My Account
Mahurangi Matters’ science columnist, Professor Ralph Cooney, has received an award for outstanding contribution in the field of materials science and engineering.
Prof. Cooney received the Jean-Marie Lehn award in front of a crowd of about 300 international scientific experts in Kathmandu, Nepal, at the annual Polymer Characterisation conference.
“The award was a complete, but very pleasant, surprise to me. I had no advance notice that this may happen.”
Polymer characterisation is the study of identifying the physical and chemical properties of polymers such as plastics. Prof. Cooney has published more than 320 papers in research journals in his career.
He was the founding director of a $15 million research contract with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to develop eco-friendlier anti-bacterial agents.
“As one example, chicken in New Zealand can be particularly prone to salmonella and campylobacter, which limit its export possibilities. Developing a work surface for cutting or handling chicken that has persistent anti-bacterial properties is obviously valuable.”
He and his team of researchers demonstrated a mechanism for applying an anti-bacterial layer on a surface that is only one molecule thick but can effectively kill dangerous bacteria.
In another piece of research, Prof. Cooney took an ‘expanded perlite with a honey comb structure’ and filled the structural cells with a biocide material used to kill harmful bacteria. When the material was put in a moist environment, the biocide was slowly released.
“Conventional sanitisers might work for 10 minutes, but if you want to remain hygienic, then a material like this could extend the sanitising agent potency over 48 hours.”
Prof. Cooney and his co-workers have recently published these novel technologies in two of the top journals in international chemistry published by The American Chemical Society.
“It is satisfying to see that the PhD student who carried out most of the research has now been offered a good research job in a top university,” he says.
