Unlocking the secrets of mangroves and delving into robust energy conversion systems are some of The University of Queensland projects that have been awarded funding from the Australian Research Council.
The Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology secured the lion’s share of the 12 ARC Linkage Project grants awarded to UQ — with five projects granted more than $1.5 million in total.
One project, which will look into new high energy density cathode materials for lithium ion batteries, has been awarded $389,000 in funding.
“This project is working to identify new materials to be used in lithium ion batteries,” Professor Lianzhou Wang from the School of Chemical Engineering said.
“This will lead to significantly cheaper and higher capacity battery storage for things such as electric vehicles and solar-battery storage systems in the home.”
Two School of Chemical Engineering researchers are working on a project looking into mangrove conservation success.
Associate Professor Kate O'Brien said the $207,000 in funding would help them study how different factors from human interaction to policy decisions affect conservation and restoration.
“It will help guide the long-term protection of this important ecosystem and future environmental protection efforts,” Dr Kate O’Brien said.
More than $380,000 has been granted to a project aimed at developing the next generation of laser systems for fibre-optic communications, which will help enable vastly improved capacity and speed for short-reach networks such as LANs and datacentres.
A project focusing on the enhanced productivity on coal seam gas wells by continuous gas circulation has been awarded $228,838, and improving the stability and efficiency of Australia’s power distribution network will be the focus of a project which secured $369,000.
