Surface Physics and Chemistry

A big shiny machine, a photo electron spectrometer

Surface physics and chemistry are at the heart of many technological advancements that shape our modern world, improving quality of life while paving the way for a more sustainable society. At LOE, we do fundamental surface physics and chemistry research on topics that can have a positive real-world impact. We explore the unique properties and phenomena that occur at surfaces and interfaces of different materials, where atoms and molecules meet and interact in the solid, liquid or gas phase, often dictating the functionality of both coatings and devices.

Surface physics delves into the physical aspects of these interactions, probing how e.g. van der Waals and electrostatic forces as well as chemical bonds influence the behavior of surfaces and interfaces. This knowledge is crucial for developing advanced materials with tailored properties, such as charge-selective electrode interface layers in solar cells and LEDs, (super)hydrophobic surfaces that repel water/ice, or materials with enhanced catalytic activity.

Surface chemistry focuses on the chemical reactions and processes that occur at surfaces and interfaces. This includes studying how molecules adsorb, react, and desorb from surfaces. Surface chemistry is vital for understanding and improving e.g. (opto)electronic device and battery stability, corrosion prevention, sensor development, and interfacing electronic materials with human or plant tissue.

Our unit’s current research interests include:

  • doping of organic semiconductors
  • interface characterization and engineering for improving charge injection/extraction, exciton dissociation and stability of interfaces in organic and perovskite (opto) electronic devices
  • functional forest-based materials
  • interface phenomena between organic electronic materials and biomaterials
  • defects in organic semiconductor films
  • growth and characterization of organic and perovskite semiconductor crystals
  • development of surface science equipment and methods

Surface Physics and Chemistry research leaders

Publications

2025

Yingying Xue, Qiong Zuo, Qi Zhu, Yukun Li, Zilin Deng, Zibang Zhang, Zhiyuan Yang, Cheng Wang, Rui Zhang, Xianjie Liu, Jingang Zhong, Wenkai Zhong, Lei Ying, Wanzhu Cai (2025) Synergistic Alignment of Low Aspect-Ratio p-Conjugated Molecules Enables Exceptional UV-vis-NIR Polarization Detection Laser & Photonics reviews (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Shaobing Xiong, Di Li, Junhan Xie, Hongbo Wu, Zaifei Ma, Bo Li, Xianjie Liu, Mats Fahlman, Junhao Chu, Caofeng Pan, Qinye Bao (2025) Disentangling perovskite surface work functions and electron extraction energy offsets to drive high photovoltaic efficiency Science Bulletin, Vol. 70, p. 1968-1975 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Shaobing Xiong, Mats Fahlman, Qinye Bao (2025) Interface energetics in organic and perovskite semiconductor solar cells JOURNAL OF SEMICONDUCTORS, Vol. 46, Article 050301 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Irina V. Pushkareva, Zhixing Wu, Xianjie Liu, Maksim A. Solovyev, Sergey I. Butrim, Margarita V. Kozlova, Tatiana L. Kulova, Reverant Crispin, Emma Björk, Dmitri G. Bessarabov, Mikhail Vagin, Artem S. Pushkarev (2025) Advanced Nickel-Based Gas Diffusion Anode for Zero-Gap Anion-Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzers ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Vol. 17, p. 32216-32227 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Daiva Tavgeniene, Gintare Krucaite, Dovydas Blazevicius, Saulius Grigalevicius, Alla Bogoslovska, Amjad Ali, Glib Baryshnikov, Petro Smertenko, Mats Fahlman, Andrei Smertenko, Oleg Dimitriev (2025) Ethyl cellulose as a host material for thermally-activated delayed fluorescence emitters Optical materials (Amsterdam), Vol. 165, Article 117097 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Jinfeng Li, Jinpeng Yang, Xianjie Liu (2025) Overcome Limited Efficiency in All-Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells Upon Light Management at Top Perovskite- Transparent Electrode Interfaces Advanced Electronic Materials (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Sheng Jiang, Shaobing Xiong, Zhongcheng Yuan, Yafang Li, Xiaomeng You, Hongbo Wu, Menghui Jia, Zhennan Lin, Zaifei Ma, Yuning Wu, Yefeng Yao, Xianjie Liu, Junhao Chu, Zhenrong Sun, Mats Fahlman, Henry J. Snaith, Qinye Bao (2025) Interfacial Energetics Reversal Strategy for Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells Advanced Materials (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Oleg Dimitriev, Huotian Zhang, Anna Dávid, Olof Eskilsson, Daniel Aili, Lukas Marcos Celada, Peter Olsen, Feng Gao, Mats Fahlman (2025) Stress-assisted, clustering-triggered visual emission of cellulose-based materials Cellulose (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Jun-Da Huang, Qifan Li, Qingqing Wang, Tiefeng Liu, Sang Young Jeong, Sri Harish Kumar Paleti, Tom van der Pol, Kai Xu, Hanyan Wu, Natalie Pinchin, Marc-Antoine Stoeckel, Wenlong Jin, Aleksandr Perevedentsev, Xianjie Liu, Juan Sebastian Reparaz, Mariano Campoy-Quiles, Han Young Woo, Christian Muller, Mats Fahlman, Chiyuan Yang, Simone Fabiano (2025) Preventing Benzoquinone-Based Catalyst Aggregation Enables the One-Step Synthesis of Highly Conductive Poly(benzodifurandione) without Post-Reaction Purification Advanced Materials, Vol. 37, Article 2502426 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Jiajun Qin, Jia Zhang, Xianjie Liu, Yu Wang, Heyong Wang, Utkarsh Singh, Yanyan Wang, Haoliang Wang, Tianxiang Hu, Yiqiang Zhan, Yipeng Tang, Bin Hu, Constantin Bach, Carsten Deibel, Wei-Xin Ni, Sergey Simak, Igor Abrikosov, Mats Fahlman, Feng Gao (2025) Surfactant-induced hole concentration enhancement for highly efficient perovskite light-emitting diodes Nature Materials, Vol. 24, p. 778-784 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

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