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Physics Microscopy

Prof Neil Wilson

PhD position available for 2024 start:

2D magnetic materials: probing magneto-electronic coupling.

Please contact me if you are interested. Funding no longer available.

Research Interests

- Two dimensional materials
- Scanning probe and electron microscopy
- Spatially resolved electron spectroscopy
- Carbon nanomaterials (graphene, chemically modified graphene, and SWNTs)

Professor in condensed matter physics, Microscopy group, Department of Physics, University of Warwick

Current Research

My interest is in correlating atomic and mesoscale structure with physical properties in nanomaterials, with an emphasis on quantitative measurements. My current research is mainly on the structural, mechanical, electronic and electrical properties of graphene and other two dimensional materials (2DMs). I have worked on chemically modified graphene in collaboration with Dr Jon Rourke (Chemistry) and chemical vapour deposition of graphene and hBN (with Dr Gavin Bell). I am a fan of microARPES, particularly to reveal the electronic structure of 2DMs and 2D heterostructures (collaboration with the Cobden and Xu groups) and this closely links to theory work at Warwick. I have developed graphene and graphene oxide based TEM supports for high resolution imaging of molecular and macromolecular species (this has led to the graphene oxide TEM grids sold by EMResolutions). I have an interest in molecular microscopy, particularly in studying at high resolution the interaction between molecules and 2DMs in collaboration with Dr Giovanni Costantini. With Dr James Covington, I have worked on graphene based gas sensors. I also specialise in scanning probe based measurements and this crosses over into work on other carbon based materials such as diamond and polymeric and molecular semiconductors.

Selected Publications

Our group publication page is usually up to date. I am listed on Google Scholar, and on ORCiD. Selected highlights:

Group

I currently supervise 3 graduate students, Abi Graham, James Nunn, and Xue Xia (2016 start). Past PhD and MPhys students include Priyanka Pandey (PhD, 2008-2012), Grace Wood (MScR, 2013-2014, passed with distinction) and Alex Marsden (PhD, 2011-2015), Zac Laker (2014-2018), Natalie Teutsch (2015-2019). Jointly supervise Mark Skilbeck (2012 start, now submitted) with Dr Rachel Edwards, Ultrasound group, and Dawn Wood (2012 start, now submitted) with Professor Tim Jones, Chemistry department.I have supervised or co-supervised many summer project students and final year project students.

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

Background

I graduated from the Natural Sciences Tripos at Pembroke College Cambridge in 1999. I won a Thouron scholarship to study for 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 for a PhD with Boris Muzykantskii and David Cobden. I completed my PhD in the Physics Department of the University of Warwick in 2004, graduating in 2005. My PhD thesis on "Electronic Transport in Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes, and their Application as Scanning Probe Microscopy tips" is available here. 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 mainly on the electrical and electrochemical properties of single walled carbon nanotubes. In October 2007 I was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at Warwick University, and in 2012 I was made Associate Professor.

I was a member of the Institute of Physics science advisory committee, and I am secretary of the scanning probe microscopy section of the Royal Microscopical Society (RMS), and member of the RMS outreach committee.

Teaching and administration

This year I am teaching the first year PX145 Physics Foundations course, 1st year laboratories, tutorials, the microscopy courses, and final year projects.

 

Outreach

We regularly demonstrate the microscopy facilities to school children, and I have prepared lectures on nanotechnology and microscopy 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. In 2010 I helped organise the Snapshots of Science, see the website for more information. I am a member of the RMS Outreach committee.

 

neil._wilson.jpg
Professor Neil Wilson
Microscopy Group
Department of Physics,
University of Warwick,
Coventry
CV4 7AL

Office: MAS2.08
+44 (0)24 765 24168
Neil.Wilson@warwick.ac.uk

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