News

Sept. 2025 Artem Mishchenko started a new position as Senior Fellow at Collegium Helveticum.

he also started a new position as visiting professor in EPFL!

July 2025 Our latest study "Visualization of topological shear polaritons in gypsum thin films" led by Pablo Díaz Núñez reveals a completely new way that light moves through one of the world’s most familiar minerals – 𝗴𝘆𝗽𝘀𝘂𝗺. Working with colleagues at the National Graphene Institute (University of Manchester) and international partners, we 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗻‐𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗴𝘆𝗽𝘀𝘂𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗺𝘀 for the first time. 

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀

• We uncovered a 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 in these polaritons – from 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤 to 𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭, passing through a unique 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 regime that guides light like it’s on rails.

• Light can be 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗲𝘀 ~𝟮𝟱 × 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲‐𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵 and its 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝟬.𝟬𝟱 % 𝗼𝗳 𝗰 – opening doors to “slow‑light” photonics and extreme light–matter interaction.

• Gypsum is abundant, low‑cost and easy to exfoliate, giving the photonics community a scalable, versatile platform for mid‑IR devices, thermal imaging and on‑chip sensing. 

Ref: Science Advances 11, eadw3452 (2025). https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw3452

July 2025 our recent paper “Rare-Earth Ion Intercalation in Graphene via Thermal and Electrostatic Control”, led by Mengjie Feng,  published this week in Advanced Materials. Mengjie chose europium and gadolinium and began a painstaking series of experiments. Each data point was a major effort: she first fabricated bilayer graphene devices (multiterminal Hall-bar FETs), then protected them from corrosive electrolytes with lithographically patterned epoxy. To track the process, we relied on small changes in resistance. Most devices were one-use only - often degrading midway - so the fabrication-intercalation-characterisation cycle had to be repeated again and again. All the work had to be done in a glovebox or high vacuum to prevent sample degradation.

The result: a reversible, controllable method to electrochemically intercalate europium into bilayer graphene - the first time rare-earth ions have been intercalated this way into a 2D system. We believe this opens the door to more exotic intercalation systems across the 2D material family. 

Ref: Advanced Materials 37, 2502417 (2025). https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adma.202502417

06.2025 Our paper "Silver Electrodeposition from Ag/AgCl Electrodes: Implications for Nanoscience" is published on Nano Letters.  Hongxu started the project to explore interactions between flowing ions in solution and electrons in graphene as part of his PhD project. 

To develop better methodology for his research, he began by trying to 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 “𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗼𝗺𝗯 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗴” - a well-cited but still debated effect. The experimental setup is simple: a graphene channel is immersed in an aqueous KCl solution. Ionic current is driven through the solution using two Ag/AgCl electrodes, and the induced electronic current is measured through the graphene.

It worked - kind of. The current through graphene appeared, just like in the original papers. But it wasn’t consistent. Sometimes it changed sign. Sometimes it disappeared altogether.

Hongxu suspected something was off. So he looked closer - and spotted 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗲. The only possible source of silver? The electrodes.

What followed is a careful and convincing demonstration that 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗴𝗖𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲-𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, which then 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗲, generating the measured current. The ionic Coulomb drag, it turns out, is 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆.

This work is both a 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲 and a valuable technical note for anyone working with Ag/AgCl electrodes in nanofluidic or ionic gating setups. Even a “benign” electrode can fundamentally alter your results if you’re not careful. 

Ref: Nano Lett. 25, 23, 9427–9432 (2025). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c01929

Feb. 2025 Our paper "Elf autoencoder for unsupervised exploration of flat-band materials using electronic band structure fingerprints" is now published in Communications Physics. 

Flat-band materials enable 𝗲𝘅𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺 𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗮 - from unconventional superconductivity to topological states. But how do we 𝗻𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 to find the most promising candidates?

Co-first authored by our wonderful MPhys students, Henry Kelbrick Pentz and Thomas Warford, we introduce 🧝 𝗘𝗹𝗳, a 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝗜 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 that learns 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 from band structures, enabling 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀. 

Read more here: Communications Physics, 8, 25 (2025). https://www.nature.com/articles/s42005-025-01936-2

02.08.2023 

As the world cheers for room temperature superconductivity, we also take our part and join the community to confirm LK-99. Perhaps, more importantly, to find ways to make superconductors.

01.01.2023 Dr Qian Yang's European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant - Wonder Sieve starts, funded through UKRI.

This projects to develop lab-on-a-chip molecular sorting devices with simultaneous detection and separation functions - wonder sieve, based on van der Waals assembled nanocapillaries. 

25.02.2019 Our paper on Quantum Hall Effect in Graphite is published in Nature Physics

"Graphite offers up new quantum surprise" UoM press release

Phys.org - Graphite offers up new quantum surprise

Interesting Engineering - Scientists Uncover Improbable Quantum Property of Graphite

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27.11.2015 Artem Mishchenko was awarded EPSRC Fellowship (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council).