Rate My Professor Luke Henderson

Luke Henderson is Professor of Materials Chemistry in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment at Deakin University, where he is based at the Institute for Frontier Materials. He earned his Bachelor of Science with advanced studies and Honours in Chemistry from Griffith University in 2002 and holds a Doctor of Philosophy. His academic career at Deakin has focused on advancing materials chemistry, particularly the tailoring of carbon fibre surfaces to unlock enhanced functionality in composites. Henderson leads the surface chemistry and interface team, pioneering techniques for grafting functional groups onto carbon fibres to improve interfacial shear strength and enable recycling. His research interests encompass organic and materials chemistry, including solvate ionic liquids, MXenes, and piezoelectric materials.

Henderson's contributions have been recognized with the R.K. Murphy Medal from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute in 2025 for industrial chemistry achievements and the Australian Research Council Mid-Career Industry Fellowship in 2023. He serves on the Editorial Board of Composites Science and Technology published by Elsevier. Among his influential publications are "Design rules for enhanced interfacial shear response in functionalized carbon fiber epoxy composites" (ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2017), "Electrochemical surface modification of carbon fibres by grafting of amine, carboxylic and lipophilic amide groups" (Carbon, 2017), "A review of solvate ionic liquids: Physical parameters and synthetic applications" (Frontiers in Chemistry, 2019), "Carbon fibre surface chemistry and its role in fibre-to-matrix adhesion" (Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2021), and "A review of milled carbon fibres in composite materials" (Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 2022). He has obtained substantial funding, including over $1 million from the ARC for recycled carbon fibre technology. Henderson teaches chemistry at all levels, supervises PhD students, and delivered a public lecture on carbon fibre surface chemistry at the Pint of Science Festival in 2022.