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- The Kavli ENSI brings together 23 world-class scientists from a diverse set of backgrounds with a combined interest and focus on learning the fundamentals of how energy flows and can be controlled on the nanoscale, where the rules of quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics teach us that entirely new ways of thinking are possible. The institute has developed rapidly to become a vibrant hub of engagement on these issues across the Berkeley campus and the Berkeley Lab.
  
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Ziyi Wang

2023-2024 Graduate Student Fellow

Faculty Advisor: Professor Michael F. Crommie

Ziyi Wang is currently a PhD candidate in chemistry working with Prof. Mike Crommie. His research focuses on the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) study of lower dimensional molecular assembled structures featuring graphene nanoribbons (GNRs).

Ziyi was born and raised in Suzhou, China. Before coming to Berkeley, Ziyi received his BSc in Material Chemistry, as well as Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at Peking University, where he did his undergraduate research electrochemistry and battery materials. When not in lab, Ziyi is a sports and esports fan. He loves tennis, cycling and rock music.

One-dimensional (1D) metallic systems are of great interest in the field of condensed matter physics because they can exhibit a range of unique and exotic quantum phenomena. There are a number of 1D molecular filaments that can be synthesized using bottom-up on-surface techniques, which allow for the study of individual conducting 1D filaments.

In our previous work with the Fischer group we created the first metallic GNRs by engineering wavefunction overlap of periodic zero modes in carbon networks. However, these GNRs have some challenges, such as asymmetry in the unit cell and the need for a metal substrate, which make it difficult to study their 1D metallicity using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). To address these challenges, we plan to focus on new 1D metallic systems with symmetric unit cells and the potential to be grown on non-metallic substrates.

I propose to explore two different strategies for introducing metallicity into 1D systems in order to study their properties using local probe techniques such as STM/STS. The first strategy involves synthesizing a new type of symmetric, regioregular GNR, while the second involves synthesizing a metal coordination polymer with NHC ligands. I plan to use on-surface synthesis techniques to create these materials and then characterize them using STM/STS, as well as using STM tip-based lifting manipulation to measure their 2-terminal electrical conductance. This research could provide valuable insights into the properties of these 1D metallic systems and could have potential applications in fields such as electronics and materials science.