Institute of Thin Films, Sensors & Imaging

KEY PROJECT SUMMARIES

Institute of Thin Films, Sensors & Imaging Funding – Last Three Year Key Project Summaries

Total - £3,680,341 (does not include ITFSI spinout Albasense Ltd production revenue marked * in following list)

Project breakdown/ PI provided as follows -

• *2022 (Nov): Production contract from Gasclip Technologies Inc to ITFSI spinout company Albasense Ltd for 60,000 methane gas sensors (value US$ 4.6M per annum with initial US$ 600,000 invoiced/ funds received Nov 2022). PI Albasense CEO/ founder Des Gibson
• 2022(Oct): SANS, “Analysis the Accessibility of Aqueous-Based Electrolytes into the Porous Structure of Supercapacitor Composite Electrodes” (Science & Technology Facilities Council [STFC], £30,000 Beam-time equivalent). PI Mojtaba Mirzaeian
• 2022 (Sept): InnovateUK “Development of a light-powered battery-less sensor for methane gas detection”, ITFSI spinout company Albasense Ltd and Lightricity Ltd (18 month programme total value £430,000, value to Albasense Ltd £212,000), PI Albasense CEO/ founder Des Gibson
• 2022 (May): SUPA – Saltire Emerging Researcher Visits, “Advanced characterisation of inclined metal oxide structures”, (3 months programme £5,000) UWS and UAM. PI Carlos Garcia Nuñez
• 2022 (June): SUPA – Short Term Funding, “Design and Fabrication of Supercapacitors”, (2 months programme £2,490) UWS and IIUI. PI Carlos Garcia Nuñez
• 2022 (Oct): UWS – VC PhD studentships, “Investigation of new advanced materials and structures for development of self-charging hybrid energy systems”, (36 months programme £61,542) PI Carlos Garcia Nuñez
• 2022 (Feb): InnovateUK “Strength in Places Fund (SIPF)” led by Scottish Rural College (SRUC) in partnership with Strathclyde University, CENSIS and various companies - Digital Dairy Value Chain.SIPF. UWS ITFSI contribution to Work Package 1 (60 month programme, ITFSI funding £294,552). PI Des Gibson
• 2021 (Nov): Knowledge Transfer Partnership, “Advanced thin film technology to enhance Semefab MEMS products”, (24 month programme £183,000), UWS, Semefab. Academic lead Des Gibson, Academic supervisor David Hutson
• 2021 (Jan): Commercial research contract Gasclip Technologies Inc (GTI), “Ultralow power consumption non-dispersive infrared methane sensor”, GTI, UWS (18 month programme £451,000). PI Des Gibson
• 2021: Science & Technology Facilities Council, “Research in Gravitational Wave Detection”, (3 yr programme £320,000). PI Des Gibson
• 2021 (Mar): Royal Society – Research Grant Round 1, “Study of piezo- phototronic effect on zinc oxide based ultrasonic sensors” (12 months programme £20,000) PI Carlos Garcia Nuñez
• 2021 (April): British Council and Government of India, “Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI)” (12 Months Programme £25000) Role: Co- Investigator.
• 2021 (May): SANS, “Monitor the Accessibility of Electrolytes into Aqueous Based Supercapacitor Electrodes” (STFC, £80,000 Beam-time equivalent). PI Mojtaba Mirzaeian
• 2021 (Oct): UWS – VC PhD studentships, “Investigation of doped IV-VI polycrystalline thin films deposited by sputtering methods for high speed and room-temperature mid-infrared photodetectors” (36 months programme £61,542) PI Carlos Garcia Nuñez
• 2020 (Nov): Knowledge Transfer Partnership, “Microwave plasma assisted deposition of optical coatings”, (33 month programme £262,743), UWS, Teer Coatings Ltd. Academic lead Des Gibson
• 2020 (Sep): UWS – Crucible 2020, “Creation of advanced materials based PoC devices for Health and Environmental Rapid Test”, (6 months programme £5,000) PI Carlos Garcia Nuñez
• 2020 (Sep): Royal Society - Short Industry Fellowships 2020 Round 1, “Investigation of microwave plasma assisted sputter deposition of high-performance piezoelectric film based imaging and sensor devices”, (12 months programme £24,359) UWS, Novosound Ltd. PI Carlos Garcia Nuñez
• 2020 (Sep): Scottish Research Partnership in Engineering (SRPe) – PEER, “European Future and Emerging Technologies (FET-Open) Consortium on Self-powered Wearable Technology for Chronic Pain Relief Medical Treatments (SELF-CARE)”, (12 months programme £4,000) UWS, UofG, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. PI Carlos Garcia Nuñez
• 2020 (Aug): InnovateUK, "Develop a new NPD capability in support of Consult Lift Services (CLS) strategic ambition to become an OEM/lift manufacturer." (30 Months project, total value £205,614.00), PI Parag Vichare
• 2020 (Jan): Erasmus+, EU-Asia Collaboration for aCcessible Education in Smart Power System (eACCESS)” (£875.281). Co-PI Parag Vichare
• 2019 (On-Going Project): Knowledge Transfer Partnership, “Development of Smart Facilities Management framework”, (36-month programme £286,969), UWS, Key Facilities Management. Academic lead: Ashwini Konanahalli, Academic supervisor: Des Gibson.
• 2019 (Mar): Knowledge Transfer Partnership, “Indoor Air Quality Monitoring using IoT and Machine Learning”, (24-month programme £184,332), UWS, BRS Technology. Academic Supervision: Ashwini Konanahalli.
• 2019 (June): Knowledge Transfer Partnership, “Near infrared miniaturised spectrophotometer for detection of volatile organic compounds”, (24 month programme £184,440), UWS, Alphasense Ltd, Sensorhut Ltd. Academic lead Des Gibson, academic supervisor Shigeng Song
• 2019 (May): Censis Innovation Centre Award, “Improved and low-cost infrared linear variable filters for spectrometry”, (9 month programme £106,883), UWS, Pyreos Ltd. PI Shigeng Song.
• 2019 (May): SANS Study of the Increased Accessibility of Electrolytes into Aqueous Based Supercapacitor Electrodes Using Novel Heteroatom-Loaded Carbons. (STFC, £100,000 Beam-time equivalent). PI Mojtaba Mirzaeian
• 2019 (Oct): China’s state administration for foreign expert affairs training for Science and Technology Department of Zhejiang Province. “Artificial Intelligence Technology Innovation – Industry perspective” (£54,000). Co-Lead: Ashwini Konanahalli.
• 2019 (Sep): Carnegie Trust - Research Incentive Grant, “Investigation of methods and materials to reduce coating thermal noise in gravitational waves detect”, (12 months programme £15,000), UWS, UoS and UofG. PI Carlos Garcia Nuñez.
• 2019 (Mar): British Council & Higher Education Commission – Innovative and Collaborative Research Grant, “Investigation in Advanced Energy Harvesters and Energy Storage Devices for Self-powered Flexible Energy”, (36 months programme £500,000), UWS, UofG, IIUI, UAM and Lightricity Ltd. PI Carlos Garcia Nuñez.