Dr. Qiancheng Zhang delivered an oral presentation at PDSTM2025 in Dublin

Our group had the pleasure of contributing to the 9th International Conference on Phase Transition and Dynamical Properties of Spin Transition Materials (PDSTM2025), hosted at University College Dublin from May 25–29, 2025. This biennial event organized by UCD collaborator Prof Grace Morgan brought together leading scientists from around the world to share breakthroughs in spin crossover (SCO) materials, phase transitions, and multifunctional molecular systems.

Dr. Qiancheng Zhang delivered an oral presentation titled: “Integrating Spin Crossover and Ferroelectricity in Dual Switchable Transition Metal Complexes for Enhanced Data Storage”

In his talk, Qiancheng introduced the principle of piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), presented measurements of piezoelectricity and pyroelectricity, and explored switchable behavior in two types of Fe(III) complexes.

We thank the conference organizers for a vibrant program and the opportunity to connect with fellow researchers in the field. We look forward to advancing this research and sharing further updates soon.

The work was supported by Research Ireland (Science Foundation Ireland and Irish Research Council).

Lima Passed his Stage Transfer Assessment!

Special Blog Post by Yevhen Brych

On the eve of Valentine’s day Lima was officially promoted from phd candidate to phd student. At his stage transfer presentation Lima outlined his project goal to switch ferroelectric materials in liquid. Lima first introduced the material class of ferroelectrics, pitching them as a competitor to silicon based technologies. He explained that ferroelectric materials are built up from smaller domains which are broadly known for being polarisable with an electric field. Lima also discussed other exotic ways to pole domains such as with light and mechanical strain. This inspired him to pursue electrochemical switching in liquid. Lima stated that this was a necessity because ferroelectric behaviour is heavily influenced by atmospheric conditions. Liquids provide a controlled environment, a way to standardize these measurements. Lima also argued that liquid switching of ferroelectric materials would increase device applications and reliability.

Lima then presented some preliminary piezo force microscopy results on barium titanate samples. He showed that the phase of the domains (orientation of poles) can be switched with mechanical force. One of the challenges with liquid switching is identifying a suitable ionic solution as well as a module to submerge the sample during the measurement. However he assured the audience that a custom liquid cell for his measurements is in the works.

Overall Lima was able to convince the stage transfer panel about the feasibility of this measurement with detailed objectives. As well as a plan to overcome the challenges with liquid switching of ferroelectric materials.


Una Europa Symposium on Future Materials & Technologies

From January 22–25, 2025, members of our lab took part in Una Europa StartScience and the Symposium on Future Materials & Technologies at the historic Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland (founded in 1364!). It was a fantastic opportunity to connect with researchers from both academia and industry.

Drs. Waseem Wani and Qiancheng Zhang delivered excellent oral and poster presentations, with Waseem winning a Poster Prize for his work on nanoelectromechanical characterization of hafnia thin films.

A huge thank you to the organizers in Kraków for putting together such an inspiring event—we’re excited for future collaborations within the Una Europa community!


Group Updates

There have been many changes - great successes and new faces! Sawsan (PhD and postdoc) took a position with Intel Ireland. Hossam and Emrullah graduated with their PhD and now work for Nikon and Abbott Laboratories, respectively. Fengyuan took a postdoc position with Prof. Jiangyu Li. Longtime group member Jason joined Coca Cola as a data scientist. Srikanth went to TCD for a postdoc and then to Analog Devices on an SFI Industry RD&I Fellowship. Two year CSC PhD student Qiancheng graduated and returned as a postdoc. Alyona joined as a co-supervised PhD student and recently secured an IRC fellowship. Bahar joined as a researcher and secured a position at TCD (and had a baby - congratulations!). Visiting PhD student Xabi joined for 4 months and just became a father - congratulations! The lab is full with external users and summer students - great to have Sam, Surabhi, Ella, Leena, Caiden, and Gustavo in the lab - happy days! New group members will be joining soon!

User Meeting

We are holding the UCD AFM Users’ Meeting on April 26 from 10-12 on Zoom. With new AFM systems having arrived or due to arrive across the university, the meeting serves to give a forum for the community of users to showcase and discuss their research. The schedule for the meeting is shown below; we look forward to seeing you there (email brian.rodriguez@ucd.ie for Zoom invitation).

10:00 Welcome

10:03 Lecturer/Assistant Professor Dr Sourav Bhattacharjee, “AFM on mucin strands and its therapeutic implications”

10:14 Visakh Pillai (Benedetto group), “Amyloid-ionic liquid: an AFM based approach”

10:25 Dr Jacek Wychowaniec (Brougham group), “Quantitative nanomechanical properties evaluation of a family of β-sheet peptide fibres using rapid bimodal AFM”

10:36 Pallavi Kumari (Benedetto group), “Room temperature Ionic liquids reduce the mechano-elasticity of lipid bilayer: AFM force spectroscopy studies”

10:47 Hossam Ibrahim (Rodriguez group), “Spherical probe preparation for nano mechanical characterisation”

10:53 Deirdre Clissmann (Brennan group), “AFM analysis of a chemically crosslinked 3D cell culture model of the optic nerve”

10:59 Michelle Fox (Thorpe group), “Biomechanical assessment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma using AFM”

11:05 Agata Fularz (Rice group), “Nanoscale structuring of polymers”

11:16 Paven Thomas Mathew (Fang group), “Fundamental studies to achieve atomic scale material removal using atomic force microscopy”

11:27 Ciaran Barron (Zerulla group), “Sculpting plasmonic emitters using AFM lithography”

11:33 Louise Tackaberry (Rodriguez/Brougham), “Characterisation of PNIPAM microgels using AFM”

11:39 Tianyu Guan (Zhang group), “Modified AFM tip to determine the adhesion and friction between coating and polymer materials”

11:45 Dr Srikanth Kolagatla (Rodriguez group), “Localized contact potential measurements on battery anode materials”

11:51 Discussion

12:00 End