Category Archives: Media releases

The three QUT scientists behind an explosive show for Brisbane school students have shared how childhood curiosity was one of the big drivers for their own careers in STEM. QUT chemists Dr Nathan Boase, Dr Michael Pfrunder and Federica Sbordone have joined forces to create Igniting the Magic of Chemistry, which will be livestreamed for primaryContinue reading “Childhood curiosity inspires science careers”

Professors Tiffany Walsh, Luke Henderson and Russell Varley (Institute for Frontier Materials) seek to remove some of the limitations of carbon fibre composites by introducing novel functionality into the underlying carbon fibre. The 2022 awarded Discovery project expects to modify carbon fibres, predict their functionality and develop new high-performance resins. The project will guide theContinue reading “Enabling multifunctional composites to boost manufacturing innovations”

While conventional road safety guardrails have effectively reduced fatalities in road accidents, they have not prevented increasing cases of serious injuries. Swinburne’s Dr Shanqing Xu, Professor Dong Ruan and Associate Professor Hing Ho Tsang have received $358,980 funding from the Australian Government’s Road Safety Innovation Fund to assess standard barrier systems and optimise emerging safety roller barrier technology –Continue reading “Improving safety barriers to reduce road deaths and serious injuries”

QUT researchers have used carbon dots, created from human hair waste sourced from a Brisbane barbershop, to create a kind of “armour” to improve the performance of cutting-edge solar technology. In a study published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A, the researchers led by Professor Hongxia Wang in collaboration with Associate Professor  Prashant Sonar  ofContinue reading “Carbon dots from human hair boost solar cells”

In research published in Advanced Materials, Associate Professor Deepak Dubal and the research team, including Professor Nunzio Motta and PhD researcher Michael Horn, developed a hybrid supercapacitor which has a capacitor-type titanium carbide-based negative electrode and a battery-type graphene-hybrid positive electrode. The new energy storage device reaches an energy density close to that of nickel metalContinue reading “Super solution in hybrid capacitor development”

Material scientists at Deakin University enhance performance and extend service life of pipelines and offshore infrastructure for a more sustainable future. Deakin’s Institute for Frontier Materials researchers, in collaboration with researchers from PETRONAS Research and the University of Adelaide, have scooped the IChemE Malaysia Awards 2020, Oil and Gas Award for their project Metal Organic Framework as Self-Healing Catalyst duringContinue reading “IFM researchers recognised for self-healing coatings for off-shore oil platforms”

Material scientists at Deakin University enhance performance and extend service life of pipelines and offshore infrastructure for a more sustainable future. Deakin’s Institute for Frontier Materials researchers, in collaboration with researchers from PETRONAS Research and the University of Adelaide, have scooped the IChemE Malaysia Awards 2020, Oil and Gas Award for their project Metal OrganicContinue reading “Self healing coatings for off-shore oil platforms”

LeMond to Develop New Carbon Fibre Production Facility after Successful Tests LeMond Carbon has announced the results of an independent technical audit conducted by Bureau Veritas (“BV”) of its carbon fibre manufacturing process. The audit was conducted on a pilot line at Deakin University’s Carbon Nexus facility in Geelong, Australia. The total oxidation time andContinue reading “Rapid oxidation technologies for new carbon fibre”

Eradicating deadly staph using a new breed of antibiotics has revealed promising results in research released by QUT, to help overcome one of the biggest modern medical challenges. The bacteria attach to medical devices including catheters, artificial joints, implants and patients’ burns and wounds, establishing bacterial biofilms, a leading cause of failing antibiotic therapies andContinue reading “Researchers develop ‘clever drugs for slimy bugs’ in fight against staph infections”

Developing synthetic materials that are as dynamic as those found in nature, with reversibly changing properties and which could be used in manufacturing, recycling and other applications, is a strong focus for scientists. In a world-first, researchers from QUT, Belgium’s Ghent University (UGent) and Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have pioneered a novel, dynamic,Continue reading “Green light for a new generation of dynamic materials”