Forschungsschwerpunkt
Our research covers a wide range of topics at the interface of materials science, surface physics and chemistry, with a particular focus on low-dimensional organic & carbon-based materials. We aim at developing a fundamental understanding of the structural and electronic properties of these materials and systems, and at establishing a rational basis for their application in next generation technologies. We follow different experimental approaches, but with a core activity on surface physical and chemical investigations, in particular by means of ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) and photoelectron-based methods such as XPS, UPS and XPD, which are complemented by theory and atomistic simulations.
In the topical area Carbon-Based Nanomaterials, we currently focus on sp2 derived organic nanostructures. These structures encompass molecular nanographenes (0D), carbon nanotubes and nanoribbons (1D) and porous graphene (2D). We put particular emphasis on engineering the electronic properties of these materials, which we achieve either by bottom-up synthesis of structurally precise atomic configurations, or by local modifications using structural defects or chemical functionalization. In this strongly interdisciplinary field of research, we closely collaborate with synthetic chemists and specialists in theory and modeling.
