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

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 (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 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Xiane Li, Qilun Zhang, Yongzhen Chen, Xianjie Liu, Slawomir Braun, Mats Fahlman (2025) Fermi Level Shifts of Organic Semiconductor Films in Ambient Air ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Shaobing Xiong, Xiaoxiao Zang, Hongbo Wu, Di Li, Sheng Jiang, Liming Ding, Bo Li, Mats Fahlman, Qinye Bao (2025) Double-side improved charge extraction via 2D perovskite for efficient inverted perovskite solar cells Nano Energy, Vol. 134, Article 110538 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2024

Neha Sepat, Mikhail Vagin, Stefano Carli, Edoardo Marchini, Stefano Caramori, Qilun Zhang, Slawomir Braun, Zhixing Wu, Penghui Ding, Kosala Wijeratne, Ioannis Petsagkourakis, Ujwala Ail, Eleni Pavlopoulou, Tero-Petri Ruoko, Simone Fabiano, Klas Tybrandt, Mats Fahlman, Reverant Crispin, Magnus Berggren, Viktor Gueskine, Isak Engquist (2024) Decoupling Conductivity, Heterogeneous Electron Transfer Rate, and Diffusion in Organic Molecular Electrocatalysis: Oxygen Reduction Reaction on Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) Small (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Qiaonan Chen, Kangbo Sun, Leandro R. Franco, Jingnan Wu, Lars Ohrstrom, Xianjie Liu, Maureen Gumbo, Mailde S. Ozorio, C. Moyses Araujo, Guangye Zhang, Andre Johansson, Ellen Moons, Mats Fahlman, Donghong Yu, Yufei Wang, Ergang Wang (2024) Effects of Alkyl Spacer Length in Carbazole-Based Self-Assembled Monolayer Materials on Molecular Conformation and Organic Solar Cell Performance Advanced Science (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Sreymean Ngok, Rem Yann, Chan Oeurn Chey, Xianjie Liu, Magnus Willander, Omer Nur (2024) Fabrication of an α-Fe2O3 NP-modified ZnO NRs/Ni-foam nanocomposite electrode for electrochemical detection of arsenic in drinking water RSC Advances, Vol. 14, p. 37725-37736 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Nakul Jain, Rokas Jasiunas, Xiane Li, Huotian Zhang, Jiehao Fu, Rui Zhang, Li Gang, Mats Fahlman, Vidmantas Gulbinas, Feng Gao (2024) The Role of Thermally Activated Charge Separation in Organic Solar Cells Advanced Energy Materials (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Tao Wu, Hao Jiang, Mingyan Shi, Xianjie Liu, Meng Li, Lei Huang, Jia Yan, Hongguo Zhang (2024) Cobalt sulfide derived from metal organic framework for selective treatment of low concentration copper wastewater: Catalytic ability, reaction efficacy, and mechanism JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, Vol. 12, Article 114324 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

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