Lines of activities:
In spite of the great interest in nanoscopic systems and devices, their fabrication, and characterization, represent a challenge for the scientific community. In our research activities, we apply advanced AFM-based microcopy and nanoindentation techniques for the nanotribological and mechanical characterization of materials. The techniques used in our research allow visualization of the surface of the materials with high spatial resolution and simultaneous characterization of their tribological and mechanical properties.
Our studies involve a wide variety of materials and properties including energy dissipation mechanisms in graphene and other 2D materials, characterization of mechanical defects in semiconductors used in LEDs and solar cells as well as in the geochemical and mechanical characterization of highly heterogeneous materials such as rocks.