Control and exploration of the exotic properties of phosphorene nanoribbons

Project ID: 2531bd1694

(You will need this ID for your application)

Research Area(s): Physics
Chemistry
Materials

UCL Lead department: Physics and Astronomy

Project Summary:

When we serendipitously discovered phosphorene nanoribbons (see original publication [1] and popular science article about the discovery [2]), we were wowed by their extremely unusual morphology demonstrating several superlatives in the field – including extreme lengths, aspect ratios, width uniformities and flexibilities. Nanoribbons are particularly interesting since they combine electron confinement effects of 2D materials with a large concentration of ‘edge states’ arising from unresolved dangling bonds at their edges. The latter of these was predicted to give rise to unusual magnetism, which we recently confirmed alongside the first glimpse of the fascinating possibility that this magnetism can be manipulated by optical methods [3]. The stage is now set for us to explore, tune and exploit these properties, aiming to uncover new science that could arise in such unique systems. The project aims fall into three parts: demonstrating morphology control of nanoribbons to tune their properties b) investigation of the optical and magnetic properties at single ribbon and ensemble level c) demonstration of the optical control of the magnetism.

We are looking for an enthusiastically motivated scientist, keen to work in the lab and be trained in many standard and bespoke experimental methodologies, including state-of-the-art optical spectroscopies, scanning probe microscopy, transport/device measurements and electron microscopy. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the work, we will consider applicants from different backgrounds including Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science, Electrical Engineering and related. Most work will be undertaken at our UCL labs but travel for experiments at collaborators in Singapore, Canada, Switzerland is expected as well as regular trips to our main collaborator, Dr Raj Pandya (Cambridge/Warwick).

[1] Watts M et al. Nature 569, 216, (2019) [2] Howard CA “We accidentally created a new wonder material that could revolutionise batteries and electronics” The Conversation (2019) [3] Ashoka et al. Nature 639, 348, (2025)