QUT offers a diverse range of student topics for Honours, Masters and PhD study. Search to find a topic that interests you or propose your own research topic to a prospective QUT supervisor. You may also ask a prospective supervisor to help you identify or refine a research topic.
Found 238 matching student topics
Displaying 229–238 of 238 results
Green solvents to recover metals – mining and battery recycling industry
With the ever-increasing demand for batteries, the accelerated production will soon translate into massive amounts of waste. Establishing effective LIB recycling strategies will balance the impact of end-of-life LIB waste and the demands on raw materials in the battery supply chain. Due to high prices of raw materials, the global LIB recycling market was valued at about $1.78 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $23.72 billion by 2030, suggesting a significant opportunity for the recovery of valuable metals …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
Polymer particles as precision sensors for molecules
Polymer particles are a billion-dollar industry with a diverse range of applications from biomedical to industrial coatings. As a prime example, point-of-care testing devices rely on polymeric particles with various size and functionality to conveniently allow instantaneous, selective, and precise diagnostics. However, as new applications arise and current applications advance, these demand the preparation of increasingly complex material and particle systems.The Soft Matter Materials Team has developed a simple method to form uniform particles without any additives, initiators or stabilizers. …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Using light for 3D patterning of surfaces: the visible light challenge
Inspired by nature's way of using light to trigger chemical processes known as photosynthesis by green plants, the idea of using light as an energy source to make and break chemical bonds has been widely applied for the development of more complex structures in the soft matter materials design and biological sciences. However, to date, the energy required to activate chemical bond formation was mostly extracted from UV light which is a drawback to develop and apply these reaction systems …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Towards Synthetic protein-structures based on precision macromolecules: can we beat nature in designing catalysts?
Up for a challenge? In this project you can explore if you can beat nature in making catalytic systems! Over billions of years, nature has perfected the design and synthesis of high molecular weight precision macromolecules, which are able to execute a specific function in a complex biological environment such as proteins.
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Macromolecular barcoding for tracing plastic materials for the circular economy: a game changer for recycling
The reduction and management of plastic waste is perhaps the most critical challenge facing modern economies and plastic pollution cannot be resolved by generic approaches to research or to problem-solving. The Soft Matter Materials Team aims to resolve the anonymity and ubiquity of plastics by pioneering a simple optical readout system that can identify the uniquely coded information in macromolecules that have been embedded in plastics.In this project, optically readable macromolecular barcodes based on a system of excimer fluorescence switch-on …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Advanced polymer inks for 3D printing - defining the future of 3D additive manufacturing
Some estimates state that 30% of all manufactured goods will be 3D printed in 2030. A particular type of 3D printing is 3D laser lithography with which micro- and nano-sized structures can be prepared. Such structures find wide ranging applications in meta-materials functioning as invisibility cloaks or scaffolds for single (stem) cell interrogation. Today’s inks for 3D printing, however, only allow one material property to be written with one laser wavelength.Working in close collaboration with team members of the Soft …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Hearing colour and seeing sound – switchable optoacoustic imaging agents
Optoacoustic imaging is a relatively new medical imaging technique. It utilises laser light to excite an imaging agent, which in turn converts this light energy into heat. This heat is dissipated as a sound wave, which can be detected with an ultrasound receiver. This technique aims to overcome the minimal penetration depth of fluorescence imaging, and the lack of molecular specificity of ultrasound.In this project we are aiming to develop and synthesize intelligent imaging agents for optoacoustics, which are able …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
High performance energy storage materials and devices
Energy storage devices, such as supercapacitors, play an increasingly important role in our daily life as a reliable energy supplier. Supercapacitors are a type of energy storage system that possess merits of rapid energy storage and release (high power density) with a cycling lifetime of ten thousand or more. Nevertheless the energy density of conventional electrochemical capacitor is quite low.This project aims to enhance the energy density of supercapacitors without compromising their power density through innovative designing and synthesising electrode …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Centre for Clean Energy Technologies and Practices
Advanced materials for perovskite solar cells
Solar cells using metal halides perovskite materials to absorb light is one of the most important scientific discoveries. These cells have the potential to provide cost-effective solar electricity in the future. In the last decades, perovskite solar cells (PSCs) demonstrated unprecedented progress towards this goal. This technology holds the world record for energy conversion efficiency and is comparable to commercial crystalline silicon, but at a much lower cost.Currently their instability and use of hazardous solvents and toxic lead are key …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Epitaxial growth of 2D heterostructures for two dimensional electronics
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
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