Overseas travel to perform in-situ STM experiments at Aarhus University

Nitrogen doped graphene (N-graphene) is a sheet of graphene with some of the carbon atoms swapped with nitrogen. This material has shown great promise for a number of technological applications - most notably as an electrocatalyst (something that makes an electrochemical reaction more efficient, for example increasing the performance of a battery). However, the "doping" process (how the nitrogen atoms integrate into the carbon lattice and where exactly they go) is not well understood. Gaining a fundamental understanding of how this process works and how to control it would allow researchers and ultimately industry to "tailor" their nitrogen doped graphene for optimal performance. This is a big challenge as it involves understanding how the material evolves on the atomic scale.
This proposal seeks to build a new collaboration with a world-leading research group at Aarhus University, Denmark. They are specialists in an advanced microscopy technique called Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy. This allows a sample to be seen in atomic resolution, so we can see exactly where the nitrogen atoms are in the graphene. This is highly complementary with the PI's own X-Ray spectroscopy research, which provides information on the chemical nature of the nitrogen dopants. The combination of the two will allow for a full, atomic-scale picture of how nitrogen incorporates into the graphene and give us clues on how to control this process.
This grant will allow the PI to travel to Aarhus University several times over the course of a year to conduct experiments in their lab and correlate the results with experiments done in his home lab.

This project aims to combine two cutting-edge in situ characterisation techniques gain a detailed mechanistic understanding of heteroatom doping in 2D materials, specifically in nitrogen-doped graphene, however it's likely that some of the fundamental principles of doping will be the same for different heteroatoms and/or different 2D materials. As it stands the current process of heteroatom doping is not understood in much detail, meaning that researchers looking to produce doped graphene for a particular application are limited to trial-and-error methodology. For rapid and substantial progress in realising doped graphene in real-world applications, the ability to tailor the amount and chemical nature of the dopant atoms to a particular application is vital. This project aims to go some way to delivering this understanding.
The initial impact will be academic - the insights we will gain will help academics working at a more applied level produce doped graphene optimised for their particular application. This project will ensure this impact is realised through a high impact publication and through applications for further funding to extend this work (see pathways to impact for details).
It is anticipated that there will ultimately be an economic impact of this work as tailored and optimised doped graphene, demonstrated by academics, will become of interest to industrial partners. A high-profile example is future battery technologies, where highly efficient and earth-abundant electrocatalysts will be essential.