Layered transition metal dichalcogenides (2D-TMDCs) have emerged as a promising alternative to mainstream semiconductor materials (e. g. silicon) for application in modern semiconductor devices for electronics, lighting, solar energy and communication. The electronic structures of TMDCs are sensitive to external perturbations, such as changing the number of layers, the level of strain, or the surface chemistry. Metal phthalocyanines (MPcs) may take a leading role in tailoring the optoelectronic properties of 2D-TMDCs via molecular adsorption.

The goal of the project is the tuning of the electronic properties of TMDCs by the adsorption of molecules. Here, the effects of the electronic structure tuning will be inspected using photoluminescence, Raman and second harmonic generation microscopy, at sub-micrometer and nanometer scales.

In this project, an optical platform will be developed based on the plasmonic metal structures. To achieve high enhancement to the optical signals, novel nanostructure configurations will be made using wet-chemistry synthesized nanoparticles or evaporated metallic thin film.

Nowadays, microplastic particles (< 5 mm) have been ubiquitously detected in the environments (figure 1 a). The impacts of plastic particles on organisms are categorized as physical effects and chemical effects. Whilst the former is related to the particle size, shape, and concentration, the latter is associated to the hazardous chemicals in microplastics. With particle size of less than 1 micrometer, nanoplastics typically resulted from degradation and fragmentation of microplastics. Though data on microplastic exposure levels in environments and organisms have rapidly increased in recent decades, limited information associated with nanoplastics is available. They are probably the least known area of plastic litter but are suspected to pose the greatest risk to the environment. In this project we will develop effective optical spectroscopic methods to identify the chemical composition of nanoplastics and correlating their physical appearances.