QUT offers a diverse range of student topics for Honours, Masters and PhD study. Search to find a topic that interests you or propose your own research topic to a prospective QUT supervisor. You may also ask a prospective supervisor to help you identify or refine a research topic.
Found 468 matching student topics
Displaying 193–204 of 468 results
Metal-free batteries
Chemical batteries are listed in the top 5 key energy technologies; ahead of others such as natural gas, wind turbines, hydrogen and electric motors. Our group is currently investigating the use of free radical containing polymers as avenues to produce environmentally friendly, lightweight and durable materials for the fabrication of printed carbon batteries or as a electrolytes in flow batteries.
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Separating nonlinear optical effects in optical limiters
Optical limiting uses a medium’s nonlinear response to allow light at low intensities to be transmitted, but restricts transmission at high intensities so as to safeguard sensitive detectors including the eye. A popular nonlinear process used in optical limiters is two photon absorption where two high intensity light photons are simultaneously absorbed thereby reducing the light transmission through the medium. Unfortunately, in gold nanoparticle optical limiters a second nonlinear process can arise – saturated absorption which leads to an increase …
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Image-based assessment of atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability: Towards a computational tool for early detection and prediction
Plaque characteristics and local haemodynamic/mechanical forces keep changing during plaque progression and rupture.Quantifying these changes and discovering the progression-stress correlation can improve our understanding of plaque progression/rupture. This will lead to a quantitative assessment tool for early detection of vulnerable plaques and prediction of possible ruptures.Our research project aims to combine medical imaging, computational modelling, phantom experiments and pathological analysis to investigate plaque progression and vulnerability to rupture in both animal models and patients with carotid stenosis.We will identify and …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
Programming polymers
Radical polymerisations play a key role in both commercial and fundamental research (45% of all world polymer production, 100 million tons per year). However, radical polymerisations still suffer from synthetic drawbacks like all-carbon polymer backbones, which largely prevent their (bio)degradability. We will develop a polymerisation technique that allows to incorporate function into polymers - from degradability to catalytic activity.
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Low cost, long life metal-ion capacitors and supercapacitors for renewable energy storage
Australia boasts rich wind and solar energy resources. To avoid fluctuations placing severe burden on the power grids, a reliable and efficient battery storage is required.The present technology based on lithium-ion batteries suffers from high manufacturing cost, poor safety and short life-span.A new kind of storage devices, metal-ion capacitors (MICs), are expected to overcome the storage and the charging speed of the traditional batteries in the near future, opening new avenues for renewable energy resources. The basic structure of MICs …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Growth and characterisation of epitaxial graphene for electronic and sensing applications
The extraordinary properties of graphene, a single sheet of carbon atoms (e.g. monodimensional structure, high conductivity, low-noise characteristics) are expected to be exploited in the next generation of electronic devices and gas sensors. These applications require a perfect control of the growth of graphene layers, and an optimum integration with the processes and materials used in the semiconductor industry.This project aims at studying the growth of graphene obtained by heating crystalline SiC at high temperature in Ar atrmosphere and ultra …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Using mathematics to understand multiple sclerosis: what causes the immune system to attack the brain?
Every day, we use our bodies to move, think, talk and eat, but for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) these tasks can be virtually impossible. MS is a chronic disease which develops because the immune system has started to attack the nerve cells in the brain. This causes the degradation of parts of the brain and irreversible impairment in physical and mental activity. Unfortunately, this disease has no cure, and while considerable therapeutic advances against this disease have been achieved, …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
Optimising delivery of a novel nose-to-brain treatment for brain cancer
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive brain cancer with no curative treatment and poor prognosis. One of the biggest challenges with treating GBM is the inability of treatment to cross the blood-brain barrier resulting in poor drug distribution in the brain. Fortunately, scientists have recently developed a novel nose-to-brain delivery system that uses nanoparticles loaded with a chemotherapy drug called paclitaxel. Initial treatment investigations in vivo are showing significant promise in reducing and controlling the tumour burden. While exciting, before …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
Life cycle assessments in the hospital space for waste reduction
Recovering, recycling, reuse and reducing waste in the health sector becomes more and more important as it will help hospitals to become more sustainable and to reduce their impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Life cycle assessments of materials, for examples plastic packaging, is an important tool to establish the best practice for recovery and recycling of these materials.
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for a Waste-Free World
Developing composite products for use in light steel wall and floor systems
The project will investigate the potential use of a range of composite products made of gypsum plasterboard, steel sheeting and insulation foams to improve the fire resistance of light steel wall and floor systems. It will involve investigating the potential composite products’ suitability, conducting fire tests of small scale wall/floor assemblies (1.2mx.1.2m) made of such composite products to understand how they behave in fire and determine their fire resistance levels. Civil and Mechanical Engineering students with interest in structural and …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Mathematical modelling of ecosystem feedbacks and value-of-information theory
Ecosystems respond to gradual change in unexpected ways. Feedback processes between different parts of an environment can perpetuate ecosystem collapse, leading to potentially irreversible biodiversity loss. However, it is unclear if greater knowledge of feedbacks will ultimately change environmental decisions.The project aims to identify when feedbacks matter for environmental decisions, by generating new methods that predict the economic benefit of knowing more about feedbacks. Combining ecological modelling and value-of-information theory, the outcomes of these novel methods will provide significant and …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Centre for the Environment
Addressing security challenges for the industrial internet of things
With the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0, there is a trend for applying these services and applications to a large-scale industrial area. The IoT paradigm has changed the way of interactions with the things that surround us. In essence, the IoT promises ubiquitous connection to the Internet, turning common objects into connected devices. It is predicted that there will be 50 billion connected devices at the end of the year 2022.Over the last few years, …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Computer Science
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