..but with his glasses on, he's even brighter than Clark Kent...
University’s Brightest Continue To Shine
[ The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 3, No. 9 10 November - 8 December 2008 ]
By Janine Sim-Jones
Research that could lead to brighter LCD screens, more efficient solar panels and improved biomedical imaging and high-tech security sensors is among work by University of Melbourne doctoral candidates awarded a 2008 Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in the PhD.
Dr Daniel Gomez, who completed his PhD thesis in the School of Chemistry, has shed new light on the properties of semiconductor nano-crystals, particles only a billionth of a metre long.
He is now expanding on his work as a Research Fellow at CSIRO where he is part of a team working to develop new sensor applications.
Dr Gomez is working on the fundamental science aspect of the project – determining how to tailor the optical response of semiconductor nano-crystals to use them as highly sensitive components in a variety of sensing applications.
With this sensing technology, it would be possible to detect very small amounts of particles – such as biological agents or explosives – in the air or a liquid.
Outcomes could include more sensitive pathology such as detecting minute amounts of drugs or hormonal changes in urine tests.
Dr Gomez’s doctoral research examined the optical properties of nano-crystals of cadmium selenide, an element commonly used by the semiconductor industry.
“When pieces of matter become smaller they change color,” he says. “If you look at them individually against a dark background they blink like stars against the night sky.
“Typically this blinking is random, just like the night sky with the stars twinkling in green, red and blue.”
Dr Gomez’s thesis aimed to pinpoint the factors that contributed to this blinking and determine which chemicals could be added to switch off the blinking.
It was hoped that by modifying the surface of the nano-particles they could eventually be stabilised to emit a single, brighter source of light.
Although Dr Gomez has yet to completely achieve his goal, his research was the first in the world to show that the blinking of nano-crystals could be controlled.
During his PhD candidature he published nine articles in premier scientific journals and an international examiner described his work “as one of the best studies I have ever seen”.
Dr Gomez, an international student from Venezuela, set his sights on studying at Melbourne because of the international reputation of his supervisor, Professor Paul Mulvaney.
He was supported during his studies by a Melbourne International Research Scholarship and a Melbourne International Fee Remission Scholarship.
His Chancellor’s Prize for Science and Engineering was presented at the University’s Menzies Oration earlier this month.
