A researcher at The University of Manchester has been awarded a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant to develop new ways of controlling matter at the atomic scale.
Professor Roman Gorbachev, based in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the National Graphene Institute (NGI), will lead the £3m five-year project Van der Waals Nanomachines (ATOMSTEP). The ERC Advanced Grant scheme is among the most competitive in Europe, supporting established researchers to pursue ambitious, curiosity-driven science.
Professor Gorbachev said: “This project aims to establish a new approach to controlling motion at the nanoscale using two-dimensional materials. By developing electrically driven nanomachines, we will be able to study and assemble atomic-scale systems in ways that are not currently possible.”
The project will combine atomically thin materials into engineered structures, van der Waals heterostructures, whose electronic and mechanical properties can be precisely controlled. From these, the team will build a new class of on-chip nanomachines that move in controlled, atomic-scale steps, able to move and position atomic-scale objects with high precision. The work brings together the fundamental behaviour of layered materials, the design and construction of the nanomachines themselves, and their use in emerging technologies, including quantum devices.
The research will be carried out at the NGI, which provides specialist facilities for nanofabrication and advanced characterisation. It builds on the group’s recent work on ultra-clean fabrication of van der Waals heterostructures and atomic-scale imaging, published in journals including Nature Nanotechnology, Science and Nature Electronics, and further strengthens Manchester’s position as a centre for advanced materials science.
