Study level

  • Vacation research experience scheme

Faculty/School

Faculty of Science

School of Chemistry and Physics

Topic status

We're looking for students to study this topic.

Research centre

Centre for Materials Science

Supervisors

Professor Jennifer MacLeod
Position
Deputy Dean
Division / Faculty
Faculty of Science

Overview

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is a tool that lets us image molecules and surfaces with atomic resolution - we can "see" individual atoms. QUT has recently acquired a microscope that lets us visualise the formation a molecular layer at the solution/solid interface, giving us unprecedented insight into how molecules can for into intricate patters at surfaces.

Research activities

This project will focus on using a small, three-dimensional molecule to create planar 2D nanoarchitectures on a surface. The molecule is 1-1’-ferrocenedicarboxylic acid, a small organometallic building block that when adsorbed flat on a surface has the potential to hydrogen bond at two different elevations.

Outcomes

This is exploratory work – we do not have a specific outcome in mind. We are just aiming to understand how this molecule behaves, and whether we can influence this behaviour to create new and different patterns.

We will use a combination of techniques to understand this system:

  • Computational methods, such as density functional theory, to look at the bonding strength.
  • Scanning tunnelling microscopy, which will let us directly visualise the patterns formed by the molecules on the surface with atomic resolution.

Skills and experience

This project is perfect for a physics or chemistry student interested in how nanoscale systems behave.

Keywords

Contact

Contact the supervisor for more information.