Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and
Professor of Chemistry

B.S., Electrical Engineering, 1996 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
M.Phil., Physics, 1997 University of Cambridge, UK
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, 2000, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Contact Info

Hersam Research Group
Computational and Bioinformatics Program

 

Nanomaterials for Electronics, Sensing, and Energy

 The Hersam Research Group applies the fundamental paradigm of materials science and engineering (i.e., the development of structure-property-processing-performance relationships) to hybrid hard and soft materials at the nanometer length scale. In many cases, the objective is to apply organic molecules to inorganic substrates in an effort to increase the functionality of the resulting hybrid system (e.g., silicon-based molecular electronics and graphene-based sensing). In other instances, an experimental technique that was originally developed for inorganic materials is adapted for the study of organic or biological systems (e.g., probing ion channels and organic photovoltaic devices using conductive atomic force microscopy). This highly interdisciplinary research is enabled by a sophisticated suite of instrumentation including ultra-high vacuum (UHV) scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and additional equipment for studying the electrical and optical properties of materials. Ongoing research projects range from fundamental studies (e.g., single molecule spectroscopy with UHV STM) to applied technology development (e.g., optimization of carbon nanotube and graphene materials for electronic and optical devices). Overall, this research has wide impact in the fields of information technology, energy technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology.

Awards and Associations

Materials Research Society Outstanding Young Investigator Award, 2010
SES Research Young Investigator Award, Electrochemical Society, 2010
Teacher of the Year Award, Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, 2009
Teacher of the Year Award, Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University 2007
Young Alumni Achievement Award, ECE Department, UIUC, 2007
AVS Peter Mark Award, 2006
TMS Robert Lansing Hardy Award, 2006
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, 2005
Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, 2005
Army Research Office Young Investigator Award, 2005
Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, 2005
Teacher of the Year in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 2003
National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2002
Arnold and Mabel Beckman Young Investigator Award, 2001
IBM Distinguished Fellowship, 1999
National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, 1997
British Marshall Scholarship, 1996

Selected Publications

A. A. Green and M. C. Hersam, "Solution phase production of graphene with controlled thickness via density differentiation," Nano Letters, 9, 4031 (2009).

Q. H. Wang and M. C. Hersam, "Room-temperature molecular-resolution characterization of self-assembled organic monolayers on epitaxial graphene," Nature Chemistry, 1, 206 (2009).

M. A. Walsh and M. C. Hersam, "Atomic-scale templates patterned by ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy on silicon," Annual Review of Physical Chemistry, 60, 193 (2009).

A. A. Green and M. C. Hersam, "Processing and properties of highly enriched double-wall carbon nanotubes," Nature Nanotechnology, 4, 64 (2009).

M. C. Hersam, "Progress towards monodisperse single-walled carbon nanotubes," Nature Nanotechnology, 3, 387 (2008).

B. J. Leever, M. F. Durstock, M. D. Irwin, A. W. Hains, T. J. Marks, L. S. C. Pingree, and M. C. Hersam, "Spatially resolved photocurrent mapping of operating organic photovoltaic devices using atomic force photovoltaic microscopy," Appl. Phys. Lett., 92, 013302 (2008).