The research interest of our team focuses on the understanding and eventual control of the chemical and physical processes occurring at the atomic to the macroscopic scale, for creating novel functional materials and devices. Our prime experimental tool is the low-temperature scanning probe microscope, namely scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and non-contact atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM). These scanning probe techniques offer the unique capability of exploring the local electronic and magnetic properties of individual atomic and molecular nanostructures at surfaces.
LT-SPM Study of Nanomaterials and Devices
Our team is also interested in the bottom-up growth of various novel low-dimensional carbon nanostructures such as zero-dimensional graphene quantum dots (GQDs), one-dimensional graphene nanoribbons (GRNs) and two-dimensional carbon frameworks (2D-COFs) on surfaces. We also aim to explore the electronic, optical and magnetic properties of these carbon nanostructures and make useful devices out of these low-dimensional carbon nanostructures.
Probing Atomic-scale Chemistry and Physics in a Device Environment
We are interested in exploring atomic-scale chemistry and physics of individual atomic and molecular nanostructures on various surfaces, in particular on insulating substrates and gated 2D materials devices. Such investigations may open up new research avenues in the field of single-atom and single-molecule based electronic devices.
Investigating Chemical Reaction Dynamics
We aim to understand the microscopic mechanisms of surface-catalyzed chemical reactions and provide atomic insights into industrial related chemical processes.
2D Materials Synthesis and Printable Devices
Printing two-dimensional materials into flexible functional nanodevices emerges as an important research area. We aim to develop facile and effective approaches for the scalable synthesis of a wide range of printable two-dimensional materials towards new-generation flexible electronics such as transistors, sensors and photodetectors.
Single Atom Catalysis
Single-atom catalysts (SACs) and their catalysis have emerged as a new frontier in heterogeneous catalysis and demonstrated remarkable performances for various important chemical transformations due to their high catalytic activity with the maximized atomic efficiency of metal atom use. We are interested in the design and synthesis of novel SACs for chemical transformation and energy conversion.