Multiscale Monocrystalline Nanopatterns for Opto(nano)electronics – MeMeNtO

Material properties and nanoscale geometry are crucial pillars upon which the performance of optoelectronic devices stands. Monocrystalline materials are required to reach the highest possible performance, while the accurate design of the nanoscale geometry provides the opportunity to engineer light matter interactions. My research project lies at the interface between physics, chemistry and nanotechnology, aiming at studying and developing a new paradigm to make monocrystalline materials with an arbitrary nanoscale pattern from colloidal nanocube building blocks. Single-crystal nanocubes, synthesised via wet chemistry, are first assembled into a nanopatterned mold, followed by an epitaxial chemical welding process at low temperature to connect the individual subunits and yield a continuous material. This project will combine the advantages of bottom-up processes with those of nanostructuring to produce monocrystalline nanostructured functional devices.