Jim Peebles
Princeton

Join us for a free event welcoming Dr. Jim Peebles, the 2019 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics, back to Kingston and Canada. Light refreshments will be served from 6:30 and then Dr. Peebles with give an enlightening talk about our place in the expanding cosmos, and how we've come to understand that the Universe has this surprising behaviour.

George & Maureen Ewan Lecture Series

This talk is part of the George & Maureen Ewan Lecture Series. Dr. Ewan focused on nuclear physics and sub-atomic research, particularly the solar neutrino problem as a co-founder of the Nobel Prize-winning Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) experiment. With his work recognized at the highest level, Dr. Ewan pushed ahead with a goal of influencing the next generation of scientists here at Queen’s, remarking that “it is vital that we scientists make our work accessible to the general public.” His wife, Maureen, agreed, saying “his work is so remote from what most people would find comprehensible.” Effective communication skills are vital to successful research. As he put it, scientists have so much of value to share with the world. “As a rule, scientists don’t inform the educated public, there are people who work on exciting experiments who could give very good talks. My dream is to have them come to Queen’s to give lectures on the state of their experiments and especially about their results, and to do it in a way that people without PhDs can understand.”

This is why Dr. Ewan and his wife decided to donate $100,000 to Queen’s to create the George & Maureen Ewan Lecture Series, which will support seminar and lecture programs designed to increase scientific discourse and culture within the Particle Astrophysics community at Queen’s University.

Dr. Ewan’s gift gives the department access to $10,000 a year until the fund is depleted. A $10,000 annual budget will make it possible for the department to look farther afield for guest lecturers and host them for a longer stay. “The idea is to have the guest lecturers stay for a while and spend some quality time with the students, interacting with them and working with them in the labs,” says Dr. Tony Noble, former SNOLAB director and the current Scientific Director of the Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute.

The McDonald Institute and Queen’s University are very excited about the opportunities offered by The Ewans’ generous endowment, and look forward to organizing public lectures that will benefit researchers in the Physics department, and the wider Queen’s and Kingston communities!

Maryam Ebrahimi
Assistant Professor & Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Low-Dimensional Nanomaterials
Department of Chemistry, Department of Physics (Adjunct)
Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

E-mail: mebrahim@lakeheadu.ca; Webpage: https://www.nanolabebrahimi.com/

Abstract

The chemical phenomena taking place at surfaces and interfaces include physisorption, chemisorption, catalytic and surface-mediated reactions, which can be utilized to design molecular-based low-dimensional materials with tailored properties.1-12

The molecules’ functional groups and the reactivity and crystallinity of substrates control the molecule-molecule and molecule-substrate interactions. Together with the temperature and molecular flux of the reactants, these factors steer the design, growth dimension, and structure, hence, the chemical and electronic properties of the obtained nanostructures. I will present combined experimental-computational studies on the formation of molecular-based low-dimensional materials, including zero-, one- and two-dimensional (0D/1D/2D) covalent structures, including polymers, metal-organic networks, and molecular assembly on single crystal surfaces. To identify their chemical nature, topography, and electronic properties, we employ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and high-resolution scanning tunnelling microscopy. Complemented with ab initio theoretical calculations, these studies provide insights on the surface reaction pathways and indicate on controlling the parameters which could lead to the formation of 1D and 2D materials with long-range ordering. These low-dimensional materials are tailored to exhibit unique structural design, electronic properties, and charge mobility, some with stable electron spin site, suitable for carbon-based nanoelectronics, spintronics, and quantum technology applications.

References

[1] M. Ebrahimi, F. Rosei, Nature 542 (2017) 423-424

[2] M. Ebrahimi, F. Rosei, Nat. Photonics 10 (2016) 434-436

[3] M. Ebrahimi, Nat. Chem. 14 (2022) 3-4

[4] G. Galeotti et al., Nat. Mater. 19 (2020) 874-880

[5] G. Galeotti et al., Faraday Discuss. 204 (2017) 453-469

[6] F. De Marchi et al., Nanoscale 10 (2018) 16721-16729

[7] G. Galeotti et al., Chem. Sci. 10 (2019) 5167-5175

[8] C. Jing et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 58 (2019) 18948-18956

[9] P. Ji et al., Small 16 (2020) 2002393

[10] N. Cao et al., Nanoscale 13 (2021) 19884-19889

[11] D. Cui et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 139 (2017) 16732-16740

[12] M. Ebrahimi et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133 (2011) 16560-16565

Bio

Dr. Ebrahimi obtained her PhD in Physical Chemistry – Surface Science from the University of Waterloo in 2009, followed by Postdoctoral research with Nobel Laureate John Polanyi at the University of Toronto, and at the University of California - Riverside (2011-2013). Afterwards, she worked as a Research Associate at the INRS - Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications (INRS-EMT) Research Center (2014-2018) in Varennes, Quebec, and at the Technical University of Munich, Germany (2018-2019). In 2019, Dr. Ebrahimi was appointed as Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Low-Dimensional Nanomaterials at Lakehead University. Dr. Ebrahimi’s current research focuses on the on-surface formation of molecular-based, metal-organic, and inorganic 1D and 2D materials. These low-dimensional materials are tailored to exhibit unique electronic properties and charge mobility, with interest for carbon-based nanoelectronics, spintronics, and quantum technology applications.