INDUSTRY NEWS
BREAKING NEWS More than $1.3 Million Awarded to Support Research Linking Monash and Industry
Controlling the Charge State of Organic Molecule Quantum Dots in a 2D Nanoarray
Federal Minister for Education, the Hon Dan Tehan MP, recently announced that three Monash University research projects will receive more than $1.3 million in Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage grants, to be matched by industry partners.
A Monash University study has fabricated a self-assembled, carbonbased nanofilm in which the charge state (electronically neutral or positive) can be controlled at the level of individual molecules, on a length scale of around one nanometre.
The Linkage program promotes research partnerships between researchers and business, industry, community organisations and other publicly funded research agencies. By supporting the development of partnerships, the ARC encourages the transfer of skills, knowledge and ideas as a basis for securing commercial and other benefits of research. One of the funded projects includes investigating new materials for zero carbon energy storage. Professor Douglas MacFarlane will lead this project, which will develop new materials to advance the technology of thermal energy storage. New and inexpensive ways of storing renewable energy are urgently required. The project will focus on new materials that store thermal energy in the temperature range between 100 to 220C that is optimal for distributed storage of solar and wind energy. The other projects include: clarifying the legal basis for protecting geographical indications for wines; and investigating nutrient runoff to support clean water and land management. Monash University Provost and Senior Vice-President, Professor Marc Parlange, said the results were evidence of the strength of the University’s record for enterprise and innovation.
The atomically-thin nanofilm consists of an ordered two-dimensional (2D) array of molecules which behave as ‘zero dimensional’ entities called quantum dots (QDs). This system has exciting implications for fields such as computer memory, light-emitting devices and quantum computing. The School of Physics and Astronomy study shows that a singlecomponent, self-assembled 2D array of the organic (carbon-based) molecule dicyanoanthracene can be synthesised on a metal, such that the charge state of each molecule can be controlled individually via an applied electric field. “This discovery would enable the fabrication of 2D arrays of individually addressable (switchable) quantum dots from the bottom-up, via self-assembly,” said lead author Dhaneesh Kumar, a PhD student in the FLEET Centre of Excellence. “We would be able to achieve densities tens of times larger than state-of-the-art, topdown synthesised inorganic systems.” Quantum dots are extremely small – about one nanometre across, which is equivalent to a millionth of a millimetre. Because their size is similar to the wavelength of electrons, their electronic properties are radically different to conventional materials. Ordered arrays of charge-controllable quantum dots can find applications in computing memory, as well as light-emitting devices (such as low-energy TV or smartphone screens).
“With its unrivalled record of collaboration with industry partners to pioneer discoveries and advance new technology, Monash is consistently recognised as Australia’s most innovative university,” he said. “The latest ARC Linkage outcomes demonstrate Monash researchers are building on that record even further. My warmest congratulations to everyone who has been successful this funding round.”
New Centre to Address AI and Digital Ethics
Scanning tunnelling microscope images of DCA on Ag(111).
A new centre for artificial intelligence (AI) and digital ethics has been launched by the University of Melbourne, to address ethical, policy and legal challenges posed by new technologies. Combining expertise from Melbourne Law School, Melbourne School of Engineering, the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science, the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Ethics (CAIDE) will bring insights to AI and digital ethics with a uniquely Australian focus. The Centre seeks to facilitate cross-disciplinary research and teaching to promote the fair, safe and accountable use and regulation of AI and digital technologies, drawing on a range of different perspectives including from the humanities, social sciences, science, law and engineering. 34 | APRIL 2020
Scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) images of a self-assembled 2D nanoarray of carbon-based quantum dots (QDs). An applied electric field individually controls the molecular QDs charge state
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