ENGINEERING SCIENCE PROGRAMME

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RESEARCH

Nanoscience explores the possibility of manipulating matter at the atomic and molecular level, allowing the creation of nanoscale structures. Nanotechnology refers to a range of new technologies that aim to manipulate individual atoms and molecules in order to create novel products. Laws of physics come into play when handling materials and systems which are of the atomic/nanometer regime as their physical, chemical and electrical characteristics change. A myriad of opportunities arise when the nanomaterials’ characteristics such as chemical composition, dimension, structures, crystallinity etc. become highly controllable. The challenge of nanotechnology is to be able to understand, manipulate and exploit the new, exciting properties at the nanometer level.

Photovoltaic Cells

Photovoltaic (PV) solar power represents one of the most promising renewable energy sources. PV cells are completely non-polluting with no moving parts and require little maintenance. The challenge is to develop solar cells that have the combination of high efficiency and low fabrication costs so as to allow them to become commercially accessible and competitive. Recently, inorganic crystalline semiconductor nanorods and nonopores have been combined with solid-state hole transporting polymers to realize cheap and relatively efficient hybrid PV cells. We extensively investigate the physics behind the excitonic PV cells, based on inexpensive hybrid materials which have the potential for large scale solar energy conversion. Such materials are believed to be able to increase electron transport rates, thus providing a means of improving the quantum efficiency of PV devices.

Nanoelectronics

The development of novel nanoelectronics devices based on low dimensional nanotructures and molecular derivatives open the possibility for an exponential increase of microchip processing capabilities. Current areas of research include top-down and bottom-up fabrication and assembly of nanodevices, as well as electrical characterisation of nanoscale systems that can potentially replace the silicon technology. Our research efforts centre on acquiring good control and understanding of electron transport, and the manipulation of nanostructures and their interconnects.

Chemical Sensors

Chemical sensors are important dynamic devices used for qualitative and quantitative analysis of different analytes in clinical diagnosis, environmental monitoring, process and security control. The need for a low-cost, reliable, sensitive and rapid sensing continues to grow as the demand for sensing applications increase. Nanostructured oxide-based nanomaterials are well suited for sensing applications because of their physical properties which vary considerably when exposed to chemical environments. The measured parameters of the nanomaterials can be that of color change, electrical resistivity, chemical activity, magnetic permeability, thermal conductivity, and capacitance of the material. All these parameters depend on the properties of the nanomaterials employed in the fabrication of the sensor device.