Beyond Phononic Crystals-Building New Concepts to Enhance Thermoelectricity. Waste heat, which is discharged into the environment from industrial plants and vehicle exhausts, represents a huge amount of lost energy and is a major contributor to global warming. Thermoelectric materials, which can generate electricity from the waste heat, could play an important role in a global sustainable energy solution while reducing greenhouse emissions. This program is aimed at experimental and theoretical d ....Beyond Phononic Crystals-Building New Concepts to Enhance Thermoelectricity. Waste heat, which is discharged into the environment from industrial plants and vehicle exhausts, represents a huge amount of lost energy and is a major contributor to global warming. Thermoelectric materials, which can generate electricity from the waste heat, could play an important role in a global sustainable energy solution while reducing greenhouse emissions. This program is aimed at experimental and theoretical development of new concepts to engineer the interfaces with various atomic stacking sequence of two complex oxides and also the three-dimensional binary nanocube superlattices to enhance the energy conversion efficiency of oxide based thermoelectric materials by several times over today's state-of-the-art.Read moreRead less
Bio-inspired electro catalysts for gas reduction reactions: towards electrochemical ammonia production under ambient conditions. This project will develop solutions to replace the current energy inefficient method for ammonia production, which are a significant contribution to Greenhouse Gas emissions. A more energy efficient system will be developed from a new class of composite gas-reduction catalysts integrated into functional electrochemical cells.
Development of Novel Spin Caloritronic Materials and Devices for Heat Management in Nanoelectronic Systems. Spin caloritronics is a new field that combines concepts from spintronics and thermoelectricity. This project is inspired by spin Seebeck effect observed in magnetic insulators and motivated by the basic requirements of nanoscale heat management devices. Such devices are the key components promising to surmount fundamental limits of microelectronic technologies with heat dissipation and p ....Development of Novel Spin Caloritronic Materials and Devices for Heat Management in Nanoelectronic Systems. Spin caloritronics is a new field that combines concepts from spintronics and thermoelectricity. This project is inspired by spin Seebeck effect observed in magnetic insulators and motivated by the basic requirements of nanoscale heat management devices. Such devices are the key components promising to surmount fundamental limits of microelectronic technologies with heat dissipation and power consumption as the size of charge-based logic devices shrinks into nanometre scale. This program is aimed at experimental and theoretical development of novel spin caloritronic materials with spin Seebeck effect at ambient temperature, which is orders of magnitude higher than state-of-the-art materials, for heat management in nanoelectronic systems.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE110100183
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$840,000.00
Summary
A comprehensive magneto-thermophysical property measurement system for the development of advanced materials, energy and biomedical technologies. This facility will add a new dimension to high-level research performance and will significantly enhance our ability to investigate different types of materials. The continual development of advanced materials will potentially provide a sustainable means for meeting the increasing global challenge for the materials, energy and biomedical industries.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE110100229
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$230,000.00
Summary
Carbon-free high temperature vacuum sintering facility. This facility will provide an extremely clean sintering environment for development of advanced materials free from imperfections for applications which range from energy conversion to medical components. It will ensure that Australia is an important international leader in both fundamental research and industrial innovation.
Low cost solution-processable 2D nanomaterials for smart windows. This project aims to develop low cost and scalable synthesis of the active functional nanomaterials in smart windows, their facile application techniques, and their integration into the glass manufacturing process. Smart windows, with thermochromic and electrochromic functionalities, will play important roles towards efficient energy usage and conservation (in terms of air-conditioning and lighting) in most buildings including off ....Low cost solution-processable 2D nanomaterials for smart windows. This project aims to develop low cost and scalable synthesis of the active functional nanomaterials in smart windows, their facile application techniques, and their integration into the glass manufacturing process. Smart windows, with thermochromic and electrochromic functionalities, will play important roles towards efficient energy usage and conservation (in terms of air-conditioning and lighting) in most buildings including offices, schools, and residential homes. . The intended outcome of this project is to facilitate the commercialisation of low-cost, energy-saving smart windows for efficient energy usage and conservation, which is an integral part of a sustainable environment.Read moreRead less
Nanostructured magnetic materials for clean automotive technologies. Greater utilisation of the petrol-electric hybrid technology is an effective and realistic approach to the problem of increasing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation sources. Owing to the requirement of the temperature stability of the magnets used in the electric motors in the current hybrid vehicles, the magnets contain considerable amounts of costly rare-earth elements. This impedes the utilisation of the technology ....Nanostructured magnetic materials for clean automotive technologies. Greater utilisation of the petrol-electric hybrid technology is an effective and realistic approach to the problem of increasing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation sources. Owing to the requirement of the temperature stability of the magnets used in the electric motors in the current hybrid vehicles, the magnets contain considerable amounts of costly rare-earth elements. This impedes the utilisation of the technology and hence alternative cost effective magnets with high temperature stability are needed. In this project we will exploit a range of alloy design strategies in manganese-bismuth/iron nanocomposite magnets, thereby realising a novel permanent magnet, free of costly rare-earth elements.Read moreRead less
High performance cathode materials for rechargeable lithium ion batteries. This project aims to address the limitation of current battery technology though the development of innovative high energy/power cathode materials for next generation rechargeable lithium ion batteries with high capacity, high power density and outstanding retention. This improvement will dramatically reduce the costs necessary for the market competitiveness of electric vehicles (EVs). By promoting greater EV uptake, this ....High performance cathode materials for rechargeable lithium ion batteries. This project aims to address the limitation of current battery technology though the development of innovative high energy/power cathode materials for next generation rechargeable lithium ion batteries with high capacity, high power density and outstanding retention. This improvement will dramatically reduce the costs necessary for the market competitiveness of electric vehicles (EVs). By promoting greater EV uptake, this project will contribute to Australia’s emissions targets by helping to decarbonise the transport sector.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100749
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$368,446.00
Summary
Designing solar rechargeable batteries for efficient solar energy storage. This project aims to develop a new prototype of solar rechargeable battery for the direct storage of solar energy. Specifically, the research will integrate newly designed solar-driven photo-electrochemical energy conversion process and bi-functional photo-electrodes into a lithium-sulphur battery to achieve high energy storage efficiency. Expected outcomes include high-performance solar rechargeable batteries and new kno ....Designing solar rechargeable batteries for efficient solar energy storage. This project aims to develop a new prototype of solar rechargeable battery for the direct storage of solar energy. Specifically, the research will integrate newly designed solar-driven photo-electrochemical energy conversion process and bi-functional photo-electrodes into a lithium-sulphur battery to achieve high energy storage efficiency. Expected outcomes include high-performance solar rechargeable batteries and new knowledge generated from the integration of interdisciplinary research in energy storage, photo-electrochemistry and nanotechnology. Further advances in material science and solar energy storage technologies will assist in addressing the global energy shortage and mitigating environmental pollution.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100310
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$373,850.00
Summary
Nano-engineered, cost-effective lead chalcogenides to boost the performance of mid-range temperature thermoelectric materials. This project presents high performance, cost-effective lead-based thermoelectric materials for mid-range temperature thermoelectric generators. The development of these materials for waste heat recovery and solar thermoelectric generators will bring tremendous economic benefits and can have a profound impact on clean alternative energy sources.