Solar Textiles (ePub)

Robert Mather's involvement with textiles began when he joined the staff at the Scottish College of Textiles (SCOT) in Galashiels in 1983. He had previously worked for ten years at Ciba-Geigy Pigments in Paisley, following two spells of postdoctoral work at Imperial College and Brunel University in London. At SCOT, which subsequently became part of Heriot-Watt University, Robert acquired his interest in technical textiles and established a profile in the processing of polypropylene fibres. He also worked on three-dimensional woven engineering products.

His current R&D interests include the incorporation of solar cells on textiles, and Power Textiles Limited was formed in 2012 with John Wilson as co-Director to promote solar textiles. Robert also has an interest in gas plasma treatments for textiles. He was Director for five years of the newly established Technical Textiles and Polymer Innovation Unit at Galashiels, set up with funds from the UK Department of Trade and Industry. During this period, the Unit successfully undertook projects for a variety of companies, and Robert was contracted to write on the technical textile industry in Scotland for a briefing paper for the Scottish Executive. The Unit was eventually subsumed into the UK TechniTex Faraday Partnership, and he became responsible for technology transfer in the Partnership's organisation. He has also been Director of the Biomedical Textiles Research Centre at Heriot-Watt University.

He is the author of over 90 technical papers and in recent years has contributed chapters to a number of books on technical textiles. Together with a co-author, he wrote a book on textile chemistry for the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2011. A second, updated edition was published in 2015, and a third edition is currently in preparation.

Professional memberships held include: