Browsing by Author "Ellis, TK"

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    Discotic liquid crystals photovoltaic applications
    (International Conference on the Photochemical Conversion and Storage of Solar Energy, 2008-07-28) Stride, JA; Ellis, TK
    Discotic liquid crystals, arranged into columnar stacks, have shown high mobility along the aromatic core of the liquid crystalline phase.1 This property has already been exploited in other photovoltaic devices2, however maintaining the quality of the liquid crystal mesophases can be quite challenging. The concept is to control the morphology and alignment of well characterised liquid crystals, and then to polymerise the side-chains of the liquid crystals along the column in order to solidify the structure of the liquid crystal (Figure 1). The resulting polymerised liquid crystals theoretically provides a structure more suitable to charge conduction by hindering rotational and translational fluctuations.3 The project will involve much structural analysis based on wide angle 2D x-ray4, small angle x-ray and neutron scattering5, allowing us to investigate both the intracolumnar, and intercolumnar, distances of these new materials, whilst the dynamics of the fluctuations within the columns will be investigated using quasielastic neutron scattering6. These materials should have greater stability and conductivity, which will be important for potential applications in photovoltaic and other organic electronics. The hope of this project is to develop a new approach organic semiconductor technology; integrating organic conducting polymers and liquid crystal conductors, which could pave a new way of producing solution deposed organic solar cells or LED lighting.
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    Simple metal-catalyst-free production of carbon nanostructures
    (CSIRO Publishing, 2013-09-16) Ellis, TK; Paras, C; Hill, MR; Stride, JA
    We report the metal-catalyst-free production of multiwalled carbon nanotubes and nanobubbles, in a chemical reduction of hexachlorobenzene by metallic sodium, giving high yields (in excess of 80 %) and at temperatures as low as 190°C for multiwalled carbon nanotubes and 100°C for nanobubble formation. The carbon nanotube samples produced under solvothermal conditions were found to consist of large bundles of nanotubes (>50 µm) consistent with a facial growth from the surface of the molten metal. Meanwhile, the nanobubbles produced under ambient pressure were found to be small (≤1 µm), polydispersed (smallest ~50 nm), and the bulk to have a large microporous area. With the regulatory complexities and high environmental and economic costs of remediating waste containing highly hazardous halogenated aromatic chemicals, necessitating high-temperature incineration under strictly controlled conditions, this low-temperature, low-cost chemical degradation of hexachlorobenzene is of great potential as a scalable and workable remediation technology. © 2013, CSIRO Publishing.