Current projects
Our research is driven by the ONE-NANO down to ONE-ATOM vision
The group is dedicated to the quantitative electron microscopy analysis of materials that take their functionality from single nano-objects down to single atoms as well as to the fabrication of nanomaterials and nano-devices for environmental and health applications.
Transmission electron microscopy methods are developed and applied as a quantitative tools for down to atomic scale analysis. The establishment of structure-property relations is one of the main topics of the electron microscopy activity. Techniques currently developed are related to electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), 3D electron tomography, electron magnetic circular dichroism (EMCD), fluctuation electron microscopy (FEM), strain analysis and quantitative EDS analysis. The research is carried out at resolutions down to 1.3 Å on the TEM at the Ångström Laboratory and for need of higher resolution with our friends and partners. We have developed a cryo-method for FIB-lift-out of frozen samples for analysis of interfaces between hard and soft matter in the TEM.
We have developed two nanomaterials platforms for fundamental and applied studies of nanomaterials properties. The first platform is nano-electrode based, where the electrodes are bridged by chains of alternating molecules and nanoparticles. A reproducible molecular electronics platform has thus been established. The junctions have suchhigh order that we can observe molecular vibrational signatures of the molecules in IETS spectra. More recently, we have observed gas sensing signatures with the same platform.
Functionalisation of graphene is essential to bring graphene into applications. Using electron and ion beam microscopes, we functionalise graphene in order to maintain excellent electrical properties and to modify chemical, sensing and electrical properties. In our research on graphene, we modify graphene with precision on the nanometer scale, both by inserting defects as well as by functionalizing through physical and chemical routes. We have explored modification of electronic structure, electrical properties and sensing properties of graphene.