The Surface Nanoscience Research Group is in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford. We study the atomic scale structure and properties of surfaces and nanostructures, and also investigate molecular ordering on surfaces. Our main instruments are two JEOL ultra high vacuum (UHV) scanning tunnelling microscopes (STM) that can image surfaces at atomic resolution over a wide range of temperatures. We also have a third UHV chamber to process materials for our gas sensing project and have a custom-built chamber to test our gas sensors for a variety of low concentrations of analytes. Our chemiresistive gas sensors use electrical percolation networks to achieve particularly high sensitivities. The active sensing materials are metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and conducting polymers. By characterising and processing surfaces on the nanoscale we aim to create new materials for applications in catalysis, gas sensing, microelectronics, and diverse areas of nanotechnology.

People in the Group:

 Martin Castell is head of the group.

 He is a Professor in the Department of Materials, Fellow of Linacre College,
 and Associate Head (Taught Degrees) of the MPLS Division.

 Weishuo Li is a post-doctoral researcher.

 He is using conducting polymers to create high-sensitivity gas sensors.
 His work is supported through an EPSRC (IAA) award.

 He has a personal ResearchGate page.

 email: weishuo.li 'at' st-annes.ox.ac.uk

 Abi Lister is a final year DPhil student.

 She is researching the synthesis of 2D conducting metal-organic frameworks for
 gas sensing applications.

 She holds an EPSRC DTP award.

 email: abigail.lister 'at' spc.ox.ac.uk

 Tairu Ge is a fifth year DPhil student.

 He is carrying out research into strain engineering of 2D and 3D epitaxial oxides.

 email: tairu.ge 'at' stx.ox.ac.uk

 Axel Forssberg is a fourth year DPhil student.

 He is studying the surface properties of Li-based solid state batteries.

 He is part of the Faraday Institution SOLBAT initiative.

 email: axel.forssberg 'at' stx.ox.ac.uk

 Yu Wang is a fourth year DPhil student.

 She is working on 2D conducting metal-organic framework gas sensors.

 email: yu.wang 'at' stcatz.ox.ac.uk

 Runze Chen is a third year DPhil student.

 His research is on the synthesis and application of metal-organic frameworks for gas sensing.

 email: runze.chen 'at' st-annes.ox.ac.uk

 Sparsh Tyagi is a third year DPhil student.

 He is carrying out research into the growth and characterisation of 2D metal-organic frameworks.

 He holds an EPSRC DTP award.

 email: sparsh.tyagi 'at' materials.ox.ac.uk

 Liren Wang is a third year DPhil student.

 He is investigating the gas sensing properties of conducting polymers.

 email: liren.wang 'at' st-annes.ox.ac.uk

 Michael Furlan is a second year DPhil student.

 His research is into the growth and characterisation of ultra-thin supported oxide films.

 He holds an EPSRC DTP award.

 email: michael.furlan 'at' exeter.ox.ac.uk

 Zirui Song is a first year DPhil student.

 He is investigating the growth and gas sensing properties of metal-organic frameworks.

 email: zirui.song 'at' materials.ox.ac.uk

Former Group Members:

Yingrui Zhao was a DPhil student (2019-23).
She joined a company in China.

Sisheng Shu was a DPhil student (2019-23).
He joined a company in China.

Fubiao Gu was a DPhil student (2017-23).
He joined a company in China.

Yuhan Zhu was a DPhil student (2018-22).
She joined a company in China.

Xinze Yang was an MSc student (2020-22).
He went to Yale for his PhD studies.

Merel Lefferts was a DPhil student (2013-17) and a post-doc (2017-22).
She now holds a faculty position at Utrecht University, Netherlands.

Peiyu Chen was a DPhil student (2015-19) and a post-doc (2019-21).
She is now a Teaching Associate at the University of Cambridge.

Ben Armitage was a DPhil student (2016-21) and a post-doc (2021).
He went to work for a company investing in spin-out companies.

Aatif Rasheed was an MSc student (2016-21).

Shuqiu Wang was a DPhil student (2015-19).
She joined the Physics Department in Oxford as a post-doc.

Laurence Marks was an academic visitor (2019).
He returned to his home institution, Northwestern University, in the USA.

Krishnan Murugappan was a post-doctoral researcher (2015-19).
He went on to do further research at ANU in Canberra, Australia.

Xiao Hu was a was a DPhil student (2012-16) and post-doc (2017-18).
She joined a company in London.

Yakun Gao was a DPhil student (2013-17).
She joined a company in China.

Tabitha Jones was a part II student (2016-17).
She went to work for Dyson.

Jan Seidel was an academic visitor (2016).
He returned to his home institution, UNSW, in Sydney, Australia.

Shams ur Rahman was a DPhil student (2010-14) and post-doc (2014-15).
He became an Assistant Professor at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology.

Bruce Bromage was a part II student (2014-15).
He went on to do a DPhil in the Materials Department.

Olga Shvarova was a DPhil student (2007-11) and post-doc (2012-13).
She went to work for Oxford University Innovation Ltd.

Chen Wu was a DPhil student (2006-10) and post-doc (2011-13).
She now holds a faculty position at Zhejiang University.

Jingyu Sun was a DPhil student (2008-12).
He did further research at Peking and Cambridge Universities and is now a faculty member at Soochow University.

Judy Kim was a post-doc (2008-12).
She is now a Senior Staff Scientist in the Materials Department.

Jules Gardener was a post-doc (2008-9).
She went on to do further post-doctoral research at Harvard.

Adam Shaw was an MSc student (2006-9).
He went to study for a PhD at the University of British Columbia.

Matthew Marshall was a DPhil student (2005-9).
He became a post-doc at Yale.

Karen Kruska was a visiting student (2007-8).
She went on to study for a DPhil in the Oxford Atom Probe group.

Bruce Russell was a DPhil student (2004-8).
He went to join a financial services company.

Helen Marsh was a DPhil student (2004-8).
She became a Physics teacher.

David Newell was a DPhil student (2003-7).
He went to work for Dstl.

Fabien Silly was a post-doc (2003-7).
He became an Assistant Professor at the University of Groningen and is now at CEA Saclay.

David Deak was a DPhil student (2003-7).
He went to work for Siemens Wind Power.

Andrew Powell was a part II student (2003-4).