Another Industrial Doctorate Defended

The third Industrial Doctorate at Łukasiewicz – PORT defended! Congratulations to Dr. Anna Siudzińska, who defended her thesis entitled “In situ studies of two-dimensional materials interactions with the electron beam in a transmission electron microscope”!

The work aimed to create comprehensive measurement procedures for a problematic group of two-dimensional materials and to study the interactions between them and the electron beam.

As a result, procedures were developed for dealing with 2D structures from the preparation step to the final measurement for four groups of materials, namely: graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides, metal monochalcogenides, and copper (I) oxide. They are used e.g. in nano- and optoelectronics, catalysis, biomedicine, in the creation of detectors, and as semiconductors in the nanoscale.

For each group, a recommended research path has been established, from the preparation stage to the imaging. The procedures developed by Dr. Siudzińska will enable the rapid implementation of research and avoid the destruction of samples extremely sensitive to the energy from the electron beam.

The presented results include also a description of the interaction of the electron beam with the tested material mechanisms. An accurate understanding of the mechanisms of interaction between the electron beam and various 2D materials and precise determination of the threshold parameters of the microscope setting allows for measurements without radiation damage to the sample and for the controlled introduction of specific types of defects, which contributes to the wide possibilities of structural modification of 2D materials and fine-tuning of their properties.

The work was carried out at Łukasiewicz – PORT and the Włodzimierz Trzebiatowski Institute of Low Temperatures and Structural Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław. The doctoral dissertation supervisors were Prof. Detlef Hommel and Dr. Alicja Bachmatiuk.