Research Thrust 1: Liquid Behaviors on 2D Material Interfaces by Near-Field Infrared Nanospectroscopy

This research thrust centers on using near-field infrared nanospectroscopy combined with a custom-designed liquid cell to investigate functional organic liquids (e.g., ionic liquids) interfaced with graphene. The initial motivation is to study the interfacial behaviors of ionic liquids for their applications in electrolytes in energy storage devices such as supercapacitors. In the future, we aim to expand the scope of this research theme and incorporate a variety of liquid systems with novel properties and couple them with 2D materials beyond graphene.

Relevant paper:

• Zixuan Li, Ka Chon Ng, Seth Anderson, Maximilian Jaugstetter, Miquel B. Salmeron, Michael C. Martin, Hans A. Bechtel, Stephanie N. Gilbert Corder, Electrochemical Dynamics of Imidazolium Ionic Liquids at Graphene Electrodes for Energy Storage Applications. Nano Energy 2026, 151, 111785 [link]

Research Thrust 2: Multimodal Atomic Force Microscopy Patterning and Characterization

In this research topic, we use atomic force microscope (AFM) to locally modify materials applying different scanning probe lithography techniques, with the aim to control the properties of materials on a small scale for targeted applications. We then employ a variety of spectromicroscopy techniques to characterize the nanopatterned areas and correlate their structural and chemical characteristics with their physical properties.

Relevant papers:

• Zixuan Li, Jerzy T. Sadowski, Andrei Dolocan, Filippo Mangolini, Ionic Liquid-Mediated Scanning Probe Electro-Oxidative Lithography as a Novel Tool for Engineering Functional Oxide Micro- and Nano-Architectures. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2023, 33, 2306660. [link]
• Zixuan Li, Oscar Morales-Collazo, Robert Chrostowski, Joan F. Brennecke, Filippo Mangolini, In Situ Nanoscale Evaluation of Pressure-Induced Changes in Structural Morphology of Phosphonium Phosphate Ionic Liquid at Single-Asperity Contacts. RSC Adv. 2022, 12, 413-419. [link]
• Zixuan Li, Andrei Dolocan, Oscar Morales-Collazo, Jerzy T. Sadowski, Hugo Celio, Robert Chrostowski, Joan F. Brennecke, Filippo Mangolini, Lubrication Mechanism of Phosphonium Phosphate Ionic Liquid in Nanoscale Single-Asperity Sliding Contacts. Adv. Mater. Interfaces 2020, 7, 2000426. [link]

Research Thrust 3: Functionalized Low-Dimensional Materials with Modulated Properties

Coming soon