Research interests and project

The major research interests in the School of Physics and Advanced Materials are in the development of advanced materials for solar energy and lighting applications. This research ranges from fundamental questions about the nature of materials to development of new technologies. The unifying theme is developing new materials with energy efficiency applications.

Extensive, state-of-the-art experimental and computational facilities are available to researchers in the School through the UTS: Science's Microstructural Analysis Unit and through external links to the National Computational Infrastructure and NSW Intersect consortium.

A number of the research projects involve close links with industry where significant interaction between the School and other organisations such as CSIRO, ANSTO, the Bureau of Meteorology, and other Australian universities are maintained on an ongoing basis.

The School's research areas include:

• Green Lighting Research (GLR)

  The Green Lighting Research is directed by Associate Professot Matthew Phillips and aims to develop new materials for solid state lighting applications.

  GLR combines experimental and computational expertise from a number of staff in the School (Associate Professor Mike Ford, Dr Cuong Ton-That, Dr Matthew Arnold, Dr Annette Dowd, Associate Professor Les Kirkup) to study fundamental aspects of the properties of materials.

  With this understanding we can in principle systematically design low power, energy efficient devices for lighting and other applications exploiting this green luminescence with other yet to be discovered super-luminescent oxide surfaces.  

  Lighting applications are particularly attractive because solid state lighting that utilises illumination from a semiconductor rather than electrical filaments (in incandescent light bulbs) or plasma (in fluorescent lamps) can significantly reduce energy consumption and energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. School of Energy has recently estimated electrical energy savings of 760 GW and a reduction of 260 million tons of carbon emission (about 10% of global CO2 emission) over the 2000-2020 period as a consequence of the developing role of solid-state lighting. 

• Advanced Materials

  This is a program pioneered by Prof Geoff Smith and involves preparation, structure, properties and applications of thin films, multi-layers and nanostructures to solar energy, day-lighting, light collection and distribution; hard coatings; opto- electronic materials; optical properties in ceramic materials and polymers containing inclusions and defects.

  Nanotechnology research covers basic and applied physics, theory and experiment, plus the development and testing of prototype technologies. It includes production and studies of nanostructured thin films, thin films on flakes, polymers doped with conducting nanoparticles, nanovoid arrays in metal layers, self assembled nanoparticle layers, polymeric nanosystems, nanophotonics and plasmonics. Applications include solar control gazing, day-lighting and lighting, energy efficient paints, telecommunications, paints and bio-sensing.

  School of Physics and Advanced Materials
  Faculty of Science, UTS
  Phone: 02 9514 1620 (Australia)
  +61 2 9514 1620 (international)
  Email: Matthew.Phillips@uts.edu.au