skip to content

2D Materials and Devices Group

Head of 2DMD Group


Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy,
University of Cambridge,
27 Charles Babbage Road,
Cambridge, CB3 0FS
Email: mc209@cam.ac.uk
Contact number: +44 (0)1223 767061

Prof. Manish Chhowalla

 

Manish Chhowalla is the Goldsmiths’ Professor of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge. His research interests are in the fundamental studies of atomically thin two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). In particular, his group studies the properties of different phases of 2D TMDs. He has demonstrated that it is possible to induce phase transformations in atomically thin materials and utilise phases with disparate properties for field effect transistors, catalysis, and energy storage. Prof. Chhowalla is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng), Materials Research Society, and Churchill College. He was the founding Editor-in-Chief of Applied Materials Today, Associate Editor of ACS Nano, and is now the Editor-in-Chief of MRS Energy & Sustainability. He has been on the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers since 2016. Prior to Cambridge, he was a Professor at Rutgers University in NJ, USA.

 

Professional Preparation:

  • Rutgers University, Materials Science and Engineering, B.S., 1992
  • University of Cambridge, (UK), Electrical Engineering, Ph.D., 1998

 

Appointments:

  • Chair in Emerging Technologies: Atomically thin semiconductors, Royal Academy of Engineering, 2024
  • Partner and Research Area Lead of Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Cambridge
  • Goldsmiths’ Professor of Materials Science, Department of Materials Science, University of Cambridge.

 

Awards & Honors:

  • Fellow of Royal Academy of Engineering; elected in 2024
  • Fellow of Materials Research Society; elected in Jan 2017
  • Fellow of Institute of Physics; elected in 2015.
  • Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry; elected in 2014.
  • Clarivate (formerly Web of Science) Most Highly Cited Researchers (2016, 2017, 2018).
  • Institute of Physics of Ireland Lectureship (September 2013).
  • Donald H Jacobs Chair in Applied Physics (Jan 1, 2009 – Dec 31, 2012).
  • Distinguished Visiting Professor in Department of Applied Physics, Polytechnic University of Hong Kong (June 30, 2016 - Present).
  • UK Royal Society’s Wolfson Merit Award (2018 & 2009).
  • U.S. National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award for Young Investigators (April 2006)
  • Sigma Xi Outstanding Young Investigator for the Mid-Atlantic Region (2006).
  • Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship, University of Cambridge (2001–2003).
  • Wolfson College (University of Cambridge) Junior and Senior Research Fellow
  • > 200 Invited Talks at Major International Conferences.
  • >104,100 citations and H-index = 118 (Google Scholar).

 

Selected Professional Activities:

  • Editor-in-Chief of MRS Energy & Sustainability, 2024
  • Member of MRS, AAAS, ACS
  • Founding Editor-in-Chief of Applied Materials Today (May 2015 – May 2016)
  • Associate Editor of ACS Nano (June 1, 2016).
  • Editorial Boards of ACS NanoJournal of Materials Chemistry AAdvances in Materials Science and Engineering, NPG 2D Materials and Applications
  • Director of Nanotechnology for Clean Energy NSF IGERT Graduate Training Program for US Students (Aug. 2009 – Aug. 2015).
  • Co-Founder of GraphenEx –Start-up Company Supplying high-quality graphene and related materials.
  • MRS Webinar on 2D Materials, July 22, 2015.

2DMD PI


Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy,
University of Cambridge,
27 Charles Babbage Road,
Cambridge, CB3 0FS
Email: yw472@cam.ac.uk

Dr. Yan Wang

 

Education:

  • PhD Candidate, University of Cambridge (UK), Materials Science and Metallurgy, 2018-21
  • M.S., Peking University (China), Microelectronics, 2016
  • B.S., Jiangnan University (China), Microelectronics, 2013

 

Research Interests:

  • Electronic and photoelectronic devices based on two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides

 

Awards & Honours:

  • Title A Fellow Elect, St John's College, 2024 - Present
  • Postdoctoral By-Fellow, Churchill College, 2022 - 2024
  • Armourers and Brasiers Company Post-doctoral Fellowship, 2022
  • MRS Fall Meeting Gold Graduate Student Award, 2019
  • Trinity-Henry Barlow Scholarship, Cambridge University-Trinity College, 2018 - 2021
  • Excellent Graduate Student Award for top 1% of Students, Beijing District, 2016

 

Professional Activities:

  • Member of MRS, IEEE
  • Reviewer for Nature, ACS Nano, Nature Communications, Nano Lett, Matter, npj 2D Materials and Applications, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Materials Today Electronics, Nanoscale and other journals
  • Research Assistant, Rutgers University (USA), Materials Science and Engineering, 2018
  • Rutgers RISE (Research Intensive Summer Experience) program (2018) – Mentor to Jenny Martinez for 10 weeks’ research.
  • Broadening Participation in Materials Undergraduate Student Event at the 2017 MRS Fall Meeting – Mentor to Monika Eggenberger

 

Publications:

  • Yan Wang*, Soumya Sarkar, Han Yan, Manish Chhowalla*, “Perspectives on critical challenges in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides for electronics”, Nature Electronics, Accepted.
  • Yiru Zhu, Juhwan Lim, Zhepeng Zhang, Yan Wang* , Soumya Sarkar, Hugh Ramsden, Yang Li, Han Yan, Dibya Phuyal, Nicolas Gauriot, Akshay Rao, Robert L. Z. Hoye, Goki Eda, Manish Chhowalla*, “Room temperature photoluminescence mediated by sulfur vacancies in 2D molybdenum disulfide”, ACS Nano, 17, 13545-13553, (2023) 
  • Yan Wang, Jong Kim, Yang Li, Kyung Yeol Ma, Seokmo Hong, Minsu Kim, Hyeon Suk Shin, Hu Young Jeong, Manish Chhowalla, “P-type electrical contacts for 2D transition metal dichalcogenides”, Nature, 610, 61–66 (2022)
  • Kyung Yeol M, Leining Zhang, Sunghwan Jin, Yan Wang, Seong In Yoon, Hyuntae Hwang, Da Sol Jeong, Shahana Chatterjee, Gwangwoo Kim, A-Rang Jang, Jieun Yang, Hu Young Jeong, Rodney Ruoff, Manish Chhowalla, Feng Ding, “Epitaxial single-crystal hexagonal boron nitride multilayers on Ni (111)”, Nature, 606, 88–93 (2022)
  • Yan Wang, Manish Chhowalla, “Making clean electrical contacts on 2D transition metal dichalcogenides”, Nature Reviews Physics, 4, 101–112 (2022) [Invited Expert Recommendation]
  • Chit Siong Lau, Jing Yee Chee, Yee Sin Ang, Shi Wun Tong, Liemao Cao, Zi-En Ooi, Tong Wang, Lay Kee Ang, Yan Wang, Manish Chhowalla, Kuan Eng Johnson Goh, “Quantum Transport in Two-Dimensional WS2 with High-Efficiency Carrier Injection through Indium Alloy Contacts”, ACS Nano, 14, 13700-13708 (2020)
  • Ryan J Wu, Sagar Udyavara, Rui Ma, Yan Wang, Manish Chhowalla, Steven J Koester, Matthew Neurock, K Andre Mkhoyan. “Visualizing the metal-MoS2 contacts in two-dimensional field-effect transistors with atomic resolution”, Physical Review Materials, 3, 111001 (2019)
  • Yan Wang, Jong Chan Kim, Ryan J. Wu, Jenny Martinez, Xiuju Song, Jieun Yang, Fang Zhao, Andre Mkhoyan, Hu Young Jeong, Manish Chhowalla. “Ultra-clean van der Waals contacts between three-dimensional metals and two-dimensional semiconductors”, Nature, 568, 70–74 (2019)
  • Yan Wang, Raymond Fullon, Muharrem Acerce, Christopher E. Petoukhoff, Jieun Yang, Chenggan Chen, Songnan Du, Sin Ki Lai, Shu Ping Lau, Damien Voiry, Deirdre O'Carroll, Gautam Gupta, Aditya D. Mohite, Shengdong Zhang, Hang Zhou, Manish Chhowalla. "Solution-Processed MoS2/Organolead Trihalide Perovskite Photodetectors." Advanced Materials, 29, 4, (2017)
  • Yan Wang, Zhonggao Xia, Songnan Du, Fang Yuan, Zigang Li, Zhenjun Li, Qing Dai, Haolan Wang, Shiqiang Luo, Shengdong Zhang, Hang Zhou “Solution-Processed Photodetectors based onOrganic-inorganic Hybrid Perovskite and Nanocrystalline Graphite”, Nanotechnology, 27, 175201, (2016)
  • Yan Wang, Zhonggao Xia, Jun Liang, Xinwei Wang, Yiming Liu, Chuan Liu, Shengdong Zhang and Hang Zhou, “Towards printed perovskite solar cells with cuprous oxide hole transportinglayers: a theoretical design”, Semiconductor Science and Technology. 30, 054004, 2015 (one of the Semiconductor Science and Technology Highlights of 2015).

 

Latest Happenings in the 2DMD Sphere

2D TMDs Conference 2025

After the success of the 2D TMDs Conference in Cambridge and Hong Kong, the conference is back in Cambridge next year! The conference will gather leading researchers from academia and industry to present cutting-edge research in the field of atomically thin TMDs and related materials for fields including electronics, photonics, and energy storage. Click https://www.2dtmds2025.com/  to find out more and register!

20th-25th July 2025

New Paper Alert

Check out our latest paper "Ultrathin transition metal oxychalcogenide catalysts for oxygen evolution in acidic media" in Nature Synthesis here.

1st January 2025

Royce Battery Suite Promotional Video

The Royce Battery Suite launched on the 31st of October 2023, and is built on the £1million investment from the Sir Henry Royce Institute – UK’s National Materials Institute, SHRI Hub located in Manchester with UCam being one of the partners. It is an open access facility for researchers from both industry and academia. Have a look at our promotional video here to find out more!

19th December 2024

Christmas lunch 2025

2DMD had our annual Christmas Lunch at John's College and it was a fruitful time of fun, laughter and unwinding. Here's to a wonderful 2024 and to an even better 2025 ahead! We also had an enjoyable time of Secret Santa, featuring Manish's cat enjoying the presents that he got.

13th December 2024

Farewell Dinner for Juntae and Hosting Dr. Shiqiang Luo

The 2DMD Group enjoyed a Thai dinner at Sala Thong to bid our visiting student, Juntae, farewell, and host Dr. Shiqiang Luo for his talk at MSM. It was a bittersweet moment with Juntae's touching goodbye speech. Good luck, Juntae, we will miss you! And thanks for the informative talk, Dr. Shiqiang Luo!

29th November 2024

Talk by Dr. Shiqiang Luo from Zinergy

Dr. Shiqiang Luo from Zinergy visited us at MSM and gave a talk on flexible and paper-thin printed batteries manufactured at Zinergy, secondary zinc batteries, and key points for battery commercialization.

29th November 2024

Cambridge materials science spin-out Molyon is on a mission to make next-gen batteries fly

Both the co-founders of Molyon did an interview with Natasha Lomas from TechCrunch to share more about the heart and soul behind the founding of Molyon. Keep up the great work Dr. Zhuangnan Li and Dr. Ismail Sami, you're making us proud! Read more about the interview here.

26th November 2024

New Paper Alert

Check out our latest paper "Pressure enabled organic reactions via confinement between layers of 2D materials" in Science Advances here.

8th November 2024

Soumya and Yiru Farewell

Farewell dinner with the group for Soumya and Yiru to wish them well in the next step of their journeys!

8th November 2024

Visit by US Department of Energy

It was our pleasure to host distinguished scientists from the US Department of Energy, Dr. Gabriel M. Veith (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) and Dr. Robert Kostecki (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), at MSM and showcase the Royce Battery Suite.

21st October 2024