Advanced membranes for energy-efficient electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide to fuel. This project proposes to develop a technology to convert carbon dioxide to liquid fuels using renewable energy as the required energy source. The project will therefore help in the mitigation of carbon dioxide emissions and offset the depletion of fossil fuel reserves.
Building Australia's Electric Vehicle Fast Charging Infrastructure. This project aims to enhance the resilience, safety, and efficiency of electricity grids operated with fast-charging Electric Vehicles (EVs) by developing new control and optimisation frameworks. This project expects to develop new robust controllers for EV fast-charging infrastructure operated in coordination with wind and solar generated electricity. Expected project outcomes include enabling fast-charge EV infrastructure to b ....Building Australia's Electric Vehicle Fast Charging Infrastructure. This project aims to enhance the resilience, safety, and efficiency of electricity grids operated with fast-charging Electric Vehicles (EVs) by developing new control and optimisation frameworks. This project expects to develop new robust controllers for EV fast-charging infrastructure operated in coordination with wind and solar generated electricity. Expected project outcomes include enabling fast-charge EV infrastructure to be developed and deployed in Australia by the industry partner SwitchDin. Expected benefits including enabling significant reduction in carbon emissions from the transportation sector, accelerating the energy transition to renewables, and placing Australian industry at the forefront of EV grid integration technology.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100619
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$385,090.00
Summary
Porous Carbon Based Catalysts for Lithium Air Batteries. Greenhouse gas emissions from the consumption of fossil fuels are causing disastrous climate change and global warming. The research and development of electric vehicles to replace conventional vehicles has emerged as a solution to this imminent problem. The progress of battery technology plays a key role in the development of electric vehicles. This project addresses the issues by the development of innovative porous carbon based material ....Porous Carbon Based Catalysts for Lithium Air Batteries. Greenhouse gas emissions from the consumption of fossil fuels are causing disastrous climate change and global warming. The research and development of electric vehicles to replace conventional vehicles has emerged as a solution to this imminent problem. The progress of battery technology plays a key role in the development of electric vehicles. This project addresses the issues by the development of innovative porous carbon based materials for next generation batteries with high capability, high power density and excellent retention. Furthermore, this project will also benefit Australia in the research forefront of nanotechnology, materials engineering, energy storage and applied chemistry.Read moreRead less
Solar rechargeable batteries for wearable electronics. This project aims to develop a new solar battery as a sustainable power source for future wearable electronics. The research will develop solar rechargeable Zinc-Manganese oxide batteries based on new stretchable microelectrodes and materials engineering for the direct storage of solar energy. Expected outcomes include new classes of planar-type solar batteries, functional microelectrodes and energy materials, as well as new knowledge genera ....Solar rechargeable batteries for wearable electronics. This project aims to develop a new solar battery as a sustainable power source for future wearable electronics. The research will develop solar rechargeable Zinc-Manganese oxide batteries based on new stretchable microelectrodes and materials engineering for the direct storage of solar energy. Expected outcomes include new classes of planar-type solar batteries, functional microelectrodes and energy materials, as well as new knowledge generated from collaborations across materials science, photoelectrochemistry and nanotechnology disciplines. These will not only expand the applications of solar batteries to a new domain of wearable electronics, but also may eventually lead to new industry advances in functional materials for clean energy.Read moreRead less
Coals as methane bioreactors: significance of microbial methane generation in coal seams for coal seam gas (CSG) production and carbon dioxide (CO2) geosequestration. Australian coal seam gas, for domestic and export use, potentially rivals coal mining in national wealth creation. This project aims to demonstrate that coal seams can function as bioreactors, using naturally present micro-organisms to generate methane. The methane could come from injection of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the coal, cr ....Coals as methane bioreactors: significance of microbial methane generation in coal seams for coal seam gas (CSG) production and carbon dioxide (CO2) geosequestration. Australian coal seam gas, for domestic and export use, potentially rivals coal mining in national wealth creation. This project aims to demonstrate that coal seams can function as bioreactors, using naturally present micro-organisms to generate methane. The methane could come from injection of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the coal, creating a sustainable supply of clean burning gas by converting the CO2 into methane. A successful outcome will permit the reuse of wells and associated infrastructure, significantly increasing coal seam methane production and reserves, possibly several fold, as well as reducing the cost of their recovery. The project will investigate the geological, microbiological and engineering requirements to accomplish this.Read moreRead less
Designing reactivity of homogeneous and heterogeneous water-splitting catalysts using muti-dimensional site-selective spectroscopies. New classes of heterogeneous manganese-calcium water splitting catalysts analogous to the unique biological water splitting cofactor have recently emerged but with far lower catalytic rates than seen for the biological system. These new materials are promising targets for large-scale hydrogen fuel production with low cost, high efficiency and ease of manufacture. ....Designing reactivity of homogeneous and heterogeneous water-splitting catalysts using muti-dimensional site-selective spectroscopies. New classes of heterogeneous manganese-calcium water splitting catalysts analogous to the unique biological water splitting cofactor have recently emerged but with far lower catalytic rates than seen for the biological system. These new materials are promising targets for large-scale hydrogen fuel production with low cost, high efficiency and ease of manufacture. To achieve this, the performance gap between these materials and the homogenous biological catalyst must be bridged. Multi-dimensional site-selective spectroscopies, including magneto/optical resonance methods which are aimed to be developed in this project are expected to provide new, atomic level understanding of properties needed to achieve high catalytic efficiency, thus guiding rational catalyst design.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170101009
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$349,208.00
Summary
Materials architecture design for low-cost energy storage application. This project aims to develop anode materials for high energy, long service life sodium-ion batteries. The natural abundance of sodium makes sodium-ion batteries the most promising low cost system for large-scale electrical energy storage. However, they are limited by the low rate of diffusion through their anodes. This project will investigate the electrochemical sodiation/desodiation anisotropy on different crystalline facet ....Materials architecture design for low-cost energy storage application. This project aims to develop anode materials for high energy, long service life sodium-ion batteries. The natural abundance of sodium makes sodium-ion batteries the most promising low cost system for large-scale electrical energy storage. However, they are limited by the low rate of diffusion through their anodes. This project will investigate the electrochemical sodiation/desodiation anisotropy on different crystalline facets of anode materials to identify more rapid diffusion pathways and develop a better, high-rate. Success is expected to improve battery performance and enable energy distributors to lower the cost of renewable electrical energy, encouraging its adoption.Read moreRead less
Synthetic storage for improving flexibility and security of micro-grids. This project aims to remove the need for energy storage in micro-grids via adoption of synthetic storage. Micro-grids encounter high renewable energy penetrations early, given their small size. Typically, micro-grid variability is managed with technologies such as energy storage. Synthetic storage involves replacing fixed speed diesel assets with variable speed diesel technology. This project offers a cost-effective way to ....Synthetic storage for improving flexibility and security of micro-grids. This project aims to remove the need for energy storage in micro-grids via adoption of synthetic storage. Micro-grids encounter high renewable energy penetrations early, given their small size. Typically, micro-grid variability is managed with technologies such as energy storage. Synthetic storage involves replacing fixed speed diesel assets with variable speed diesel technology. This project offers a cost-effective way to improve renewable penetration and reduce diesel fuel consumption in micro-grids by removing the need for expensive energy storage. The expected project outcomes include reductions in cost and complexity for high renewable energy penetration micro-grids, reduced emissions and improved micro-grid reliability.Read moreRead less
Advanced inverter control for distributed energy systems. This project aims to discover innovative fundamental approaches for the control of electrical grids with a diverse and changing mix of generation sources. It will generate new knowledge in the area of electrical power system control by researching innovative and advanced inverter control techniques coupled to advanced power system models. The expected outcomes are advanced power system control techniques that remove the emerging barriers ....Advanced inverter control for distributed energy systems. This project aims to discover innovative fundamental approaches for the control of electrical grids with a diverse and changing mix of generation sources. It will generate new knowledge in the area of electrical power system control by researching innovative and advanced inverter control techniques coupled to advanced power system models. The expected outcomes are advanced power system control techniques that remove the emerging barriers to increased penetrations of distributed generation and energy storage. The benefit of the research includes an Australian-developed solution to many of the difficulties faced by grid operators around the world in incorporating increased renewable generation and energy storage in their power systems.Read moreRead less
Composite oxides as next-generation photocatalysts for solar energy capture. This project aims to prepare new photocatalysts that capture and convert solar energy to stored energy by directly splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen, a perfectly clean and renewable fuel. The project will use a "bottom-up" nanoscale approach, in which compounds with different chemical and electronic properties, but with compatible crystal structures in at least one dimension, are assembled in a single synthetic s ....Composite oxides as next-generation photocatalysts for solar energy capture. This project aims to prepare new photocatalysts that capture and convert solar energy to stored energy by directly splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen, a perfectly clean and renewable fuel. The project will use a "bottom-up" nanoscale approach, in which compounds with different chemical and electronic properties, but with compatible crystal structures in at least one dimension, are assembled in a single synthetic step to form a well-ordered composite. By making composites of compounds the band gaps - crucial to capturing light - and surfaces -crucial to evolving hydrogen and oxygen gas- of which complement each other, the project can deliver higher performing materials at a lower cost than can be achieved by conventional top-down modification. The project will deliver new and improved photocatalysts that will hasten progress towards commercially viable systems, helping to establish a new technology and putting pressure on competing technologies such as photovoltaics and wind to drive the renewables sector forward.Read moreRead less