IV Physical Institute - Wenderoth group

The miniaturization of future electronic devices is intimately connected with the ability to analyze the system on the atomic scale. This requires more than just knowing the local defect structure and the electronic properties, but it has to include the characterization of transport fields and dynamic processes of single defects. Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) has opened up a way to access surface as well as bulk properties. Our group is applying and developing SPM tools for challenging questions of fundamental research in this field investigating e.g. metalsemiconductor interfaces, transport in graphene, charge dynamics of single dopants in GaAs, Kondo effect and material classes like pnictides, hexaborides and iridates 

Making and breaking of chemical bonds in single “nanoconfined” molecules

Researchers around the world are working to develop efficient materials to convert CO2 into usable chemical substances – work that is particularly pressing in view of global warming. A team from the University of Göttingen, Germany, and the Ulsan National Institute for Science, South Korea, has discovered a new and promising approach: catalytically active molecules are nanoconfined – meaning they are put into an environment that leaves very little space for the single molecules – on a surface that serves as a conductive electron supplier. These molecules promote specific chemical reactions. Such hybrid systems make use of both the properties of the molecules and the properties of the substrate. The results were published in Science Advances.

It’s closeness that counts: how proximity affects the resistance of graphene

Graphene is often seen as the wonder material of the future. Scientists can now grow perfect graphene layers on square centimetre-sized crystals. In collaboration with the Chemnitz University of Technology and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Braunschweig, we have investigated the influence of the underlying crystal on the electrical resistance of graphene. Contrary to previous assumptions, the new results show that the process known as the ‘proximity effect’ varies considerably at a nanometre scale. The results have been published in Nature Communications.

As part of the "Physikerin der Woche" campaign launched by the DPG Working Group on Equal Opportunities, first author Anna Sinterhauf was featured in February 2021.