The success of three important funding proposals by COPE researchers was announced recently by the ARC.  Dr George Vamvounis, a COPE postdoctoral research fellow, was awarded a prestigious Australian Research Fellowship for five years. Prof Ross McKenzie obtained funding from the ARC to conduct research for optimising information storage. Dr Ben Powell and Dr Lawrence (Shih-Chun) Lo won an ARC discovery grant which will enable them to conduct research into the way electrons behave in new materials.

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George Vamvounis

An important publication has just been published online in the journal Soft Matter, entitled "The supramolecular structure of melanin".  Click here to view the article.

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COPE researchers have received almost $2 million from the Queensland Government to lead an international alliance working on the next generation of solar cells.

Andrew Fraser MP (State Treasurer) announces the National and International Research Alliance Program

funding for solar cell research
 

The researchers, Professor Paul Burn and Associate Professor Paul Meredith from the Centre for Organic Photonics & Electronics, focus on solar cells that have the potential for wide commercial deployment – they're plastic, portable and low-cost.

“Solar cells are widely viewed as an important pillar of the future renewable energy technology mix,” Professor Burn said.

“The objective of this research alliance is to develop innovative technologies for the next generation of solar cells, which will be based on inexpensive and environmentally friendly plastic materials.”

Associate Professor Meredith said presently the best commercially available solar cells were based on silicon and had efficiencies of about 10-20 percent.

“As a result of the cost and complexity of processing silicon, it takes five to 10 years electricity generation to pay off the initial outlay; a fact that hinders universal up-take, especially for households, in the current economic framework,” he said. 

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Andrew Clulow and Muhsen Aljada have won prestigious Trailblazer Awards. The Trailblazer Awards, run by UniQuest Pty Ltd (www.uniquest.com.au), are recognition of cutting-edge thinking and innovations with the potential to benefit industry and the community.

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In a series of four articles by academic researchers in the Centre, COPE was highlighted in the June 2009 issue of the monthly magazine published by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, Chemistry in Australia....Read more

Prof Paul Burn has recently been appointed to the Editorial board of a new Royal Society of Chemistry Journal,  'Polymer Chemistry'.  This journal will encompass all aspects of synthetic and biological macromolecules, and related emerging areas. The new journal will provide a showcase for the ongoing efforts driving polymer chemistry, highlighting the creativity of the field and previously inaccessible applications.

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Three physicists from COPE and SMP have reported the discovered a new ratio that takes the same predicted value in a wide range of strongly correlated materials.

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Flex Tech, a global alliance for focussing on flexible electronics, highlights the opening of COPE in their December 2008 newsletter.

 National review recommends a major overhaul of Australia's system of research innovation....Read more

  The Centre for Organic Photonics and Electronics was officially opened by Professor Paul Greenfield on 18 November 2008....Read more