The winners of the Prime Minister’s Science Awards were announced today, with doctoral student John Watt winning the top emerging scientist category.
Watt also won the McDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year award for his research into how palladium nanoparticles could be used to reduce toxic exhaust emissions.
An excerpt: (read in full here)
“His findings are helping with the development of a cheap and effective way of removing toxic pollutants from vehicle exhausts, which has potential for reducing the risk of asthma, cancer and premature death.
“The Victoria University scientist has devised techniques to manipulate the size and shape of palladium, an expensive precious metal used in car exhausts. His chemistry discoveries create nano-size palladium which achieves much better performance than conventional palladium and is also much cheaper.”