Assistant professor in condensed matter physics, Microscopy group, physics department, university of warwick

Research Interests

- Carbon NanoMaterials (Graphene, Chemically Modified Graphene, and Carbon Nanotubes)

- Scanning Probe Microscopy

- Molecular Electronics

More information can be found on the research pages.

Research Projects

Available projects can be found on the opportunities pages.

Background

I graduated from the Natural Sciences Tripos at Pembroke College Cambridge in 1999. I won a Thouron scholarship to do a Masters in Physics at the University of Pennsylvania, working with Professors Charlie Kane and Gene Mele on the theory behind STM images of individual quantum states in short carbon nanotubes. I returned to the UK in 2000 to do a PhD with Boris Muzykantskii and David Cobden. I completed my PhD in the Physics Department of the University of Warwick in 2004, my PhD thesis on "Electronic Transport in Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes, and their Application as Scanning Probe Microscopy tips" is available here (caution, large file 11MB). I stayed in Warwick to follow-up on the work started in my thesis, doing three years on postdoctoral projects with Professor Julie Macpherson in the Warwick Electrochemistry and Interfaces Group. In October 2007 I was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at Warwick University.

My work was mainly on the electrical and electrochemical properties of single walled carbon nanotubes; I specialise in scanned probe based measurements and this crosses over into my ongoing work on other carbon based materials such as diamond and polymeric and molecular semiconductors.

Currently my research is mainly focused on the structural, mechanical and electrical properties of graphene. In particular I am working on chemically modified graphene in collaboration with Dr Jon Rourke (Chemistry) and chemical vapour deposition of graphene and hBN (with Dr Gavin Bell). With the rapidly expanding facilities and expertise in electron and ion microscopy at Warwick I am also diversifying into these areas. Further information on my current work will appear on our group research webpages; for my work prior to October 2007 see the Warwick Electrochemistry and Interfaces Group website.

I currently supervise 2 PhD students: Priyanka Pandey and Alex Marsden. I have also supervised or co-supervised many summer project students and final year project students.

If you are interested in working with me please contact me!

Teaching

This year I am teaching part of the fourth year course PX432 (Functional Properties of Solids), tutorials, the microscopy courses, and the final year projects.

Outreach

We regularly demonstrate the microscopy facilities to school children, and I have prepared lectures on nanotechnology suitable for presenting at schools or to the general public. If you would like more information please contact me. I also have an interest in the Art of Science - the intrinsic beauty of the physical world expressed through visual representations. Nanostructures in particular can have startling and surprising elegance in form. These 'art' works can also spark the imagination and help in the engagement with science. I will add some examples from my own work (click here), along with explanations of how they can be used to express important scientific concepts. I hope in time to be able to set-up a wider engagement project based on this. If you have any of your own you wish to contribute then I would love to see them! UPDATE - we now have the project up and running, please have a look at the Snapshots of Science website for more information.

Selected Publications

A list of my publications can be found here (updated infrequently). If you have access to Web of Science then you can find my publications as listed there by selecting my name on the departmental publications page. Our group publication page is usually up to date.