The work performed included the involvement of undergraduate and postgraduate students, an important step in the development of my career to become an independent researcher.
The first part of this project was devoted to extending the range of conductive fibres to other materials, shapes, and types of graphene coating (Scientific Reports DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-04453-7).
We demonstrated light-emitting devices using commercial solution-processable flexible materials directly on textile fibres. This includes robust light-emitting fibres and arrays pixels, essential for wearable displays. Keeping our devices as close to manufacturing constraints, namely those of the textile industry, touch and position sensors were also developed, with applications in wearable dials and switches (npj Flexible Electronics DOI: 10.1038/s41528-018-0040-2).
To make graphene coating scalable for future industrialisation and commercialisation, we developed and optimised graphene conductive inks. Using these methods, we demonstrated that is it possible to harvest static charges generated by motion using flexible graphene electrodes, while pioneering a method to produce graphene films from suspensions and easily transferring them onto many substrates, including textiles (Advanced Materials DOI: 10.1002/adma.201802953).
Building on the development of graphene-based inks and formulation, another collaborative work was carried out in developing nanoengineered concrete. Using graphene suspensions instead of just water in the fabrication of concrete structures, we demonstrated that the incorporation of graphene in concrete results in an increase in compressive and flexural strength, but even more importantly, an enormous decrease in water permeability. This work was published in Advanced Functional Materials (DOI:10.1002/adfm.201705183) and very widely featured in the media.
We found that they have the potential to be used for sensing purposes, and collaborating with experts in electronics we demonstrated wireless data transmission from out sensors (IEEE Sensors DOI: 10.1109/ICSENS.2017.8234058).
E-TEX allowed me to attend 17 public events, including 14 international conferences with a strong industrial/exhibition component, for an effective translation of the results. Given the visibility of this fellowship, I gave invited oral presentation at most of these events. The results of this project have been presented by students, researchers and academics all over the world. I was an exhibitor at a trade fair and attended an Innovate UK network event, where I met potential investors, resulting in funding applications and direct investment through contract research and consultancy. Other business opportunities currently under discussion. 3 of these events were student-facing, a great opportunity to talk about my career path and try to inspire younger researchers. I also gave private seminars in companies, universities and research institutes, which is important to extend the network of collaborators.
