Year 2007

6-7 December 2007
Workshop: Ink Jet Printing Functional Materials

Recent advances in nanotechnology has enabled many highly functional materials to be more processable including improved printability. This workshop examined the fundamental physical and chemical properties of solutions/dispersions that are required to enable high resolution ink jet printing. In addition, the most recent advances in fabricating practical devices by ink jet printing was presented by each of our invited speakers.

Speakers included:

• Prof. Paul Calvert (UMass, Dartmouth, USA)
• Prof. Gyoujin Cho (Sunchon National University, Korea)
• Dr Aoife Morrin (Dublin City University, Ireland)
• Dr Arun Vijayan (CSIRO) – Ink Jet Printing on Textiles
• Dr Bjorn Winther-Jensen (ACES) – Novel Conducting Polymer Structures
• Dr Marc in het Panhuis (University of Wollongong) – Ink Jet Printing Polymers and Carbon Nanotubes

Read the media report on the workshop, "Printing living cells on workshop agenda".

8 November 2007
ACES-DSTO Roundtable

An ACES-DSTO workshop was hosted by DSTO at Fisherman’s Bend on 8 November 2007. The workshop attracted participants from three different DSTO Divisions:

1. Maritime Platform
2. Air Vehicles
3. Human Protection and Performance

and provided insights into DSTO requirements in areas such as energy conversion, energy storage and electronic textiles (wearable sensors).

The purpose of the workshop was to build upon strong ACES-DSTO collaborations in the areas of corrosion protection (led by Prof. Forsyth at Monash University) and artificial muscles (led by Prof. Spinks at the University of Wollongong). The workshop identified the need for multifunctional materials that are capable of energy storage or conversion, corrosion protection and even wearable sensors that have multiple functions, in particular a structural or protective function. These include:

1. inclusion of solar cells in autonomous/wearable structures
2. inclusion of thermal energy harvesting in autonomous wearable structures
3. high energy density batteries for unmanned aerial vehicles etc.

The participants were also brought up to speed with DSTO’s diverse energy conversion and storage requirements as well as the need and opportunity for electronic textiles. Collaborative opportunities in the area of CNT based sensors were identified.

5 November 2007
One Day Workshop on Ethics and the Regulation of Risk in Nanotechnology

The second workshop by ACES on Ethical issues surrounding the use of nanotechnology was held in November 2007 in Wollongong.  This was organised by Professors Susan Dodds and William Price. The previous successful workshop in 2006 gave impetus to hold a more focussed event to discuss issues of risk management in the use and applications of nanomaterials.  This is part of a series of workshops forming a strand of the education program of the Centre. 

It is widely recognised that development of nanotechnologies and products containing nanomaterials has the potential to generate risks to health and the environment.  The risks associated with “nanoproducts” include, Occupational Health and Safety risks for those working in production and transport; environmental risks and pollution from production, use and decay; health risks for consumers from exposure to and use. In addition, there has been pressure on regulatory authorities to assess and regulate the development of nano-technologies and products.  Countries around the world are taking a variety of approaches to this.   This workshop was designed to start to come to grips with some of the issues surrounding risk and regulation and to reflect on the implications of this range of issues for the development of nanotechnology in Australia.

Over 40 people attended the one day workshop with half the participants being members of the Centre of Excellence, in particular post-graduate students and early career researchers.  Other attendees came from a variety of State and Federal agencies such as Workcover and NICNAS (The Australian Government regulator of industrial chemicals) as well as researchers from NSW and Victorian Universities.   There were three main speakers at the Workshop. 

• Prof. Brian Priestly, Head, Australian Centre for Human Health Risk Assessment (ACHHRA) at Monash is a toxicology experienced in the research relating to the risks and toxicology of nano-sized materials.  He also sits on a range of National Committees and Working Parties in the area.  Prof. Priestly gave an excellent overview of the current understanding of the risks posed by a range of nanomaterials including fullerenes and carbon nanotubes,  to  researchers, manufacturers and consumers. His talk also addressed some of the pitfalls of trying to regulate in the situation of imperfect knowledge of the risks and this formed an excellent segue to the next talk. 
• The second speaker, Dr. Karinne Ludlow, from the Monash Centre for Regulatory Studies, who is an expert in regulation of nanotechnology, and in particular has been recently played a central part of a recent Review undertaken for the federal government on the Impact of Nanotechnology on Australia’s Regulatory Frameworks along with Dr. Diana Bowman and Prof Graeme Hodge.  Karinne talk was an excellent and linked the growing state of knowledge of the potential hazards of the materials to the current regulatory framework in Australia and compared it to other nations such as USA and Europe.  Both these talks generated a vigorous discussion amongst the audience. 
• The third speaker, after lunch, Prof. Sue Dodds, from University of Wollongong, discussed issues of ethics as related to the health and environmental risks associated with nanomaterials.  In particular, Sue focussed on the inadequacy of current ethical approaches to provide ethical guidance when dealing with situations of risk and uncertainty. 

3-4 October 2007
ACES Inhouse Workshop, St Vincent’s Hospital , Melbourne

The ACES Full Centre Workshop was held over the 3rd and 4th of October at the St Vincent’s Hospital Campus. The workshop was well attended, with some 55 participants attending from the various Monash University, University of Wollongong, the Bionic Ear Institute and St Vincent’s Hospital.

The workshop was opened by ACES director, Prof Gordon Wallace, followed by an introductory exposition of Medical Bionics, as the primary theme of the SVHM program, from Bionics program leader, Prof Graeme Clark. Appropriately, the scientific presentations were initiated by a presentation by Dr Renee Kyle on the ethics of nanobionics.

In a tightly packed program, 25 oral and 16 poster presentations, ranging in subject from conductive polymers’ effects on cell growth and behaviour to development of new battery/greenpower and ionic liquid systems for integration into novel bio-physiological devices, were most excellently delivered over the two days. From a bionics perspective, the presentations collectively emphasised the exciting integration of novel technologies throughout the ACES program and highlighted the tremendous potential of the ACES programs to deliver bionics solutions to medical issues.

All presentations were followed by intense and informative discussions that further brought home the convergence of the individual themes of the five ACES programs and laid the foundations for important cross-disciplinary understanding of scientific issues and principles and how these may be used to give rise to and explore new scientific frontiers. These discussions carried through to dinner on the first night, where the cordial collegiality of the ACES researchers was most effectively demonstrated by a warm welcome speech from Prof Leon Kane-Maguire.

The workshop’s success is a direct result of the commitment of all involved and gives rise to much expectation within the ACES constituency of the next opportunity to highlight further achievements from within the individual programs and how these can add value to the greater collective goal(s). The smooth running of the workshop at the SVHM campus bears a last but not least acknowledgement of the excellent efforts of Ms Naomi Morter, Prof Clark’s assistant, in organising the event.

24th September 2007
‘Polymers Down Under Makes Irish Sense’

The National Centre for Sensor Research (NCSR) of Ireland proudly hosted a symposium in association with the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI) on Monday 24th September in Dublin City University. This symposium, ‘Polymers Down Under Makes Irish Sense’, presented the complimentary research being carried out in the two centres and focused on the application of intelligent polymer materials as new sensing platforms.

Prof. Gordon Wallace (a former SFI Walton Fellow) gave the opening lecture with a talk of "Organic Conductors: Novel Architectures Providing New Platforms for Sensing Technologies". It was followed by oral presentations and posters exhibitions by both NCSR and IRPI researchers on their work in this field. PhD student Shannon Little and Dr. Yanzhe Wu from IPRI presented their work entitled ‘Multifunctional Conducting Polymers using a Conductive Electroactive Dopant’ and ‘Particle Assisted Valves (PAVs) Based on Organic Conductors’. Click here for the programme.

The two centres have worked closely over the last 20 years to utilise their deep expertise in organic conductors and sensor technologies in the developing of novel biomedical sensing technologies. A number of patents have been lodged and numerous significant publications have appeared over these years. During the symposium Prof. Wallace and Prof. Smyth signed a renewed collaborative research agreement on behalf of the two Universities. In the future, the NCSR in Ireland will use polymeric nanomaterials supplied from IPRI to transform expensive sensor technologies into ‘easy to fabricate’, ‘low-cost’, ‘printable’ biomedical sensors. A continuing and exciting collaborative research activity is expected for the next 20 years – at least!!

ACES - Carbon Nanotube Workshop 15-16 March 2007

Carbon nanotubes have attracted increasing attention from materials scientists and engineers over the past decade. The potential for use in organic electronics or as new electrode materials for capacitors and batteries and even in biomedical devices demonstrates the versatility of these amazing materials.

The workshop was an opportunity to have an in depth look into practical aspects governing CNT synthesis (Dr Andrew Minett & Dr Jun Chen), fabrication (Dr Marc in het Panhuis, Dr Philip Whitten & Dr Joselito Razal) and characterisation. Two highly important characterisation tools for CNTs: ESR and Raman spectroscopy were introduced (Assoc Prof Peter Innis). Professor Suzi Jarvis from Trinity College Dublin talked about the use of carbon nanotube probes associated with AFM techniques.

Demonstrations were carried out on the ATOMATE system (MWCNT systems by Dr Jun Chen and Dr Andrew Minett) as well as on structure assembly of fibres; by gel spinning (Dr Joselito Razal) and electrospinning (Dr Dan Li), and synthesis of bucky paper (Dr Philip Whitten).

ACES International Symposium 7-9 February 2007

The Australian Research Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) hosted its annual three-day international symposium from 7-9 February 2007 at the University of Wollongong. World
class researchers discussed synthesis, characterisation and applications of electromaterials in a range of important fields. The symposium attracted over 150 delegates from the USA, China, Japan, England, Germany, Ireland, Korea and Australia. CSIRO was well represented, as were industry representatives from the materials, energy and medical devices sectors.

Key presentations included developments in electromaterials science, and in particular how nanotechnology has advanced materials research, and material applications in the areas of bionics and energy:

• A paper delivered by Professor Siegmar Roth (Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany). Professor Roth is an internationally recognised leader in nanostructured materials research and provided insight into the latest advances in generating carbon nanotube thin films optimised for use as electrodes or transistors.
• A paper delivered by Professor Mark Cook (St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne/University of Melbourne). Professor Cook is a neurologist specialising in the treatment of epilepsy which is the commonest serious neurological disease afflicting the population. Attention has now turned to
  promising new methods of polymer-based drug delivery systems to neural tissue. St Vincent’s is working in collaboration with University of Wollongong researchers.
• A paper delivered by Professor Zi Feng Ma of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, on strategies and progress on the development of fuel cell electric vehicles in China. Major advances have been made in this field using devices to power vehicles with zero emissions into the atmosphere. The University of Wollongong recently signed a collaborative research agreement with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

The symposium also included an overview of advances in electromaterials from the Centre’s Executive Research Director, Professor Gordon Wallace; with key Centre researchers also presenting their latest results on topics such as nanostructured (extremely minute) electronic devices;
optimising material properties to enhance cell growth for bionics, nanocomposite materials for use in lithium rechargeable batteries and artificial photosynthesis using nanostructured materials for light
harvesting.

A key focus for symposium organisers was to highlight the research and impact of young researchers in the area, achieved through inclusion of a Fellows session in the oral program, and extensive poster sessions for post-graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. The oral program was well received, with highly talented and dynamic ACES Fellows presenting their research work on topics ranging from new techniques for producing nanostructured materials, and their inclusion into devices for electronics & energy applications.

The poster sessions provided the opportunity to cover a vast range of topics with two evening sessions facilitating networking and in-depth discussion amongst delegates. Poster prizes sponsored by the Australian Research Council Nanotechnology Network were
hard earned, with 2 of a short-listed 5 entries receiving a certificate and cash prize after defending the poster during the session and subsequently presenting an oral snap-shot of their poster in a time
limit 90 seconds to the entire conference.

Delegates were saddened to learn of Nobel Laureate, Professor Alan MacDiarmid’s passing during the symposium, with various tributes to his impact on electromaterials science added into the program.

The event was made possible with support from both State and Federal levels of Government, in particular from the Australian Research Council Nanotechnology Network who subsidised the attendance of students and early career researchers.

Click here to download a pdf file of this report (24kB)

ACES Centre Meeting 6-7 February 2007