Youvelikelyheard of nanomaterialsthe materialsthat makeour devices and technologies small, fast and powerful.Buthave you heard ofatomaterials?

Atomaterials is atermcoinedby ProfessorBaohuaJia, a nanotechnology expert and director of Swinburnes new Centre for Translational Atomaterials.

Its asynthesisedword from atomic materials which are the next generation of nanomaterials, says Professor Jia.

Think ofatomaterialsas the building blocks of nanomaterials. The atomic arrangement in the building blocks decides the properties of the blocks and the nanomaterials. These building blocks the atomaterials are tiny bricks made of atoms, about one millionth of a human hair in size.

Atomaterialsopen upa whole new world of science, says Professor Jia.

Its a bit likeLego, she says. Nanomaterials are like different pieces ofLego joined together, whereas atomic materials are the single pieces.

The rapid progress in nanomaterials over the past 30 years has enabled miniaturisation and drastic performance improvement inmany areas, includingelectronics, communicationsandmanufacturing.

But we will soon reach the limits of nanotechnology. For example, the property of silicon cannot sustain once it is pushed smaller than five nanometres.

Atomaterialshowever,can be reconstructed in intelligent ways to create newmaterialsthat outperform the old oneswith functionalitiesnever seen before.

Graphene, discovered in 2004, isone example of anatomaterialand onewhichSwinburne hasplayed a leading rolein developingfor use in large-scale manufacturing and device development.

The centre's Global Open Lab will enable industry and researchers to collaborate more easily and allow for the seamless translation of new technologies.

Usingatomaterials,Swinburneresearchers are creating new functionalities and products that will change our world and the everyday products we use. These include:

Swinburnes Dr Han Lin shares how he is using the wonder material graphene to develop the game-changing supercapacitor energy-storing device.

SwinburnesCentre for TranslationalAtomaterials(CTAM) is the worlds first centre focused onatomaterialdiscovery, research and translation. An open lab where industry and researchers can collaborate to allow for seamless translation of research to market makes the centre especially unique.

Swinburne will host the International Conference on Nanomaterial andAtomaterialSciences and Applications (ICNASA)from31 January 3 February 2020.

During the conference,academic and industryrepresentativesfrom around the world will exchange knowledge about the latest advances in material sciences and how they can be rolled out into industry and products.

If youre interested in working with Professor Baohua Jia (bjia@swin.edu.au) and the team at the Centre for TranslationalAtomaterials, you can contact them through theirwebsite.

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Atomaterials are the new nanomaterials and they're going to change our world - Swinburne University of Technology