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Can the smartphones of the future be rolled and put in your pocket? And could TVs one day fold in two to be stored in a closet? A Brisbane scientist thinks so.
University of Queensland researcher Jack Clegg believes the two solutions are possible in 15 years, thanks to his work on flexible crystals, which could be used in the electronic components of these two devices.
"One of the really wonderful things with crystals, aside from the fact that they are beautiful, is that they use almost all of our electronic technologies," said Associate Professor Clegg.
"One of the problems with these crystals, however, is that when you try to bend a crystal, they usually break."
But associate professor Clegg has come up with new types of crystals that are so flexible that they can be knotted.
"This means that we could use them in all kinds of technologies, for example a mobile phone that you could roll and put in your pocket or an electronic device that you could possibly wear," he said.
Associate Professor Clegg has been awarded the 2018 Premier's Science Award for his work on crystals and for further research on molecules that can be used as sieves in purification processes.
He said that filtration processes used about 15% of the world's energy – to purify everything from drinking water to anticancer drugs.
"If we can improve the efficiency of purification, then we can significantly reduce the costs of many drugs, as well as the environmental damage caused by their manufacture," he said.
Queensland teacher and frog expert also honored
Two other Queenslanders were also honored at the ceremony that was announced Wednesday in Parliament in Canberra.
Brett Crawford, a teacher in Brisbane, won the award for excellence in science education in primary schools.
He developed a program at the Warrigal Road State School at Eight Mile Plains in which he mentored fellow teachers, recognizing that many were concerned with science education.
The school said all of its teachers had now embraced science and that the latest test results had shown that the school's scientific performance was above the national average.
Dr. Lee Berger, frog specialist in North Queensland, won the Life Sciences Award.
For over a decade, James Cook University researcher has been studying the sudden extinction of many species of frogs around the world.
Topics:
federal government,
science,
public schools,
secondary schools,
primary schools,
research,
Brisbane-4000
qld,
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