Masters Top-up Scholarship in Computational Materials Chemistry/Physics

This is a joint project between RMIT, CSIRO and AIST Japan, that includes a top-up scholarship of $10,000 per annum funded by the CSIRO. The successful candidate will use a computational approach to develop piezoelectric materials for advanced sensors. Piezoelectric materials play a pivotal role in the practical development of advanced sensors which rely on surface acoustic waves as the foundation of their sensing mechanism. An understanding of the piezoelectric response and ways to further enhance it is required for these sensors to be used in a wider variety of applications. This project will explore the structural changes in nitride materials that lead to enhanced piezoelectric behaviour using density functional theory calculations and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. The project is a collaboration with Dr Michael Breedon at CSIRO and will involve working on the RMIT city campus and the CSIRO Clayton site. Promising formulations of the materials examined computationally will be experimentally assessed by collaborators at AIST Japan.