Applications of Synthesis to Problems in Materials and Biology
Dr Wallace Wong and Dr Wojciech Pisula (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz) have been allocated SAXS/WAXS beamtime at the Australian Synchrotron in the 2011/3 merit-based competitive round. The experiments (scheduled for December) will focus on the formation of nanoscale ordered aggregates in solution and in solid state. It is envisaged that the data collected will enable better design of organic electronic materials.
Prof. Sung-Hyun Kim (Kyounghee University, Korea) and Kyoung Hwan Shin (Seoul National University, Korea) have joined our group for collaboration research with Dr Tae-Hyuk Kwon from 23rd Aug to 14th Sep. They will investigate new alternative polymer electrode substrates to replace expensive platinum and fluorinated indium tin oxide (FTO) substrates often used for dye-sensitized solar cells.
A paper studying the “Effects of main ligands on organic photovoltaic performance of iridium complexes” has been released in the New Journal of Chemistry presents (New J Chem 2011, 35, DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20446G).Cyclometallated iridium complexes have been extensively used in OLED however, their applications in OPV are relatively less common. Dr Tae-Hyuk Kwon was involved in this research as a co-first author.
Professor Andrew Holmes, University Laureate Professor, School of Chemistry and Bio21 Institute, Melbourne; CSIRO Fellow; Distinguished Research Fellow, Imperial College, London; Fellow, Clare College, Cambridge and Foreign Secretary, Australian Academy of Science, has been appointed to the Newton Abraham Visiting Professorship in the Medical, Biological and Chemical Sciences at the Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, from 8 October 2011 to 11 March 2012. Professor Holmes will be a fellow of Lincoln College. Congratulations Andrew on this recognition.
Minister for Energy and Resources Michael O’Brien and his Commonwealth counterpart Martin Ferguson announced the new round of funding for the Organic Solar Cells Project from the Victorian Government Department of Primary Industries (DPI) and the Australian Solar Institute (ASI) at the Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne.
The $3.5M grant will allow further development of revolutionary plastic solar cells produced by Victorian researchers teamed up with industry partners to expand the activities of the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC).
Scientists from the School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne, CSIRO and Monash University produced the flexible, plastic solar cells, printed with a light sensitive ink to convert sunlight into energy.
The new grant will allow development of inexpensive, mass produced solar panels printed on plastic and steel substrates. Read the full story at http://www.bio21.org/news/cheaper-efficient-solar-power-in-sight-with-funding-boost
Nature Chemistry paper (Nat. Chem 2011, 03, 211) was recently selected for highlighting in NPG Asia Materials website (16th May 2011), a new online journal that highlights the best research published in the field of materials science by researchers in the Asia-Pacific region. The publication is jointly produced by materials research groups at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and NPG Nature Asia-Pacific.
A consortium led by Andrew Holmes, David Jones and Ken Ghiggino from Chemistry has been awarded $1.76M as a SERD 2 project by the Victorian Government DPI and an additional $1.76M by the Australian Solar Institute.
Congratulations to both Tae-Hyuk Kwon and Wallace Wong who will receive funding for 2011.
VICOSC’s solar cell work continues to be profiled in the media. See Interview with David Jones in the recent issue of COSMOS Online.
As one of products of the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC), Dr Tae-Hyuk Kwon has developed some very promising organic dyes, based on Dithienothiophene, for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC). Dr Kwons work has been recently reported in the Journal of Organic Chemistry (J. Org. Chem 2011, 76, 4088) reporting a photo-conversion efficiency (PCE) of over 7%. This is on-par with the state-of-the-art devices in the field.
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