Nanomaterials by Design

Christian Van Engers

Graduate reading for DPhil Materials
Materials
Magdalen College
University of Oxford

Short Biography & Research Summary

Christian is a 4th year DPhil candidate based in the Department of Chemistry (Perkin group). Christian collaborates across Chemistry and the Nanomaterials by Design group to undertake research aiming to use CVD grown graphene inside the graphene Surface Force Balance (gSFB). During this multi-disciplinary project he has investigated the growth and transfer of graphene [1,2]; measured the surface and interfacial energies of graphene [3]; and developed new optical techniques for analyzing the interferometric data obtained using the gSFB [4]. His current research focuses on measurement of surfaces forces in concentrated electrolytes using the gSFB. Christian holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Chemistry from Utrecht University. He is broadly interested in microfabrication, optics and molecular scale mechanisms at interfaces. His past research has included research into the colloidal synthesis of semi-conductor nanocrystals and top-down fabrication of chiral plasmonic nanoparticles [5,6].

[1] Targeted cleaning of copper foil surface impurities for improved synthesis of CVD graphene A.T. Murdock, C.D. van Engers, J. Britton, V. Babenko, S.S. Meysami, H. Bishop, A. Crossley, A.A. Koos, N. Grobert Carbon 2017, 122, 207-216 [2] A Graphene Surface Force Balance J. Britton, N.E.A. Cousens, S.W. Coles, C.D. van Engers, V. Babenko, A.T. Murdock, A. Koós, S. Perkin, N. Grobert Langmuir, 2014, 30 (38), pp 11485–11492 [3] Direct measurement of the surface energy of graphene C.D. van Engers, N.E.A. Cousens, V. Babenko, J. Britton, B. Zappone, N. Grobert, S. Perkin, Nano Letters 2017, DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b01181, In press [4] Out-of-contact interferometric determination of asymmetric spacer layer thicknesses in the Surface Force Balance C.D. van Engers*, M. Balabajew*, S. Perkin Submitted to Review of Scientific Instruments [5] Ultraviolet Plasmonic Chirality from Colloidal Aluminum Nanoparticles Exhibiting Charge‐Selective Protein Detection K.M. McPeak, C.D. van Engers, S. Bianchi, A. Rossinelli, L.V. Poulikakos, L. Bernard, S. Herrmann, D.K. Kim, S. Burger, M. Blome, S.V. Jayanti, D.J. Norris, Advanced Materials 2015, 27 (40), 6244-6250 [6] Complex Chiral Colloids and Surfaces via High-Index Off-Cut Silicon K.M. McPeak, C.D. van Engers, M. Blome, J.H. Park, S. Burger, M.A. Gosálvez, A. Faridi, Y.R. Ries, A. Sahu, D.J. Norris Nano Letters 2014, 14 (5), 2934-2940

Publications

High-Frequency Supercapacitors Based on Doped Carbon Nanostructures

Z J Han, C Huang, S S Meysami, D Piché, D H Seo, S Pineda, A T Murdock, P S Bruce, P S Grant, N Grobert
In Carbon, 2018, 126, 305-312

Contact

Nanomaterials by Design is based at the Department of Materials at the Begbroke Science Park.

Begbroke Science Park

Sandy Lane
Yarnton
Oxford
OX5 1PF
UK