Eliott Higgins, PhD Student.

Project: Production of Two-Dimensional Materials at the Liquid/Liquid Interface and Their Applications in Energy Storage.

Eliott graduated from The University of Manchester in 2010 with a Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering. He then joined Procter & Gamble on their graduate scheme program for three years. Missing the innovative nature of research and excited by the recent developments in two-dimensional (2D) materials he joined the Graphene NoWNANO CDT in September 2017 and began his research in the Electrochemistry group in April 2018.

Large scale production 2D materials is generally achieved by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) or liquid phase exfoliation (LPE). CVD is an expensive option, requiring ultrahigh vacuum, expensive equipment and the need to remove the underlying metal layer. LPE albeit inexpensive, produces a material generally of lower quality, with varying material thickness and lateral sizes, inhibiting its use in device applications.

An alternative to these two production methods is liquid/liquid (L/L) interfacial assembly of 2D materials. The L/L interface provides a perfect natural template for 2D material growth, meaning it is simplistic and low cost. Eliott’s primary work concentrates upon the formation of different 2D material at the L/L interface in order to produce large area defect free monolayer films. These films will then be tested in a variety of energy storage contexts from batteries to photovoltaic cells to compare with traditional production techniques.