RAM2024 Lunch seminar with Alumni Dr. Panagiotis Grammatikopoulos

Panagiotis Grammatikopoulos

From Nanoparticles by Design to Design by Nanoparticles

Cluster beam deposition (CBD) is a term that collectively describes various physical methods of nanoparticle synthesis by nucleation and growth from a supersaturated atomic vapor. It provides a solvent- and effluent-free method to design monodisperse multifunctional nanoparticles with tailored characteristics that can be subsequently deposited on a desired substrate or device in the soft-landing regime under ultra-high vacuum.

In this talk, I will explain the main mechanisms that control the basic properties of individual nanoparticles such as size, shape, or chemical ordering, based on various setups of CBD sources. Moving to a coarser scale, I will mention examples where larger structures can be designed using nanoparticles as their functional building blocks, such as novel sensors and energy storage devices.

To date, CBD faces two main limitations that need to be overcome for industrial applications: (i) limited yield, and (ii) precise structural control. The main thesis of this talk is that both challenges can be tackled by appropriate instrumentation upgrade [1], and by in-depth theoretical understanding of both the thermodynamics and kinetics of nucleation & growth [2]. To this end, atomistic computer modelling can be an invaluable tool, complementing experimental fabrication or guiding future source design.

1. Gas-phase synthesis of nanoparticles: current application challenges and instrumentation development responses P. Grammatikopoulos, T. Bouloumis, S. Steinhauer Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 25 (2023) 897-912

2. Atomistic modeling of the nucleation and growth of pure and hybrid nanoparticles by cluster beam deposition, P. Grammatikopoulos Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering 23 (2019) 164-173

Dr. Panagiotis Grammatikopoulos is a computational nanotechnologist. His research interests lie on fundamental processes regarding nanoparticles but extend to device fabrication and applications. Panagiotis did his PhD at the University of Liverpool. He has worked as a Research Associate for NCSR Demokritos and the University of Greenwich and collaborated with the University of Helsinki as a Visiting Researcher. In 2012 he became Postdoctoral Scholar at the "Nanoparticles by Design" Unit at OIST, and in 2016 he took over as Unit Leader for the same unit. Since 2020 he has held the position of Visiting Assistant Professor at the Particle Technology Laboratory at ETH Zürich and of Specially Appointed Assistant Professor at Osaka University. He is currently Associate Professor at GTIIT, China.