Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100517
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Development of hybrid carbon nanotube yarn and processing methods to create 3D smart materials and devices. The project aims to create 'intelligent' textiles by developing novel electroactive yarns and demonstrating scaled up processing through adapted knitting, weaving and braiding techniques. By tailoring their structure these unique carbon nanotubes can be made to act as sensors or artificial muscles.
Optimizing the UV Protection of Textiles with Nano Zinc Oxide. Colour fading, due to poor fastness to light - especially ultraviolet light - is a critical problem that continues to plague the textile industry, especially for products such as flags, awnings and car upholstery that are used in outside applications and therefore exposed directly to sunlight. This research, in collaboration with Micronisers Pty Ltd, will develop improved nano zinc oxide formulations that will significantly reduce th ....Optimizing the UV Protection of Textiles with Nano Zinc Oxide. Colour fading, due to poor fastness to light - especially ultraviolet light - is a critical problem that continues to plague the textile industry, especially for products such as flags, awnings and car upholstery that are used in outside applications and therefore exposed directly to sunlight. This research, in collaboration with Micronisers Pty Ltd, will develop improved nano zinc oxide formulations that will significantly reduce the colour fading problems, and hence add value to the fledgling nano-tech (as well as traditional textile) industries in Australia. It could enable local production of a specialised textile finishing agent for export to major textile producers in South East Asia.Read moreRead less
Drawing out spider silk photonics and technology. We discovered certain spider webs are an optical device of amazing sophistication – the result of 136 million years of evolution. New photonic and electron microscopy techniques will measure the unique optical and materials properties of the webs, and the resulting knowledge will have high impact for advanced, self- assembled, photonic materials.
Nanoarchitectonics of carbon nanomaterials. This project aims to develop a generic nanoarchitectonic method to create functional macroscopic carbon architectures using carbon nanomaterials. The project will manipulate the interactions among individual nanostructures by combining bottom-up synthesis with macroscopic wet spinning/knitting or three-dimensional printing assembly processes, leading to functionalities that contrast strongly with conventional nanotechnology. It will demonstrate the tec ....Nanoarchitectonics of carbon nanomaterials. This project aims to develop a generic nanoarchitectonic method to create functional macroscopic carbon architectures using carbon nanomaterials. The project will manipulate the interactions among individual nanostructures by combining bottom-up synthesis with macroscopic wet spinning/knitting or three-dimensional printing assembly processes, leading to functionalities that contrast strongly with conventional nanotechnology. It will demonstrate the technical feasibility of fabric supercapacitors, wearable strain/moisture sensors and carbon membranes. This project is expected to move the fundamental research of nanomaterials to advanced manufacturing techniques.Read moreRead less