is particularly important for the many remote areas of Australia. The climate in Australia is ideally suited for the electricity production through photovoltaics, and this project will focus on improving the performance of these devices to enable their widespread use. Read moreRead less
Next generation, very high efficiency thin silicon cells. A new type of thin silicon solar cell, with an efficiency potential of 21% or greater, is to be developed and characterized.
These cells should be cheaper, and have better efficiency, power to weight ratio and radiation tolerance than existing commercial silicon solar cells opening interesting possible applications. Novel solar cell designs and associated interconnection and encapsulation schemes for the cells suitable for space and hi ....Next generation, very high efficiency thin silicon cells. A new type of thin silicon solar cell, with an efficiency potential of 21% or greater, is to be developed and characterized.
These cells should be cheaper, and have better efficiency, power to weight ratio and radiation tolerance than existing commercial silicon solar cells opening interesting possible applications. Novel solar cell designs and associated interconnection and encapsulation schemes for the cells suitable for space and high altitude aircraft applications superior to existing technologies are expected to be developed. This should lead to a new, internationally competitive Australian industry.
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Photoactive Semiconducting Biopolymers. The basic aims of this project are to elucidate, manipulate, and utilise the unique chemical and physical properties of a class of biopolymers called the melanins. These materials are the only known solid state semiconducting biopolymers, and are non-toxic, biocompatible, and biodegradable. Their use as active components in biomimetic soft electonic, optoelectronic or photovoltaic devices, has not hitherto been demonstrated. It is anticipated that the k ....Photoactive Semiconducting Biopolymers. The basic aims of this project are to elucidate, manipulate, and utilise the unique chemical and physical properties of a class of biopolymers called the melanins. These materials are the only known solid state semiconducting biopolymers, and are non-toxic, biocompatible, and biodegradable. Their use as active components in biomimetic soft electonic, optoelectronic or photovoltaic devices, has not hitherto been demonstrated. It is anticipated that the key outcomes from the project will be a demonstration of biopolymer-based photoelectrochemical and solid-state p-i-n solar cells, and an improved understanding of the physics and chemistry of these important biological macromolecules.Read moreRead less
Characterization and design of new soft electrolyte materials. The use of fossil fuels for energy generation contributes heavily to global warming. The development of new types of energy sources (e.g. fuel cells) and energy storage devices (e.g. batteries) is of crucial importance to ease this pressure on the environment. The search for new, high energy-density electrolyte materials for these applications is intense. Recently, plastic crystal materials have been identified as potential electroly ....Characterization and design of new soft electrolyte materials. The use of fossil fuels for energy generation contributes heavily to global warming. The development of new types of energy sources (e.g. fuel cells) and energy storage devices (e.g. batteries) is of crucial importance to ease this pressure on the environment. The search for new, high energy-density electrolyte materials for these applications is intense. Recently, plastic crystal materials have been identified as potential electrolytes in a variety of electrochemical devices. These materials show high conductivity at ambient temperatures in their plastic (or soft) phase. This project aims to further investigate and develop these novel materials.Read moreRead less
Fabrication of High Performance Nanocomposite Photoanodes with Built-in Electron Transport Superhighway for Photoelectrocatalysis Applications. Worldwide, huge fresh water shortage problems force us to recycle/reuse water. For Australia, this is an urgent issue due to our limited fresh water resources. In recent years, rapidly diminishing fossil fuel supplies and dramatically accelerated global warming gives society no alternative but adopt renewable, clean energies. Globally, there is a united ....Fabrication of High Performance Nanocomposite Photoanodes with Built-in Electron Transport Superhighway for Photoelectrocatalysis Applications. Worldwide, huge fresh water shortage problems force us to recycle/reuse water. For Australia, this is an urgent issue due to our limited fresh water resources. In recent years, rapidly diminishing fossil fuel supplies and dramatically accelerated global warming gives society no alternative but adopt renewable, clean energies. Globally, there is a united front calling for action to address these problems. However, a practical solution to the issues can only be found when economically viable alternative technologies are developed. This project aims to tackle the biggest obstacle - the low sunlight conversion efficiency. The success of the project will result in economically viable water treatment and solar energy conversion technologies. Read moreRead less
Structure-Activity Relationships in Silicon-based Photovoltaics Through Atomic Scale Microscopy. This project aims to develop new design principles for silicon-based photovoltaics (PVs) through a comprehensive study of atomic-scale structures and phenomena in PV materials. The development of more efficient photovoltaic materials is of major global importance, given the pressing need for clean and renewable sources of energy. Australia has international leadership in developing solar cell technol ....Structure-Activity Relationships in Silicon-based Photovoltaics Through Atomic Scale Microscopy. This project aims to develop new design principles for silicon-based photovoltaics (PVs) through a comprehensive study of atomic-scale structures and phenomena in PV materials. The development of more efficient photovoltaic materials is of major global importance, given the pressing need for clean and renewable sources of energy. Australia has international leadership in developing solar cell technologies, and the ideal natural environment to exploit these technologies. The fundamental insights derived in this project, such as detailed 3D maps of dopant distributions at the atomic scale, will bolster Australia's international reputation in the field and provide better control in the design of PV devices. Read moreRead less
Computational approaches to selection and design of ionic materials. Advanced batteries, fuel cells and solar cell technologies are beginning to use ionic liquids/plastic crystals as electrolytes due to their superb stability and valuable properties. As a broad class these ionic materials have only been known for the last 10 years or so and there is much to learn about their structure and properties. The project will develop and advance quantum chemical techniques for selection and design of ion ....Computational approaches to selection and design of ionic materials. Advanced batteries, fuel cells and solar cell technologies are beginning to use ionic liquids/plastic crystals as electrolytes due to their superb stability and valuable properties. As a broad class these ionic materials have only been known for the last 10 years or so and there is much to learn about their structure and properties. The project will develop and advance quantum chemical techniques for selection and design of ionic materials with the goal of developing electrolytes for a range of applications from advanced metal batteries, solar cells to fuel cells. These applications will have impact on energy efficiency and energy conservation by enabling CO2 replacing technologies. Read moreRead less
New Materials for Energy Capture and Conversion: Ionic Liquid-derived Conducting Polymers. Inherently conducting polymers (ICPs) have applications in a wide range of electrochemical devices including actuators, for artificial muscles, and photovoltaic cells for harnessing solar energy. Use of an ionic liquid as the electrolyte within these devices greatly increases the stability and cyclability of the ICP. Our preliminary work shows that an ionic liquid solvent in the synthesis of ICPs results i ....New Materials for Energy Capture and Conversion: Ionic Liquid-derived Conducting Polymers. Inherently conducting polymers (ICPs) have applications in a wide range of electrochemical devices including actuators, for artificial muscles, and photovoltaic cells for harnessing solar energy. Use of an ionic liquid as the electrolyte within these devices greatly increases the stability and cyclability of the ICP. Our preliminary work shows that an ionic liquid solvent in the synthesis of ICPs results in materials with dramatically different morphologies and improved electronic properties. Ionic liquids will be used to prepare ICPs with enhanced electrical and mechanical properties and prototype photovoltaic and actuator devices will be developed based on these new materials.Read moreRead less
Fully ab initio, large-scale calculations of thermodynamic and transport properties of ionic materials. Advanced batteries, fuel cells, and photonic device technologies are beginning to use ionic materials as electrolytes due to their superb stability and technologically valuable properties. As a broad class these materials have only been known for just over a decade and there is still more unknown than known about their structure and properties. The project will develop new advanced computation ....Fully ab initio, large-scale calculations of thermodynamic and transport properties of ionic materials. Advanced batteries, fuel cells, and photonic device technologies are beginning to use ionic materials as electrolytes due to their superb stability and technologically valuable properties. As a broad class these materials have only been known for just over a decade and there is still more unknown than known about their structure and properties. The project will develop new advanced computational methods as a basis for understanding their properties and thereby allowing us to design-in desired features. Ultimately these advances will have support the development of energy efficient CO2 replacement technologies.Read moreRead less