Using high-energy ion irradiation and chemical etching provides an industrially compatible technology for the fabrication of extremely small nano-pores in a variety of materials. Combining this technology with 2D materials such as Graphene or ultra thin film deposition enables the fabrication of nanopore membranes with desired functionalities that can be used in medical and biological sensors, ultrafiltration and lab-on-the-chip applications.

The project encompasses the investigation of the membrane fabrication process, characterisation using synchrotron based scattering techniques as well as exploitation of their use in advanced applications. Examples include fabrication processes for large scale graphene/polymer composite nanopore membranes for desalination applications and silicon based solid state membranes for protein sequencing.  

Interest in nanotechnology, materials science, synchrotron techniques and interdisciplinary physics