Alvin Orbaek White
Swansea University
Welsh Crucible 2017
Alvin is chemist (PhD) with a history of physics (BSc), who is now in the college of engineering at Swansea University (Senior Lecturer), having just arrived from MIT (Department of Engineering).
He is developing new methods to make ultra-long single walled carbon nanotubes for use as electricity cables. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are ballistic electron conductors that can be hundreds to thousands of times more conductive than copper. His vision is to augment current materials with CNTs, investigate ways to route electricity more effectively (smart grid), and to source carbon from greenhouse gasses and industrial waste to maintain a circular economy.