Solve global problems through material design

Electrochemical energy storage systems, such as alkali-metal batteries, offer an efficient way to harness renewable energy from solar and wind sources, with high energy density and good power density. However, they struggle with ultra-high-power input and the fluctuating demands of renewable energy. In contrast, capacitors excel in power density and can charge and discharge in seconds, though their lower energy density often necessitates pairing with batteries for a well-rounded solution. Protons are emerging as ideal charge carriers to bridge this gap. With their small atomic mass and size, protons are transported through a unique combination of ionic and hydrogen bonding, enabling both high capacity and fast response times. This transport mechanism opens up the potential for a new class of energy storage systems that combines the benefits of both rechargeable batteries and capacitors, yielding high energy and power densities. Proton batteries can offer a balanced solution, optimizing performance by uniting the strengths of batteries and capacitors.

This project aims to advance proton battery technology by designing cost-effective, reliable, and safe solid-state proton-conductive membranes and electrodes. Through characterising their physical, mechanical, and electrochemical properties, we aim to create optimised materials that will form the basis of prototype proton batteries in a commercially viable pouch cell format.

Skill requirements

Material science, Spectroscopy characterisation techniques, Electrochemistry

Confirmation of the scholarship type/funding source

Deakin University Postgraduate Research Scholarship (DUPR) and Australian Research Centre (ARC) through Industry Fellowship.

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Research Topic 

This exciting collaborative project between Deakin University and Bayreuth University (Germany) will explore new combinations of photo-crosslinkable silkworm silk and spider silk to produce hydrogel bioinks for live cell printing as well as other 3D printing technologies such as Digital Light Processing (DLP) printing. The unique properties of both silk varieties will be exploited to produce inks with tuneable mechanical properties and biodegradation rate to produce next generation materials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. 

We are offering a fully funded stipend for a PhD in materials engineering. The position is a cotutelle project between Deakin University (in Australia) and Bayreuth University (in Germany). The student will graduate with a PhD from both universities. The project is based at Deakin University Australia but will involve one year spent in Germany. 

Skill requirement: 

The candidate will ideally have a background in biomedical engineering, biochemistry or chemistry. A master’s degree in a relevant field is strongly recommended for entry to the Bayreuth program. 

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Research topic

In recent years, there has been significant research on the chemical conversion of renewable materials such as propionic acid, glutamic acid, and 3-hydroxypropionic acid into acrylonitrile as sustainable alternatives to traditional petrochemical-based routes. The exploring renewable feedstocks for acrylonitrile production presents a promising avenue for sustainable and environmentally friendly carbon fiber manufacturing. The conversion of these renewable chemicals to acrylonitrile offers potential routes that can contribute to reducing the reliance on petrochemical resources and mitigating environmental impacts leading to sustainable carbon fibre production.

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Research topic

This research project aims to pioneer the development of smart MXene textiles capable of efficient energy harvesting from body movement and the environment, alongside seamless integration of high-resolution real-time bio-signal sensing capabilities. By incorporating MXenes into textiles, we will address current challenges in energy yield and bio-signal resolution, leading to advancements in wearable technology and sustainable energy solutions.

Objectives

Energy Harvesting: Develop strategies for efficient energy harvesting using MXene-integrated textiles, exploring piezoelectric, triboelectric, and photovoltaic mechanisms to capture energy from mechanical vibrations and sunlight.

Sensing Capability: Integrate sensors onto the MXene textiles for real-time monitoring of environmental parameters, such as temperature, humidity, and strain.

Energy-Sensing Synergy: Investigate how the simultaneous energy harvesting process affects the sensing capabilities of the textile, and optimize the design to achieve a synergistic balance between energy generation and sensing performance.

Skill Requirements

Candidates who are passionate about advancing the frontiers of wearable technology, energy harvesting, and sensing are encouraged to apply.

Preferred special skills and expertise:

Materials Science and Engineering: Candidates should have a strong background in materials science and engineering, with a focus on functional materials such as MXenes. Understanding the properties, synthesis methods, and integration techniques of MXenes into textiles is essential.

Energy Harvesting Expertise: Proficiency in energy harvesting mechanisms, including piezoelectric, triboelectric, and photovoltaic processes, will be valuable for optimizing energy conversion efficiency from body movement and ambient sources.

Sensor Development: Experience in sensor design, fabrication, and integration is important to develop high-resolution bio-signal sensing capabilities within the textiles. Knowledge of bioelectronics and signal processing is a plus.

Although special skills and expertise are preferred, the following criteria are deemed critical in the selection process:

Communication Skills: Strong written and verbal communication skills are essential for presenting research findings, collaborating with team members.

Innovation and Creativity: Candidates should be innovative thinkers, capable of proposing novel solutions to challenges in energy harvesting, sensing integration, and wearable technology.

Join us on this journey to redefine textiles and shape the future of energy harvesting and sensing with smart MXene textiles. Your contributions will play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between materials innovation and real-world applications.

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Research topic

This project aims to develop a simple method (low processing requirements) to stain microplastics in a differential way using fluorescent dye cocktails, to use fluorescence microscopy as an all-in-one tool for microplastics recognition and identification in environmental samples. The project aims to provide faster and more accesible methods to identify and characterise microplastics, especially in the smaller size range (<200 micron), where other methods fail.

Microplastics are emerging anthropogenic pollutants that affect ecosystems in a complex way. For instance, they offer a fertile substrate for some microbial species that are otherwise found in small numbers, causing local biological and chemical imbalance.

While their presence is known to be widespread, the composition of microplastics in the environment appears to vary geographically and temporally and so does their microbiological impact. Knowing which microplastics are where is important to understand their complex bio-impact.

There is still little knowledge on the geo-temporal distribution of microplastics in terms of composition. While the techniques to identify microplastics advance rapidly, the methods used to identify microplastics’ composition still involve extensive processing (strong oxidising conditions, teflon filtration) and take advantage of equipment such as FT-IR microscopes, which are surface-targeting techniques, thus very sensitive to surface contamination. These methods also are limited to the larger microplastics, being often “”blind”” to smaller microplastics (e.g. textile fibres and textile coating debris) which have been demonstrated to be significantly more abundant by number and of greater concern from a toxicity perspective. From an environmental forensics perspective, the current techniques are also very prone to contamination. This project ultimately aims to simplify sample processing and identification to minimise contamination and to increase knowledge gathering.

Fluorescence microscopy has been used widely to highlight microplastics in samples, albeit mostly in a binary manner (as in “”is this plastic? Y/N””), after extensive sample processing. Fluorescence microscopy has also been combined with FT-IR to provide more identification power for microplastics harnessing the solvatochromic effect (fluorescence colour change depending on the plastic). These early results indicate that solvatochromic and diffential dye uptake methods may be suitable for accelerating sample analysis. Many fluorescent dyes are available in the market, but only a few have been tested in the literature.

This project will fill this knowledge gap, by including a range of inexpensive dyes. It will investigate the interactions between fluorescent dyes and their cocktails and microplastics of selected composition. It is hypothesised that the solvatochromic effect and differential dye uptake will provide sufficient differences in the fluorescence signal to facilitate microplastics identification in unknown samples. The project will test the concept and evaluate technique sensitivity and specificity (composition) also in environmental samples. If successful, this project will provide a faster and more accessible way to identify microplastics by composition, analyse material waste streams including textile waste generated in handling and washing textiles and monitor microplastics exposure with the final aim of influencing policy (standards development, etc.). A potential outcome of this project is the identification of plastic-type-specific dye mixtures for use in targeted analysis. Broader impact could be foreseen in accelerating materials identification

Skill Requirements

• Chemistry or biochemistry background

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Fracture control is an ever-green topic for the pipeline industry owing to pipeline operation’s high internal pressure. One major concern for the decision makers of pipeline designs is that limited confidence has been built from existing database that clearly demonstrates the ‘newly’ designed line pipe steels could provide the same safety level as thicker traditional steel grades.

Line pipe steel’s ability to resist fracture is a critical design factor that plays a centric role for governing the operational safety of a pipeline (regardless of if it is for natural gas, hydrogen, or CO2). Full Scale Burst Test (FSBT) is the most reliable testing method to evaluate the fracture toughness. However, FSBT is extremely expensive (million USD per test); and therefore, cannot be conducted on a regular basis for new line pipe steel products. The existing small/lab-scale tests, serve as test alternatives, failed to correlate to Full-Scale fracture propagation behaviours.

A novel small-scale test (Omega) was proposed by our research group and was found to be more advantageous than established methods. In the latest work, we reported that Omega is an independent material parameter to the fracture speed, and it robustly describes steady-state fracture propagation that was observed in FSBTs. Although the industrial applicability of Omega has been experimentally examined over a wide range of line pipe steels, its reported correlation to Full Scale fracture behavior is yet to be systematically analyzed and confirmed, with correlating the existing data collections to the proposed new tests using Baosteel steel products. The high-level objective of this project is to develop a Small-Scale test that can establish correlations for Baosteel line pipe products to its Full-Scale fracture performance without performing expensive Full Scale Burst Tests.

Skill Requirements

Background in materials science and engineering is desirable

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We have scholarships available now for PhD placements in a variety of projects – suited to Honours and Masters graduates specialising in engineering, chemistry, materials science, applied science and physics.

Scholarships are available across our themes of Advanced Alloys and Infrastructure Materials, Electro and Energy Materials, Carbon Fibre and Composites, and Fibres and Textiles.

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