DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

Research Statement 

The Hersam Research Group specializes in the synthesis, purification, functionalization, and application of low-dimensional nanoelectronic materials including monodisperse carbon nanotubes, graphene, plasmonic nanoparticles, transition metal dichalcogenides, hexagonal boron nitride, black phosphorus, and borophene. Surface chemical functionalization allows further tunability over the properties of these low-dimensional nanoelectronic materials including self-assembled monolayers on epitaxial graphene, covalent functionalization of graphene epoxide, monolayer molybdenum disulfide, graphene nanoribbons on germanium, surface passivation of black phosphorus, and organic-borophene heterostructures. The integration of these diverse materials into mixed-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures enables significant advances in diverse applications including thin-film transistors, memristors, transparent conductors, photovoltaics, batteries, and biomedical imaging contrast agents. In addition to fundamental studies, the Hersam Research Group commercializes low-dimensional nanoelectronic materials through scalable nanomanufacturing methods such as continuous flow solution processing and a range of printing methods encompassing inkjet, aerosol jet, gravure, screen, and 3D printing.

Selected Publications 

V. K. Sangwan, H.-S. Lee, H. Bergeron, I. Balla, M. E. Beck, K.-S. Chen, and M. C. Hersam, "Multi-terminal memtransistors from polycrystalline monolayer MoS₂," Nature, 554, 500 (2018).

A. J. Mannix, Z. Zhang, N. P. Guisinger, B. I. Yakobson, and M. C. Hersam, "Borophene as a prototype for synthetic 2D materials development," Nature Nanotechnology, 13, 444 (2018).

X. Liu and M. C. Hersam, "Interface characterization and control of 2D materials and heterostructures," Advanced Materials, 30, 1801586 (2018).

D. Jariwala, T. J. Marks, and M. C. Hersam, "Mixed-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures," Nature Materials, 16, 170 (2017).

J. Kang, V. K. Sangwan, J. D. Wood, and M. C. Hersam, "Solution-based processing of monodisperse two-dimensional nanomaterials," Accounts of Chemical Research, 50, 943 (2017).

K.-S. Chen, I. Balla, N. S. Luu, and M. C. Hersam, "Emerging opportunities for two-dimensional materials in lithium-ion batteries," ACS Energy Letters, 2, 2026 (2017).

C. R. Ryder, J. D. Wood, S. A. Wells, Y. Yang, D. Jariwala, T. J. Marks, G. C. Schatz, and M. C. Hersam, "Covalent functionalization and passivation of exfoliated black phosphorus via aryl diazonium chemistry," Nature Chemistry, 8, 597 (2016).

M. L. Geier, J. J. McMorrow, W. Xu, J. Zhu, C. H. Kim, T. J. Marks, and M. C. Hersam, "Solution-processed carbon nanotube thin-film complementary static random access memory," Nature Nanotechnology, 10, 944 (2015).

Selected Honors / Awards  

• MacArthur Fellowship, 2014
• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow, 2014
• ACS Arthur K. Doolittle Award in Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering, 2013
• APS Fellow, 2012
• MRS Fellow, 2012
• SPIE Fellow, 2012
• AVS Fellow, 2012
• Materials Research Society Outstanding Young Investigator Award, 2010
• SES Research Young Investigator Award, Electrochemical Society, 2010
• Teacher of the Year Award, Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, 2009