It’s a fine line: analytical and experimental optimisation of drawing metal-in-dielectric nanowire composites to manufacture engineered metamaterials. Exploitation of ‘smart materials’ is a major opportunity for 21st century Australian manufacturing if cost effective bulk production is available. Metamaterials are ideal building blocks for such new-age materials, being dielectric/metal composites structured on sub-wavelength dimensions, offering diverse properties unavailable in natural material ....It’s a fine line: analytical and experimental optimisation of drawing metal-in-dielectric nanowire composites to manufacture engineered metamaterials. Exploitation of ‘smart materials’ is a major opportunity for 21st century Australian manufacturing if cost effective bulk production is available. Metamaterials are ideal building blocks for such new-age materials, being dielectric/metal composites structured on sub-wavelength dimensions, offering diverse properties unavailable in natural materials. Fibre drawing is a proven mass-production technology for translating the structure of a (macroscale) preform to microscale and has recently been applied it to fabricate microscale metamaterials. By overcoming fundamental instabilities, this project will transform the technique to manufacture nanoscale structured composites and demonstrate practical metamaterial-based optical devices with unique properties.Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Training Centres - Grant ID: IC170100032
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$4,272,072.00
Summary
ARC Training Centre in Fire Retardant Materials and Safety Technologies. The ARC Training Centre in Fire Retardant Materials and Safety Technologies aims to train a cohort of industry-focused researchers to improve the fire safety of lightweight materials and structures and fire protection systems. The Training Centre expects to create knowledge on novel green and durable fire retardant materials, advanced fire models for urban and built environment, fire suppression technologies, and new flamma ....ARC Training Centre in Fire Retardant Materials and Safety Technologies. The ARC Training Centre in Fire Retardant Materials and Safety Technologies aims to train a cohort of industry-focused researchers to improve the fire safety of lightweight materials and structures and fire protection systems. The Training Centre expects to create knowledge on novel green and durable fire retardant materials, advanced fire models for urban and built environment, fire suppression technologies, and new flammability tests for compliance with fire safety regulatory standards. An expected outcome of this Training Centre is to accelerate the transformation of Australia’s industries in fire retardant materials, products and engineering services.Read moreRead less
Plastic auxetics: a new class of materials. Auxetic materials and structures are those which possess the unusual property of expanding in a lateral direction when stretched or contracting in the lateral direction when compressed. This project will deliver a new class of auxetic materials which are easy to manufacture; possess tuneable properties; and are capable of carrying large strains.
Light-responsive spin transport and spintronics with stable perovskites. This project aims to investigate the impacts of spin/orbital degrees of freedom of electrons in perovskites, and to realise efficient spin injection and transport in perovskite spintronic devices. Halide perovskite is a fast-rising star in the photovoltaic field and possess unique merits including low-cost processing, good charge transport and high light absorption. However there are questions regarding their physical prope ....Light-responsive spin transport and spintronics with stable perovskites. This project aims to investigate the impacts of spin/orbital degrees of freedom of electrons in perovskites, and to realise efficient spin injection and transport in perovskite spintronic devices. Halide perovskite is a fast-rising star in the photovoltaic field and possess unique merits including low-cost processing, good charge transport and high light absorption. However there are questions regarding their physical properties. This project will explore the synthesis and characterisation of layered perovskites and lead-free hybrid compounds, and use these new materials in charge/spin transport devices. As a result of the strong charge-spin-orbital correlation in perovskite semiconductors, the project is expected to have a significant impact on not only spin-based devices but also charge-based energy conversion and storage applications related to halide perovskites.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100274
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Design of alloys over multiple grain scales for improving fatigue performance. The project will significantly improve the development of engineering alloy design with high fatigue resistance and produce important benefits to Australian manufacturing industries. It will also establish new knowledge and capability in modelling fatigue behaviours, thus producing great benefits to many science and engineering fields.
Multiferroic Skyrmion Materials for Next Generation Nanoelectronics. Topological structures, such as domain walls, vortices and skyrmions have recently seen considerable attention due to their potential application in nanoelectronics and new electronic device concepts. These structures are key to the design and understanding of novel functionalities in ferroic materials. The aim of the project is the investigation of fundamental properties of multiferroic skyrmion materials, i.e. their nanoscal ....Multiferroic Skyrmion Materials for Next Generation Nanoelectronics. Topological structures, such as domain walls, vortices and skyrmions have recently seen considerable attention due to their potential application in nanoelectronics and new electronic device concepts. These structures are key to the design and understanding of novel functionalities in ferroic materials. The aim of the project is the investigation of fundamental properties of multiferroic skyrmion materials, i.e. their nanoscale structure, surface topology, dynamics and their interaction with external stimuli. The control of these structures through external electric and magnetic fields, as well as strain and light will be investigated for applications in nanoelectronics and data storage.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220101185
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$437,400.00
Summary
Engineering ferroelectric topologies in freestanding membranes. This DECRA proposal is focused on the exploiting controlled motion, annihilation and creation of real space topological defects (polar skyrmions, vortices and merons) in free-standing ferroelectric superlattices. Topological states in ferroic materials arise from spin/dipolar textures (the spins/dipoles can be considered as quasiparticles) which condense to form topological defects. The imposition of precisely controlled elastic bou ....Engineering ferroelectric topologies in freestanding membranes. This DECRA proposal is focused on the exploiting controlled motion, annihilation and creation of real space topological defects (polar skyrmions, vortices and merons) in free-standing ferroelectric superlattices. Topological states in ferroic materials arise from spin/dipolar textures (the spins/dipoles can be considered as quasiparticles) which condense to form topological defects. The imposition of precisely controlled elastic boundary conditions through an applied bending stress, temperature profiles and electric fields to the membranes enables tailored functional responses without any interference from substrate clamping effect. This yields multifunctional materials with enhanced operational speed, sensitivity and energy-efficiencies.Read moreRead less
The effect of structure and size on the mechanical behaviour of III-V semiconductor nanowires. The project aims to apply in-situ deformation transmission electron microscopy to investigate the mechanical behaviour of compound semiconductor nanowires and the effect of structure and geometry on the behaviour. The results will uncover the fundamental mechanical properties of nanowires and will guide the design of nanowire-based devices.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100131
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$398,000.00
Summary
Photo-electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide in gas phase. This project aims to develop a highly efficient gas-phase photo-electrocatalytic process for converting carbon dioxide into high-value chemicals or fuels, through an integrated dual-chamber system. The project expects to use this new system to simplify the catalysis process and precisely control the reaction conditions, in order to investigate the reaction mechanism of carbon dioxide reduction and develop innovative photocatalysts ....Photo-electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide in gas phase. This project aims to develop a highly efficient gas-phase photo-electrocatalytic process for converting carbon dioxide into high-value chemicals or fuels, through an integrated dual-chamber system. The project expects to use this new system to simplify the catalysis process and precisely control the reaction conditions, in order to investigate the reaction mechanism of carbon dioxide reduction and develop innovative photocatalysts and electrocatalysts. Successful implementation of this project should yield fundamental new knowledge in catalysis and material areas, promote the study of carbon dioxide recycle use to confront the worldwide environmental issues and energy crisis.Read moreRead less
Design of Non-Equilibrium Architectures: Leveraging High Entropy Materials. Novel metallic alloys, termed as ‘high entropy materials’, will be investigated as surface coatings in order to provide improved strength, corrosion and wear performance under extreme industrial environments. This new evolution in materials engineering is created by mixing at least 5 elements in equal ratios and has recently been proven to provide excellent functionality in the bulk form. The novelty of this project is t ....Design of Non-Equilibrium Architectures: Leveraging High Entropy Materials. Novel metallic alloys, termed as ‘high entropy materials’, will be investigated as surface coatings in order to provide improved strength, corrosion and wear performance under extreme industrial environments. This new evolution in materials engineering is created by mixing at least 5 elements in equal ratios and has recently been proven to provide excellent functionality in the bulk form. The novelty of this project is that thermal spray engineering will be employed to manufacture bespoke coatings for industries such as the mining and power generation sectors. We now need to understand the materials science for a technological tipping point that directly impacts manufacturing industries for improved performance, efficiency and reliability.Read moreRead less