Team members

Dr Qian Yang is a Senior Research Fellow. She is currently a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, the University of Manchester, UK. She got PhD in Material Science and Engineering in 2018. Her research focused on the mass transport in 2D nanocapillaries enabled by van der Waals technology, molecular properties under spatial confinement, nanofluidics and other electrokinetic phenomena.

Dr Qian Yang, Senior Research Fellow, Royal Society University Research Fellow at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, the University of Manchester, UK. She got PhD in Material Science and Engineering in 2018. She is currently also the Academic Theme Lead for CVD process at the Graphene Engineering and Innovation Centre (GEIC), supporting industrial translation of graphene and 2D materials related products.

Her research focused on the mass transport in 2D nanocapillaries enabled by van der Waals technology, molecular properties under spatial confinement, nanofluidics and other electrokinetic phenomena. She is also the recipient of the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship in 2019, Royal Society University Research Fellowship and the European Research Council Starting Grant in 2022. 

I have expertise in nanofabrication, 2D material optics, graphene transport phenomena (room temperature), confined water system, etc. My skills include Raman and IR spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, room temperature electron transport measurement, photo- and electron beam-lithography, etc. My main projects are: Spectroscopic investigation on 2D water sheets confined in layered mineral, graphene-water interface, Ion migration and memristor behaviour in 2D systems.

email: ziwei.wang@manchester.ac.uk

I am currently a research associate at the University of Manchester. Prior to coming to Manchester, I completed my PhD in physical chemistry at the University of Geneva in 2017. My research focus has been on various aspects of surface science, with a particular emphasis on 2D materials. Currently, my research involves understanding liquid-solid charging dynamics, with a specific focus on water-graphene interfaces.  

email: mohsen.moazzamigudarzi@manchester.ac.uk

My research experience focuses on applying efficient and accurate computational and physical chemistry methods (spans Artificial Intelligence, Density Functional Theory, and Molecular Dynamics simulations) to understand the structure and dynamics of chemical systems. My current project focuses on AI-assisted 2D materials discovery. The research involves using machine learning to search for novel van der Waals materials with desirable properties by analysing their electronic band structures from databases and literature.

Email: xiangwen.wang@manchester.ac.uk

I started my PhD September 2022. I got my bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. I try to learn theories, model in simulations, and do experiments. Currently, I’m working on the low-temperature Quantum transport measurement in 2D materials. I’m interested in machine learning, van der Waals materials (graphene and graphite-based), the Quantum Hall effect (Fractional QHE), Neuromorphic computing, and nanoelectronics.  

email: amit.singh@manchester.ac.uk 

I started my PhD in January 2023. My expertise is studying physical chemistry phenomena by using chemical and electrochemical methods, including ion transport, separation technology, and energy harvest. My research is focused on the electrokinetic phenomena at the water-graphene interface.

Email: zhijia.zhang@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk 

I joined the group in April 2023 and currently working as a first-year PhD student. My project focuses on discovering the possible interaction(s) between a flowing liquid and graphene.

email: chuhongxu.chen@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk 

I started my PhD in January 2024. My interests are exotic electric and magnetic phenomena in 2D van der Waals materials. I try to study them from theories, experiments and simulations.

Email: yihao.wei@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk

I started my PhD in September 2024, shortly after obtaining my master's degree from Tsinghua University earlier this year. During my Master's, I gained some experience in the design and simulations of macroscopic two-dimensional nanofluidic membranes. My current PhD project focuses on the exploration of strong light-matter coupling through the innovative use of nanocapillaries and near-field optical microscopy.

Email: yifu.gao@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk

I started my PhD in September 2024. During my bachelor's and master's degree, I gained rich lab experience in the research field of two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures and perovskite solar cells. Now, I am interested in exploring light-matter interaction at the nanoscale using tip-enhanced spectroscopic approach.

Email: yuanji.gao@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk

Artem Mishchenko is currently Senior Staff Laboratory Scientist at Google DeepMind. 

Artem Mishchenko, Fellow of Institute of Physics (IoP), FRSC, Professor of Condensed Matter physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Manchester. He got PhD in Molecular Electronics in 2010 at the Faculty of Science, Bern University, Switzerland. He is a leading expert in the physics of van der Waals materials. His research is centred on quantum phenomena in a large variety of systems: from single molecules transport to the structure of water in confined geometries and quantum transport in van der Waals materials. 

He has published over 100 papers, nearly half in high-profile journals such as Science, Nature and Nature group, PNAS, Nano Letters, and PRL. His h-index is 51, with >26000 citations. Google scholar

He has been selected Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics for the past seven years - from 2018 to 2024. He has been recognised internationally – he received the prestigious EMFL Prize in 2018 and the Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists in 2021, for “Revealing unusual quantum phenomena in vertical, multilayer stacks of two-dimensional materials, in particular those that hold great potential in the development of novel electronic transistors for light-emitting diodes (LEDs), high-speed electronics, and information storage.” He has secured major external funding, including the highly prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant (2020-2025), and EPSRC Early Career Fellowship (2016-2021).