Deakin awarded AEA Ignite Grants worth over $1.9 million to drive key materials innovation
Four Deakin University researchers from the Faculty of Science, Engineering and the Built Environment have received $1,938,333 for new projects under the second round of Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) Ignite Grants.
These new Deakin-led projects will explore the creation of sustainable bioplastic, new electronic cooling materials, solid-state hydrogen storage, and innovative carbon fibre colouring techniques.
AEA Ignite grants support early-stage research commercialisation through competitive grants of up to $500,000. These grants help researchers at Australian universities to complete basic research, laboratory testing and establish proof-of-concept in an industry-relevant environment.
‘Powering next-generation electronics with engineered Diamond Heat Spreaders’ — $499,445
Dr Qiran Cai, Deakin Institute for Frontier Materials
Electronics like artificial intelligence processors, data centres and quantum computers face a growing challenge: overheating. As these technologies rapidly advance, conventional cooling materials are no longer fit-for-purpose, limiting performance and reliability of electronics.
This project from Dr Cai and team will develop a new generation of heat spreaders made from high-quality diamond films. Diamond has the highest thermal conductivity of any known material, and these films will be grown using the team’s patented chemical vapour deposition technology.
The work will pave a path for faster, more reliable devices and reduced energy consumption.
The project team includes fellow Institute for Frontier Materials researcher Professor Ying (Ian) Chen alongside Eddy Sng, Yu-Heng Lee and Dr Chih-shiue Yan and will collaborate with industry partner AXT Pty Ltd.
‘From lab to prototype: advancing solid-state hydrogen storage – safe, compact, high-density’ — $499,034
Dr Srikanth Mateti, Deakin Institute for Frontier Materials
Despite strong global interest in hydrogen, storage of the material remains one of the biggest bottlenecks to widespread use with current approaches relying heavily on high-pressure gas tanks and cryogenic liquid hydrogen.
Solid-state hydrogen storage is an alternative option that stores hydrogen within solid nanomaterials rather than as a gas or liquid, allowing for improved safety, compact storage and easier handling and transport.
Dr Mateti and his team have previously developed a mechanochemical (ball-milling-enabled) approach for gas storage, a process that is both scalable and energy efficient. This new funding enables a critical step forward in moving from laboratory testing to prototype development.
The project team includes fellow Deakin Institute for Frontier Materials researcher Professor Ying (Ian) Chen alongside Anirudda (Ani) Kulkarni, Dr Kiran R Mahale and industry organisations Cavendish Renewable Technology and Sweet Atoms.
‘Beyond black: the future of coloured carbon fibre’ — $490,724
Dr Ben Newman, Deakin Institute for Frontier Materials
Since its development, carbon fibre has proven extremely useful across a variety of applications. But widespread adoption of recycled carbon fibre has been held back due to its grey/black colour.
Other colours can only be incorporated into this material by weaving in new fibres, such as polyester or glass, using expensive manufacturing methods. To date, there has been no way to directly colour virgin or recycled carbon fibre.
Dr Newman’s project uses a new provisionally-patented process that imparts innate colour into carbon fibre itself without requiring any comingling of fibre varieties, using a less costly technique.
This new technology presents a unique and scalable approach to improving carbon fibre uptake and recycling of composite materials.
The project team includes fellow Deakin Institute for Frontier Materials researcher Professor Luke Henderson and will collaborate with industry partner Gen 2 Carbon.
‘High-performance bioplastic developed from biomass and organic waste’ — $499,130
Dr Shima Jafarzadeh, Centre for Sustainable Bioproducts and School of Engineering
Australia generates 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste annually and this is projected to double by 2040, alongside 7.6 million tonnes of food waste.
Dr Jafarzadeh’s project aims to address these global problems in tandem by converting food waste into polylactic acid (PLA), a biodegradable, bio-based plastic suitable for packaging that safely decomposes after use.
The PLA is optimised and reinforced by combining it with hemp seed cake, an agricultural byproduct that is often discarded, ensuring the packaging performs comparably to conventional plastics.
Expected benefits of this new material include reducing landfill, lowering greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing reliance on toxic conventional plastics. The pilot-scale production and prototype packaging will be developed with industry partners to work towards market-ready technology.
The project team includes fellow Deakin researchers Professor Minoo Naebe and Professor Colin Barrow alongside Dr Priya Naidu and will collaborate with WA Biotech and Revox Australia.
This article was originally published on Deakin Research News.