One of the world’s leading institutes for nanotechnology research has, at the end of July 2010, received a grant from the European Union to support research which it is hoped will lead to a significant reduction in the cost of producing one of the principle materials used in lithium batteries. Such batteries are a key component in electric vehicles as well as laptops, digital cameras and other electronic devices.
Research Grants are Highly Prized
European Research Commission starter grants are awarded to less than 10% of those who apply. Valued at €1.5 million over 5 years the grant recognises the excellence of work being carried out in the Centre for Research on Advanced Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) based at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and University College Cork (UCC).
Professor Jonathan Coleman is Principle Investigator at CRANN and a Professor in the School of Physics at TCD. Professor Coleman and his team were researching carbon nanotubes, seeking a way of separating individual nanotubes from the large clusters they have a propensity to form. They discovered that the use of a solvent having surface energies that match those of the nanotubes worked.
Components for High End Computing
Following on from this discovery they decided to investigate whether it would be possible to apply the same techniques to solving the problem of producing graphene flakes in large quntities. Graphene is a form of carbon that appears in particles of a single atom thickness. Its uses include the manufacture of electronic components where it is expected to replace silicon as the leading material in electronics component manufacture, allowing the continuation of Moore’s law into the next generation of high end computing systems.
It can also be incorporated with polymers in order to create high strength composite materials for use in lightweight structures such as airframe components and racing cars.
Research Paper Published in America
It is very rare for a scientific hypothesis to be proved correct by the first trial but that is what happened with Prof. Coleman’s team and the production of graphene. Their findings were presented in a research paper published in Nature Nanotechnology in 2008. (Yenny Hernandez, Valeria Nicolosi, Mustafa Lotya, Fiona M. Blighe, Zhanyu Sun, Sukanta De, I. T. McGovern, Brendan Holland, Michelle Byrne, Yurii Gun’ko, John Boland, Peter Niraj, Georg S. Duesberg, Satheesh Krishnamurthy Robbie Goodhue John Hutchison, Vittorio Scardaci, Andrea C. Ferrari and Jonathan N. Coleman, “High Yield Production of Graphene by Liquid Phase Exfoliation of Graphite”, Nature Nanotechnology, 3, 563-568 (2008))
Since then they have gone on to publish a paper on the selection of appropriate solvents for use with their technique in the journal Langmuir (Yenny Hernandes, Mustafa Lotya, David Rickard, Shane D. Bergin and Jonathan N. Coleman, “Measurement of Multicomponent Solubility Parameters for Graphene Facilitates Solvent Discovery”, Langmuir, 2010, 26 (5), pp 3208-3213)
Research Grant for Nanomaterials
However, it is the team’s work applying the same techniques to the production of other nanomaterials that has attracted this latest grant. Prof. Coleman is careful not to reveal too much about his team’s work on Molybdenum Disulphide and Bismuth Teluride as some of it is under review prior to possible publication in the journal Science and is, at the time of writing, under an embargo.
Bismuth telluride is used in the capture of waste heat from car engines and nuclear plants. It is hoped that Prof. Coleman’s work will yield a low cost method of producing thin films that could, for example, be attached to the side of a car and used to convert waste heat into electricity. Molybdenum disulphide is used to manufacture components for lithium batteries.
A key feature of the work carried out at CRANN, as with so much other research and development undertaken in Irish universities, is the degree of collaboration with industrial partners. In 2009 184 multinational firms and 165 small and medium enterprises formed links with academic teams, facilitated by Science Foundation Ireland.
Scientific Publications and Quality Jobs
Ireland, a country of fewer than 4 million people, is now in the top 20 for scientific ranking according to Thomson Reuters Essential Scientific Indicators whilst the quality and quantity of scientific publications has dramatically improved. (“SFI links 349 firms with college researchers to create high quality jobs – Minister Lenihan”, SFI Press release, 5 Aug 2010). CRANN for example, had published 64 scientific papers within the first 7 months of 2010.
Intel and Hewlett Packard are among the multinational companies that have “Researchers in Residence” working alongside university personnel in CRANN, developing next generation devices applying the results of cutting edge research. The work with HP includes the creation of flexible transparent electronic components. Four HP researchers are working in CRANN on the application of carbon nanotubes, graphene and silver nanowires.
Frank Parker - Frank writes regularly on a diverse range of subjects which he researches thoroughly.
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