Nanomaterials for Health and Renewable Energy Applications
Speaker
Professor Thomas Nann
Institute
Principal Investigator, The MacDiarmid Institute School of Chemical and Physical Sciences Victoria University of Wellington
Time & Place
Wed, 27 Apr 2016 12:00:00 NZST in Rutherford Room 531
All are welcome
Abstract
The presentation will give an overview of the research activities of the Nann group. The focus will be on the synthesis of new, functional nanomaterials and their (mainly spectroscopic and electrochemical) characterisation. We work with inorganic nanoparticles and fibres, as well as carbon based materials. Selected examples from these areas will be presented.
Currently there is a pressing need for economical and efficient energy storage as an enabling technology for a switch-over to a renewable energy economy. Photoelectrodes can be used to convert solar to chemical energy (artificial photosynthesis). Even though there has been much progress with photoanodes, photocathodes - the component that actually produces the desired fuel - are much less efficient. We present the progress towards electro-spun, inorganic nanofibres as active material for photoelectrodes.
Nanoparticles hold much promise as contrast agents for bioimaging and/or drug delivery vehicles. We present a number of examples from projects where atomically precise gold clusters, graphene quantum dots and magnetic nanoparticles have been explored as contrast agents for various imaging modalities.