Molecule-programable 2D organic-inorganic heterostructures through local tunning of their optoelectronic properties

The rise of 2D materials marked a major step in modern electronics, thanks to their unique properties and the ability to combine them with other materials. When stacked with suitable partners in hybrid Van-der-Waals heterostructures, they display electronic, optical, and magnetic responses not found elsewhere. Coupling these materials with organic semiconductors, which offer tunability and biocompatibility, opens a broad field of exploration. At the heterointerface, diverse physical processes can strongly modify the 2D material, allowing its properties to be tailored simply by choosing a capping layer. So far, this approach has mostly relied on crystalline organic films, but their limited availability and processing constraints reduce practical impact.

This project takes a different route by exploiting giant surface potentials (GSP) that appear in certain organic semiconductors grown by physical vapor deposition (PVD). These films exhibit spontaneous orientation polarization (SOP), which can generate built-in voltages up to 100–200 mV/nm. Such fields provide a powerful way to tune the properties of 2D materials without requiring crystallinity. Amorphous organic films are particularly attractive, since they combine homogeneity with tunability through growth conditions such as substrate temperature, deposition rate, or applied electric fields.

We will investigate how these oriented organic layers influence the electronic states and charge transport in 2D materials, including representative x-enes (e.g. Germanene and Silicene). By forming organic–inorganic hybrid structures, we aim to locally control the orientation and structure of the organic film, and in turn, induce targeted modifications of the 2D layer. This capability could enable new device concepts, with direct applications in memristors and high-density, energy-efficient memory technologies.

Academic:

• Bachelor’s degree in Physics, Chemistry, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology or related.
• Master’s degree in Physics, Chemistry, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology or related.

Experience:

• Preferably, experience in laboratory environment, working with scientific equipment (PVD, synthesis of materials, optical and electrical characterization….).

Skills:

• Teamwork ability.
• Good communication skills.
• Capacity to solve problems efficiently.

The Group of Thermal Properties of Nanomaterials (GTNaM) advances nanoscience by combining synthesis and thermal characterization at the nanoscale. They are among the few European teams working on nanocalorimetry of low-dimensional systems and on combinatorial PVD thin films. With expertise in nucleation and growth kinetics, and patented microchip-based methods for high-throughput studies, GTNaM has achieved international recognition.

The Nano2Smart Lab is focused on exploiting molecular engineering for fine-tuning the (opto)electronic properties of advanced 2D materials. We have wide expertise in the synthesis, functionalization, characterization and implementation of functional 2D materials in several fields, including memory devices, logic systems and (bio)sensing platforms.