Welcome to the Nanomaterial Engineering Group.

The Nanomaterial Engineering Group is part of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Sheffield.

Check out Tim's blog for details of ongoing research activity and more.

Nanomaterial engineering is concerned with the application of molecular materials - that is, materials whose macroscopic properties are primarily determined by their molecular properties. This is in contrast to most inorganic device structures, where the properties of individual molecules do not enable researchers to easily predict the properties of the material when many of these molecules are assembled.

This is not to say that the packing arrangement of molecular materials is unimportant - far from it. However, such materials give us the possibility of predicting the macroscopic properties of a bulk material based on the arrangement of atoms within a discrete molecule (or a very small assembly of molecules).

In order to exploit this functionality, a number of deposition techniques have been developed to allow the assembly of thin films of molecular materials in controlled arrangements. Combined with chemical tailoring of molecules, this allows devices to be developed with the specific performance characteristics desired.

The results of research into nanomaterial engineering are all around us. From pharmaceutical drugs, modern plastic building materials, to full-colour liquid crystal displays, nanomaterial engineering has changed the way we live.