Professor Maria Forsyth, Chair in Electromaterials and Corrosion Sciences at Deakin University and Associate Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science has been awarded a 2011 Australian Laureate Fellowship.

 

Professor Forsyth leads a research team looking at solutions to storing power generated from renewable energy sources. They are particularly focussed on adapting cheap and highly-abundant materials such as zinc, sodium and magnesium to produce batteries with longer lifetimes and lower cost than are currently available.

 

Professor Forsyth and her team have been at the forefront of developing and characterising new environmentally friendly methods to control charge transfer at reactive metal interfaces to improve corrosion resistance.

 

The aim of Professor Forsyth’s project is to research and develop new selective transport materials that will underpin the successful development of new sustainable energy technologies (for example in energy storage, desalination and CO2 capture) and allow the greater use of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and wave energy.

 

Professor Forsyth is one of 17 researchers awarded a total of more than $44 million in this years Australian Laureate Fellowships.