What we do
Out of the lab
Our materials science and nanotechnology research starts in the laboratory and always generates valuable knowledge regardless of the findings. However our ultimate aim is to create something that can be used to meet a need in the real world. We are especially focused on applications that will help our transition to a more sustainable way of life.
Since our inception in 2002, our scientists and their collaborators have developed many exciting innovations. Some have been patented, some are being field-tested stage and others have gone on to be produced and marketed.
Developments underway include printable solar panels, bioplastics, aluminium batteries, handheld gene testers and novel superconductors. And this is just the start. Our aim is that the research we undertake today will continue to help people and the planet for decades to come.
We want to help transform society for good.
The whakataukī that best captures our purpose is: ahakoa he iti, he pounamu. We invest in the development of fundamental knowledge, and so enable ourselves and others to be smart about what resources we use to make the materials needed for technology development. It’s about minimising the material impact we make on the world.
Professor Nicola Gaston MacDiarmid Institute Principal Investigator Co-director of the MacDiarmid Institute University of Auckland
Biodegradable electronic devices
MBIE funds research into a new generation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags.
Read more about Biodegradable electronic devices
Bridging the divide between theoretical and experimental physics
Dr Kannan Ridings from Rongowhakaata is one of the MacDiarmid Institute’s newest Associate Investigators.
Read more about Bridging the divide between theoretical and experimental physics
Building better bioelectronics
Professor Jadranka Travas-Sejdic is building conducting polymers that could help probe the secrets of cell biology.
Read more about Building better bioelectronics
Celebrating Matariki values in our research
Deputy Director Māori, Dr Pauline Harris, sets out below some of the research of the MacDiarmid Institute that relates to the values of Matariki.
Read more about Celebrating Matariki values in our research
Liquid Metals and Surface Patterns
Australian, New Zealand, and American scientists reported a new type of solidification patterns appearing on the surface of solidifying liquid metals.
Read more about Liquid Metals and Surface Patterns
Producing technology-critical materials for a low-emission future
MacDiarmid Institute scientists try to tip the carbon balance in NZ’s favour.
Read more about Producing technology-critical materials for a low-emission future
Reconnecting hapū and whānau with their whenua
Using geological data and isotope research to develop new composite materials for building eco-papakāinga.
Read more about Reconnecting hapū and whānau with their whenua
Rethinking computing and communication
Systems that blend biology with electronics could answer some big questions.
Read more about Rethinking computing and communication
Essential metals in a zero-carbon future
Steel and vanadium could be cleaned up thanks to our scientists.
Read more about Essential metals in a zero-carbon future
The emerging field of mechanobiology
Physics biology collaborations are forging mechanobiology – a research area key to understanding health and disease.
Read more about The emerging field of mechanobiology
The Warm Up: Room Temperature Superconductivity
It’s arguably the ‘holy grail’ of solid-state physics - superconductors that operate at or near room temperature.
Read more about The Warm Up: Room Temperature Superconductivity
The green hydrogen revolution
Virtually emissions-free energy - using electrolysers to split water (H₂O) and using the resulting H₂ to power fuel cells.
Read more about The green hydrogen revolution
Discover the secrets of how melanin protects skin from UV radiation
World-first NZ technology enables researchers to discover the secrets of how melanin protects skin from UV radiation.
Read more about Discover the secrets of how melanin protects skin from UV radiation
Where this all fits in
These research projects are just some of the many projects that MacDiarmid Institute collaborators are working on throughout the country. Each project falls under one of four research programmes that contribute to transforming our future for good:
What is materials science
MacDiarmid Institute investigators discuss how materials science and nanotechnology can solve the big problems of our time.
May 8, 2019
Video transcript
Associate Professor Nicola Gaston: Can you imagine a future where electricity is practically free, where there's clean water available for everyone and a simple blood test taken at home can help diagnose some diseases?
The technology that can make each of those things possible is based on materials science. Materials are all around us; this coffee cup, this table, even this sugar I might put in the coffee. When we make things really small, as we do in nanotechnology, we create a material that has most of its substance at the surface. With sugar, that means it dissolves quickly. But in general what it means is that we can control the properties of that material with great precision. So we can take a material, any material - it could be a metal or it could be plastic - and we can play with the surface and give it new abilities. For example, we could make it anti-bacterial or we could make it absorb more light.
The MacDiarmid Institute is a network of New Zealand's best materials scientists. Materials science is the basis of all high-tech manufacturing, including sustainable environmental innovations such as new solar cells or carbon capture technologies for climate change mitigation. We work with existing industries and we also spinout new companies. In the past 15 years we have spun out 16 new companies.
Dr Ray Thomson: One of the really exciting things that the Investigators at MacDiarmid are working on is across this whole climate change area. Sequestering carbon dioxide, improving the efficiency of photovoltaic cells through to really advanced battery storage.
Associate Professor Nicola Gaston: If we want that future, a materially sustainable future, where everyone around the world can have clean water, personalised medicine, free electricity, we need materials technologies. In the MacDiarmid Institute we bring materials scientists together and we partner with industry to create intellectual property, jobs and wealth for New Zealand.
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