Optics

Light is both a probe and a product in nanomaterials research. Centre work in optics covers luminescent framework and perovskite materials, scintillators for X-ray imaging and radiation detection, and optical sensing platforms that turn a change in chemistry into a change in emission.

Luminescent materials

Associate Professor Jingwei Hou and Dr Miaoqiang Lyu

Designing hosts that hold emitters stable. Halide perovskite nanocrystals are bright but fragile; embedding them in metal–organic framework glasses and related frameworks protects them from moisture, heat and light while preserving their optical properties. Work covers photoluminescent MOFs and their composites, how host chemistry shifts and sharpens emission, and how nanocrystal composition, absorption and emission are linked in practice.

X-ray imaging and radiation detection

Associate Professor Jingwei Hou and Dr Miaoqiang Lyu

Turning stabilised emitters into scintillators — materials that convert X-rays into visible light for imaging and dosimetry. The Centre is developing core–shell architectures in which quantum dots are encapsulated within MOF glass, aiming for high radioluminescence yield together with the radiation and environmental stability that conventional perovskite scintillators lack. The same materials are being examined for flexible and large-area detector formats.

Optical sensing

Associate Professor Jingwei Hou and Dr Miaoqiang Lyu

Using emission as a read-out. Porous frameworks bind guest molecules and ions inside a defined pore, and the resulting change in luminescence becomes a signal — selective, reversible and visible without complex instrumentation. Work here spans framework and hydrogel platforms with built-in ion specificity, and the surface and interface chemistry that determines sensitivity and how well a sensor holds up in real samples.