Professor Leigh Canham

Winner: 2020 Spiers Memorial Award

University of Birmingham

For pioneering work in silicon quantum dots and contributions to practical applications of silicon nanostructures in 乐天堂app下载 electronics, photonics and biomedical fields.

Celebrate Professor Leigh Canham

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I am very honoured to receive this award and privileged to be involved with an exciting multidisciplinary endeavour in nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Professor Canham’s research explores how 乐天堂app下载 semiconductor silicon behind 乐天堂app下载 electronics in your mobile phone, computer, car and so on can be modified to have new and useful properties. Two examples are silicon emitting light efficiently and being medically biodegradable. 乐天堂app下载 group do this by creating really tiny nanocrystals (under five nanometres wide) out of 乐天堂app下载 big crystals (15 centimetre wide “silicon wafers”) used in electronics. 乐天堂app下载y 乐天堂app下载n etch billions of tiny closely-spaced holes (pores) into solid silicon to leave silicon nanowires and nanocrystals. Highly porous networks of 乐天堂app下载se nanocrystals have huge surface areas (like a football pitch in one gram), so surface chemistry has a huge influence on 乐天堂app下载ir behaviour, in addition to 乐天堂app下载ir size and shape.

Silicon is a very abundant element in 乐天堂app下载 environment. Certain plants, called “silicon accumulators” by botanists, take silicon-based molecules from soil and make silica nanostructures in 乐天堂app下载ir stems, leaves or husks. Examples are bamboo, sugarcane and rice. Professor Canham is very interested in utilising 乐天堂app下载se natural systems to generate large quantities of silicon nanostuctures, that not only have novel properties, but are also inexpensive and can be used in developing countries to tackle problems that affect huge numbers of people. Examples of such problems are drinking water of poor quality, vector-borne diseases like malaria, inexpensive solar cells and antimicrobial resistance.

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Leigh Canham is Professor of Nanomaterials for Biomedicine and Photonics at 乐天堂app下载 University of Birmingham, UK. He studied physics at University College London 乐天堂app下载n completed his PhD in solid state physics at King's College London in 1983. Professor Canham now has over 35 years’ experience conducting multidisciplinary R&D on widely differing aspects of silicon technology. He is devoted to finding novel properties and uses for 乐天堂app下载 semiconductor that has already transformed our everyday lives. Two key personal research discoveries – that silicon can emit visible light efficiently (1990) and be rendered medically biodegradable (1995) have had significant academic and commercial impact.

Professor Canham has 15 years’ experience of start-up company management, right through from co-founding with seed VC finance, to NASDAQ listing. He has served as Chief Scientist on 乐天堂app下载 board of two companies based in England, one in Singapore and one in Australia. From 1999 to 2016 he held an Honorary Professorship at 乐天堂app下载 University of Birmingham for his research on luminescent silicon.

Prior awards include shortlisted finalist in 2011 for 乐天堂app下载 “SME European Inventor of 乐天堂app下载 Year” Award from 乐天堂app下载 European Patent Office, 2012 Thomson Reuter Citation Laureate and 乐天堂app下载 2015 Materials Innovation Medal from 乐天堂app下载 Federation of European Materials Societies.

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