Monash Energy Materials

and Systems Institute

MEMSI

AUSTRALIA CHINA INDIA ITALY MALAYSIA SOUTH AFRICA

Energy brilliance Brilliant future

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Our goal

MEMSI will develop strong and long-term

collaborations with industry and

government for intensive research into:

Advanced energy materials

Smart energy systems

Clean and transformative

technology to provide competitive

energy solutions.

Monash Energy Materials and Systems Institute (MEMSI)

MEMSI research will lead to the creation of new and innovative products and

services for deployment for deployment in the energy sector across the globe.

MEMSI will make Australia’s industries more competitive through development of an

environmentally sustainable and economically effective path to energy sufficiency.

Our mission

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Research

MEMSI is a cutting-

edge and

interdisciplinary

research

environment that:

Contains over 70

leading

researchers.

Is uniquely placed

to tackle industry’s

energy problems

and quickly develop

and deploy

innovative

solutions.

Focused

MEMSI is committed

to:

Working with

industry to develop

practical solutions

to energy-related

problems of today

Creating new and

innovative products

and services for

global deployment.

Energy

In Australia’s

economy:

Competitively

priced and reliable

energy is a

foremost

requirement for the

transport,

manufacturing,

mining and services

industries.

The energy supply

chain is undergoing

a major

transformation as a

result of climate

imperatives.

Industry

The energy industry

is challenged by:

Increasing energy

production costs

Depleting natural

energy sources

New and disruptive

technologies such

as affordable solar

panels

The need to

decrease

greenhouse gas

emissions.

Photo: FreeFoto

Who we are MEMSI is a cutting-edge and interdisciplinary research environment containing

over 70 leading researchers. MEMSI brings together researchers from Monash’s

engineering, information technology and science faculties. MEMSI will engage

closely with industry, government and consumer groups.

MEMSI’s approach is twofold. Its researchers and partners will:

Develop new materials, systems and technologies for more affordable and

resilient energy infrastructure

Improve the efficiency of traditional systems.

Working with you

MEMSI can bring together a tailored, interdisciplinary team of researchers to

work in partnership with your company or agency to:

Deliver immediate solutions to energy-related problems

Undertake cost-effective R&D in areas where you may lack specific

expertise

Develop new products and services

Access MEMSI’s mature innovation pipeline.

Contact us

Professor Raman Singh

Director

Monash Energy Materials and Systems Institute

+ 61 3 9905 3671

Raman.Singh@monash.edu

Professor Frieder Seible

Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of IT

+ 61 3 9905 3419

Frieder.Seible@monash.edu

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Delivering impact: revolutionising solar power

Monash researchers are leading world class research that will revolutionise the way solar power is produced.

In collaboration with the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium, Professor Yi-Bing Cheng, Professor Udo Bach and Professor Leone Spiccia are developing flexible, cost effective printable plastic solar cells that can be produced in the same way that Australia’s plastic banknotes are printed.

These light weight dye-sensitised solar cells are recognised as the most significant alternative photovoltaic technology to silicon solar cells because they are cheaper to produce.

The team is researching a range of techniques to boost power conversion. Its vision is to make photovoltaic technology the power of the future by making it efficient and cheaper to run than mains power.

Professor Bach pioneered the technique of stacking solar cells in tandem to boost energy conversion. Professor Bach is developing back-contact solar cells. This technique involves removing the collecting electrode from the top of cells and linking the previously separated positive and negative charge collectors at the back of the cell, ending a problem of shading techniques to dramatically boost the output of organic solar cells.

Monash Solar Cell Group. Photo: Eamon Galllagher

Energy materials

Photovoltaics

Solar energy for water splitting

Energy storage (eg graphene

super-capacitors)

Green manufacturing

Membranes and fuel cells

Modern power plant materials

Clean technology

Energy in mining

CO2 sequestration

Combustion and gasification

CO2 capture and utilisation

Geothermal

Energy systems

Smart grids, demand

management and asset life

assessment/extension

Energy market modelling and

renewable integration

Wind energy and transport

aerodynamics

Alternative fuels

Our focus areas and strengths

MEMSI researchers will develop

affordable energy solutions for a

sustainable future.

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Our expertise Organic solar cells

We are developing organic solar cells with

the advantages of:

Lower cost than silicon-based cells

Adaptable to non flat surfaces

Printable.

Low emission coal and

carbon storage

Monash is exploring how cleaner energy

can be produced from Victoria’s vast brown

coal reserves. CO2 emissions could

potentially be reduced to nearly zero

through technologies that we are pioneering

in the areas of:

Carbon sequestration

Geo-sequestration.

Energy materials

Monash’s renowned energy materials

teams are developing next generation

energy materials for:

Development and prototying of energy

storage materials and devices, and

their miniaturisation

Solar fuels: water splitting for hydrogen

generation

New materials for modern high

temperature energy components

Green manufacturing

Fuel cells and membranes.

Cutting edge visualisation

Monash has the expertise and infrastructure

such as CAVE2 for real virtual reality, which

is the world’s best and largest of its kinds.

CAVE2 can be used for:

Smart meter data immersive analytics

Large scale power visualisation.

Smart grids

Monash researchers are developing

information and communication

technologies to enable smart grids. We are

investigating ways to extract value from big

data as well as maximise benefits to the

consumer. Our research includes:

Fast customer load profiling

Optimal demand management

Optimal investment in distributed

generation. Macro-scale rig for CO2 sequestration research. Photo: Ranjith PG

Biofuels

Monash’s program in biofuels/bioenergy is

focused on second generation biofuels with

feed stocks based on:

Municipal waste

Micro algae

Biomass.

Geothermal energy

Monash is researching:

Maximising the recovery of heat from

underground

Modelling of basins

Direct geothermal energy production.

Wind energy and transport

aerodynamics

The Monash Wind Tunnel is used by

industry to optimise aerodynamic

performance in:

Australian wind farms

Ground transportation dynamics

Fundamental aerodynamic research.

Power engineering

Monash has expertise in making electricity

delivery more efficient by:

Cloud simulation of integration of new

and renewable technologies

Power electronics and energy storage

systems

Controlling harmonics.

Our expertise

MEMSI researchers

are optimising the

placement of wind

farms.

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Organic photovoltaics

The Renewable Energy Laboratory is a

new, custom-built facility for fabrication and

characterisation of dye sensitised solar cells

(DSCs). It underpins fundamental research

as well as mass fabrication of DSCs with

efficiencies ranging from 5% to 12%. The

facility integrates closely with the Australian

Synchrotron and Melbourne Centre for

Nanofabrication.

CAVE2

The Monash CAVE2TM

facility provides a

world-leading, 2D/3D virtual reality

environment for the display and interactive

exploration of rich and large scientific and

engineering datasets. It allows researchers

to visualise, manipulate and comprehend

data such as engineering models, multi-

dimensional images across a range of size

scales and a variety of simulations.

Solar Fuels

The Solar Fuels team is developing

materials and devices for the generation of

solar derived fuels, water splitting for

hydrogen production and CO2 reduction.

The team’s research is supported by state-

of-the art facilities:

Electrocatalyst production and drybox

− preparation of advanced catalyst

materials, high temperature synthesis

and thin film deposition

Electrochemical testing

Solar simulation laboratory − simulation

driven electrochemical testing, product

accumulation and characterisation, and

device and process simulation.

Select research facilities

Photo: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake

Monash Wind Tunnel

Monash has two wind tunnels. One is the

largest in the southern hemisphere. The

facility is open to industry partners,

researchers and students. The tunnel

facilitates aerodynamic and wind noise

research and development. The tunnel is

used for:

Turbine aerodynamics and wind farm

placement

Aerodynamics of trains and trucks

Development of full-scale production

vehicles

Aerospace R&D − unmanned air

vehicles and micro-flight technologies

Fundamental aerodynamic research.

Monash Centre for Additive

Manufacturing

The Monash Centre for Additive

Manufacturing takes their most recent

discoveries in alloy and metallurgical

science and applies them to additive

manufacturing processes. The centre is

creating lighter and stronger components for

the aerospace industry to reduce fuel

consumption and CO2 emissions. The

centre has the world’s latest equipment for

the 3D printing of components from metal

powders Ti, Ni, Al alloys and steel. This

includes the Concept Laser, the largest

selective laser melting machine in the

southern hemisphere.

Low emission coal

technologies

MEMSI is investigating improved methods

for producing energy from brown coal. We

have facilities for:

Coal drying − the first step in using

high moisture coal

Coal gasification − practical scale

experimental work on entrained flow

gasification

Production of concentration stream of

CO2 through the pre-combustion

separation of nitrogen from oxygen in

normal air

Simultaneous capture of CO2 and

production of hydrogen

Brown coal derived fuels for fuel cells.

Bench scale fluidised bed coal drier

Our people

Leaders: Prof Udo Bach and

Prof Huanting Wang

Prof Doug Macfarlane

Prof Dan Li

Prof Yuri Estrin

Prof Yi-Bing Cheng

Prof Raman Singh

Prof Chris Davies

Dr Mainak Majumder

Dr Parama Banerjee

Prof Xinhua Wu

A/Prof Wenlong Cheng

A/Prof Chris Hutchinson

A/Prof Anthony Pandolfo

Prof Leone Spiccia

A/Prof Bradley Ladewig

A/Prof Rimma Lapovok

A/Prof Chris McNeil

Dr Xinyi Zhang

Dr Jie Zhang

Energy materials

Leaders: Prof Sankar Bhattacharya and

Prof Ranjith Pathegama Gamage

Prof Alan Chaffee

Dr Lian Zhang

A/Prof David Brennan

Prof Doug Macfarlane

Prof Jerry Tien

Dr Ha Bui

Prof Leone Spiccia

Prof Xinyi Zhang

Prof Jie Zhang

Dr Nikhil Medhekar

Prof Zhao Jian

A/Prof Andrew Hoadley

Prof Malek Bouazza

Dr Samintha Perera

Dr Mohan Yellishetty

Dr Gavin Mudd

Clean technology

Leaders: Dr Ariel Liebman and

Dr Tadeusz Czaszejko

Dr Akshat Tanskale

Prof Hugh Blackburn

Prof Gil Garnier

Dr Lizhong He

A/Prof Tony Patti

Dr Kei Seito

Prof John Sheridan

Prof Roy Jackson

A/Prof Andrew Hoadley

Mr David Burton

Dr David Lo Jacono

Dr Andras Nemes

Prof Alan Chaffee

Dr Jerome Rowcroft

Dr David Smith

Dr Delia Xie

Prof Mark Wallace

Prof Ann Nicholson

Prof Geoff Webb

Dr Kevin Korb

Dr Tim Dwyer

Dr Campbell Wilson

Dr Mark Carman

Dr Nick Lelekakis

Energy systems