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2-D Nanomaterials

Our interest lies in designing ultra-thin or nano-scale thick 2D materials with properties tailored for novel functional or structural applications. We collaborate with other research groups at MSU as well at other universities/research institutions in fabricating these designs. We employ electronic structure calculations at ground state and ab-initio molecular dynamics to optimize these properties.


One of our more recent works is the design of ultra-thin alumina films for tunnel junctions as a part of our close collaboration with Dr. Judy Wu's research group at KU. Her group has perfected the Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) process to fabricate a dense, leak-free tunnel barrier of alumina ultra-thin layer by controlling the initial H2O pulse and the use of Al wetting layer. In addition, we also collaborate closely in designing a variety of hybrid nano-structures that are tailored to yield novel electronic and optical properties.

Some of our collaborative works have recently been published:




Maogang Gong, Ridwan Sakidja, Qingfeng Liu, Ryan Goul, Dan Ewing, Matthew Casper, Alex Stramel, Alan Elliot and Judy Z. Wu, "Broadband Photodetectors Enabled by Localized Surface Plasmonic Resonance in Doped Iron Pyrite Nanocrystals", Advanced Optical Materials, Vol. 6 [8], 1701241 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.201701241.

J. Wilt, Y. Gong, M. Gong, F. Su, H. Xu, R. Sakidja, A. Elliot, R. Lu, S. Zhao, S. Han, and J. Z. Wu, "Atomically Thin Al2O3 Films for Tunnel Junctions", Physical Review Applied, 7, 064022 (2017).

J. Wilt, R. Sakidja, R. Goul and J. Z. Wu, "The effect of an interfacial layer on electron tunneling through atomically-thin Al2O3 tunnel barriers", ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 9 (42), pp. 37468–37475 (2017).