Posted: November 6, 2008 |
Semiconductor nanocrystals research boosts the search for sensitive sensors |
(Nanowerk News) Research that could lead to brighter LCD screens, more efficient solar panels, improved biomedical imaging and high-tech security sensors has won the University of Melbourne's Chancellor's Prize for Excellence in PhD.
|
Dr Daniel Gomez, who completed his thesis in the School of Chemistry, has shed new light on the properties of semiconductor nano-crystals, particles only a billionth of a metre long.
|
He is now expanding on his work as a Research Fellow at CSIRO where he is part of a team that is working to develop new sensor applications.
|
Dr Gomez is working on the "fundamental science" aspect of the project – determining how to incorporate these nano-crystals as highly sensitive components in a variety of sensor devices.
|
With this sensing technology, it would be possible to detect very small amounts of dry particles – such as biological agents or explosives – in the air or liquid.
|
They could even result in more sensitive pathology, detecting minute amounts of drugs or hormonal changes in urine tests.
|
Dr Gomez's PhD at the University of Melbourne examined the optical properties of nano-cystals of cadmium selenide, an element commonly used by the semiconductor industry.
|
"When pieces of matter become smaller they change color,'' he says. "If you look at them individually against a dark background they blink like stars against the night sky. "Typically this blinking is random, just like the night sky with the stars twinkling in green, red and blue."
|
Dr Gomez's thesis aimed to pinpoint the factors that contributed to this blinking and determine which chemicals could be added to switch the blinking off.
|
It was hoped that by modifying the surface of the nano-particles they could eventually be stabilised to emit a single, brighter source of light.
|
Although Dr Gomez has yet to completely achieve his goal, his research was the first in the world to show that the blinking of nano-crystals could be controlled.
|
During his PhD candidature he published nine articles in premier scientific journals and an international examiner described his work "as one of the best studies I have ever seen".
|
Dr Gomez, an international student from Venezuela, set his sights on studying at Melbourne because of the international reputation of his supervisor Professor Paul Mulvaney.
|
His Chancellor's Prize for Science and Engineering will be presented at the University's Menzies Oration tonight (6 November).
|