Jim Johnston

Professor Jim Johnston has a Personal Chair in Chemistry in the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry. His research programmes are positioned at the university-industry interface and are concerned with the innovative development of new materials and nanofunctionalised materials and new chemical process technologies. They include the use of nanogold and nanosilver are used as unique colourfast colourants and provide antimicrobial functionality on NZ wool for high value fashion apparel, upholstery textiles and carpets for international luxury markets.; nano-structured calcium silicate products and their industry applications; enhanced energy recovery from geothermal waters; and the use of wet air oxidation for treating organic waste streams. This has resulted in two new start up companies: Noble Bond Ltd to commercialize the nanogold and nanos