Why choose this course
This newly-developed course has been created in response to demand for professionals with skills in developing, characterising and implementing advanced materials in the next generation of devices and applications.
You’ll be learning and working in the $80m state-of-the-art Australian Institute for Innovative Materials (AIIM) facilities, and working alongside 300 world-class researchers in fields as diverse as energy materials, battery management, applied superconductivity, nanoceramic materials and polymer composites, thin films and spintronics to name a few. You’ll have access to the latest tools and systems for manufacturing energy materials, and will learn advanced techniques to develop high performance, homogenous and consistent energy materials.
If you want to be part of a materials revolution, then this degree is for you. You’ll learn how to design and make novel materials, tailor their functionality and then combine them into devices and prototypes that can change the world for the better. It’s these break-throughs that are driving a new wave of advances in renewable energy, next-generation electronics and biomedical devices and implants.
Areas of research - Electronic and spintronic materials
Electrons are the cornerstone of all current information technology, and spin is the hope of the future information society. From mobile communication to cloud computing, electrons and spin are playing a dominating role in making these technologies work.
In this course you will learn the technologies and processes to design, manufacture, optimize and characterize advance electronic, magnetic and spintronic materials for application in sensors, transducers, information processing and storage, energy harvesting and storage applications. Innovative applications of these materials will also be a core component of your study, and understanding how materials are integrated into devices will be developed through investigating a number of real-world applications of advanced electronic/magnetic/spintronic materials.
Areas of research - Energy
Advanced materials are the building blocks of how we generate, store and consume energy – from novel thermo- and piezo-electric materials that can be used to harvest energy, to new battery chemistries, innovative flexible supercapacitors and cutting-edge hydrogen catalysts.
In this course you’ll learn the techniques and processes to design, manufacture, optimise and characterise advanced materials for energy applications, and get to see your work in action in real-world devices. The theory and principles of multifunctional materials will be understood through case studies and hands-on applications, and this foundation will be used to design and tailor materials for specific applications.
Innovative applications of these materials will also be a core component of your study, and understanding how materials are integrated into devices will be developed through investigating a number of real-world applications of advanced materials in energy-centric devices.
Areas of research - Health
The use of advanced materials in health protection, prosthetics and implants, and imaging and diagnostics are increasing daily, with applications in areas as diverse as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), sunscreen protection, targeted drug delivery, sweat-based glucose detection, reversing neurodegenerative effects, and many others.
In this course you’ll learn how to exploit the intrinsic properties of advanced materials to develop devices for health applications, and to design bespoke materials where there are no existing solutions. The theory and principles of employing advanced materials in in vivo and external applications – from nano- to macro-scales – will be understood through case studies and hands-on studies.
Course co-ordinators
The Master of Research (Advanced Materials) has been developed in collaboration with the top researchers at AIIM. The course co-ordinators are internationally-renowned in their fields, and bring a wealth of research and practical expertise to delivering both the coursework and research components of the degree.
Professor Jung-Ho Kim is a Professor and ARC Future Fellow at the Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials (ISEM) at the University of Wollongong. His research interests include the Synthesis of nanostructure materials, Hybrid solar cells, Lithium rechargeable batteries, Nanogenerators and High-temperature superconductors.
Professor Zhenxiang Cheng is a Professor and ARC Future Fellow at the ISEM. His research interests currently focus on ferroic materials, physics and applications, including:
- The design and fabrication of multiferroic/ferroelectric/piezoelectric materials with applications for sensors, energy harvesting and storage, and information storage
- Novel magnetic materials for energy conversion, information storage and sensors
- Physics-based understanding of ferroic materials through a variety of characterization methods and first-principles simulation.
Associate Professor Konstantin Konstantinov is an Associate Professor at the ISEM and is Group Leader of the Nano Ceramics for Health Protection team. Assoc. Prof. Konstantinov is working on several research directions including advanced energy storage composites for supercapacitors, and he is also focusing on biological protection and cancer treatment using nanoceramics. These applications include:
- Design and engineering of multifunctional nano-particles for cancer related theranostic applications
- Radiation assisted cancer therapy using high Z ceramic nanomaterials (in collaboration with Centre for Medical Radiation Physics (CMRP))
- Nanoceramics for radiation protection drugs in space (in collaboration with the CMRP)
- Ceramic nano-particles and composites for oxidative stress related diseases
- New nanomaterials for skin cancer protection in cosmetics (in collaboration with the University of Orleans/France)
In addition to the course coordinators, expert guest lecturers will provide cutting-edge context to the course material and provide real-world examples of the impact advanced materials are having in research and industrial applications.