This website is dedicated to my primary research interest, science on the nanometer scale or nanoscience for short. On these pages you'll find brief descriptions of my past and present research projects. I hope you'll find the information presented here interesting. Thanks for visiting.
STM investigation of thiol-organic molecules on copper
The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) enables us to precisely image and manipulate individual atoms and molecules. Of particular interest are STM studies of organic molecules on metal surfaces. The electrical and chemical properties of a metal surface can be significantly affected by applying a mono-layer of organic molecules on it. These types of nano interfaces have a huge potential as building blocks for novel nano devices. Examples of applications are; molecular-electronics with superior characteristics compared to conventional silicon based devices, protecting layers with enhanced chemical resistances and/or improved lubrication and biocompatible coatings.
The energy required to remove an electron from a piece of bulk metal is called the work function (WF). By making the piece of metal smaller and smaller eventually the limit will be reached where you only have one atom left. The energy required to remove an electron from a single atom is the ionization potential (IP). What if you have a small piece of metal, a so called cluster, which is larger than one atom but substantially smaller than what we would normally call a bulk metal. What would be their value of IP or WF?
Fabrication of model catalysts using e-beam lithography
Small metal particles on the size range of 10-500 nanometer can be fabricated and precisely positioned on flat wafers using electron-beam lithography. The particles can be made with any arbitrary shape and positioned on the supporting wafer in any fashion imaginable.
The energy required to remove an electron from a piece of bulk metal is called the work function (WF). By making the piece of metal smaller and smaller eventually the limit will be reached where you only have one atom left. The energy required to remove an electron from a single atom is the ionization potential (IP). What if you have a small piece of metal, a so called cluster, which is larger than one atom but substantially smaller than what we would normally call a bulk metal. What would be their value of IP or WF? 
Small metal particles on the size range of 10-500 nanometer can be fabricated and precisely positioned on flat wafers using electron-beam lithography. The particles can be made with any arbitrary shape and positioned on the supporting wafer in any fashion imaginable.