During the last few years, our lab has embarked on the risky but rewarding adventure of discovering completely new nanomaterials. These are either new nanostructures from unique materials only known in their bulk form, or brand new materials that have never been produced even in the bulk but we can obtain at the nanoscale. Based on intuition and theory, we predict these novel nanomaterials to have unique properties with various potential applications, or to exhibit unexpected phenomena yet to be observed. These new nanomaterials can be divided into a few families:
Quantum nanomaterials: Nanowires and other nanostructures from quantum materials, such as topological insulators and semimetals, which have been proposed as potential building blocks for quantum computing.
Chiral nanomaterials: Nanowires and other nanostructures from chiral crystals, and guided growth approaches to control their handedness. These nanostructures could be potentially useful for spintronics and for circularly polarized optoelectronics, which could also be used for quantum computing.
New 2D materials: 2D materials with unique bonding, structure and properties, as well as 1D-2D hybrid structures.
Nanomaterials for the environment: Functional materials from earth-abundant and non-toxic elements that are hard to obtain in the bulk, but we can produce as nanostructures, and harness their properties for eco-friendly applications.
