Institute for Superconductors and Electronic Materials

Energy is the single most critical factor affecting worldwide prosperity. The current science base cannot meet the high demands for energy in light of the likely depletion of natural energy sources and the increase in the world population.

To meet this challenge, the Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials (ISEM) focuses on the establishment of interdisciplinary research programs on energy materials and technology, including energy generation, conversion, efficiency, transmission, storage and conservation.

From a single research program on superconductivity in 1994, the Institute's work has evolved into six projects including applied superconductivity, energy storage materials (lithium batteries and hydrogen storage), spintronics, thin film technology, Terahertz and thermionics, and nano-materials.

The ISEM team consists of a range of well-established researchers working in world-class laboratories. The fundamental work that they undertake will enable Australian researchers to achieve revolutionary advances in the technologies that underlie solar power, wind turbines, hydrogen energy, fuel cells, batteries, flywheels, electric power transmission and electric vehicles, with nano-materials and nanotechnology at the core of these advances.

INNOVATIVE RESEARCH LEADS TO A CHEAPER AND POWERFUL MRI SCANNER

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines play a vital role in modern medical diagnosis. They produce a 3D image of a patient's body, allowing doctors to pinpoint signs of cancer or a stroke, for example.

The heart of MRI is the superconducting magnet. Currently MRI machines are built using conventional niobium titanium superconductors which need to be cooled with extremely expensive liquid helium.

Recently, the Director of the ISEM, Professor Shi Xue Dou and his research team have made an important advance in their work. Thanks to nanotechnoilogy, they have created a new superconductor using magnesium diboride. The invention has enabled them to develop superconductor wires that can carry a two million ampere current at liquid hydrogen temperature, three times that of copper wires of the same diameter. The new technology could allow an MRI scanner to operate at higher temperatures and with a higher magnetic field.

"This means the next generation of MRI machines will be much more powerful and much smaller than the current ones," says Professor Dou. "There would no longer be the need for liquid helium cooling. The MRI scanner could have an electrically driven cryocooler which could reduce the running cost by 75 per cent. And by slashing the cost substantially, the new technology would in turn deliver benefits to patients."

"This emerging superconductor has great potential for various practical applications, including magnets for MRI machines," says Professor Dou. "It can also be used for power cables, motors, energy storage, generators and transformers."

Leading groups at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Florida , the University of Wisconsin , the University of Geneva and Ohio State University have verified the ISEM's breakthrough.

Already, ISEM's industry partner, Hyper Tech Inc., has taken the invention to the production stage, making hundred metre long wires, which can be used to construct the magnet coil.

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Last reviewed: 8 October, 2007