Maya Narayanan Nair, Ph.D.

  • Research Assistant Professor, Nanoscience Initiative
  • Facility Staff, Nanofabrication Facility, Surface Science Facility

After completing Master’s degree in Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology from The University of Hull, UK, Dr. Maya Narayanan Nair pursued her Ph.D thesis under the supervision of Dr. Laurent Simon at the Institute of Material Science in Mulhouse, France, working on the subject of the functionalization of epitaxial graphene by metal intercalation and molecules using LT-STM and ARPES. Subsequently, she joined in high resolution photoemission spectroscopy group of Dr. Amina Taleb and Dr. Antonio Tejeda at Synchrotron SOLEIL, France for pursuing her postdoctoral research, where she focused on different ways to open a bandgap in graphene. After completing four years at SOLEIL, in 2018, with Department of Science and Technology National Fellowship from India, she joined in the lab of Prof. D.D. Sarma at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, where she aimed to study the modification of electronic properties of MoS2 by chemical doping using spectroscopic methods. Then in early 2019, with Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Research Fellowship, she joined in the group of Prof. Lino Pereira at KU Leuven, Belgium where she worked on the dilute magnetism in graphene and other 2D materials induced by substitutional and intercalated dopants using low energy ion implantation. Then November 2019, she joined at Nanoscience initiative at ASRC as research assistant professor where she continues to study on 2D materials.

Research Interests

I am interested in investigating the electronic properties of two-dimensional materials such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). These materials are among the most promising 2D materials for next generation of nano and opto-electronic and spintronic devices. In particular, my focus is on modifying the electronic properties of these materials by intercalation or by deposition of metal atoms or molecules, making their heterostructures and characterizing them by a plethora of surface science tools and synchrotron based x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES).

Job History

  • November 2019 – Present: Research Assistant Professor, Nanoscience Initiative, Advanced Science Research Center, CUNY
  • January 2019 – December 2019: Marie-Curie early career research Fellow, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of KU Leuven, Belgium
  • January 2018 – December 2018: DST postdoctoral Fellow Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
  • January 2014 – December 2017: Postdoctoral Fellow, Cassiopée beamline, Synchrotron SOLEIL, France
  • October 2010 – September 2013: Ph.D. Physics (experimental condensed matter) University of Haute Alsace Mulhouse, France

Publications

M.N. Nair, I. Palacio, Y. Ohtsubo, A. Taleb-Ibrahimi, E. Michel, A. Mascaraque, A. Tejeda, Electronic Structure Evolution in the Temperature Range of Metal–Insulator Transitions on Sn/Ge(111). Phys. Status Solidi - Rapid Res. Lett. 2024, 2400041.

M.N. Nair, I. Palacio, A. Mascaraque, E.G. Michel, A. Taleb-Ibrahimi, A. Tejeda, C. González, A. Martín-Rodero, J. Ortega, and F. Flores, Giant electron-phonon interaction for a prototypical semiconductor interface: Sn/Ge(111)-(3 × 3), Phys. Rev. B, 2023, 107, 045303.

I. Palacio, J. Obando-Guevara, L. Chen, M.N. Nair, M.A. González Barrio, E. Papalazarou, P. Le Fèvrea, A. Taleb-Ibrahimi, E.G. Michel, A. Mascaraque, A. Tejeda, Fermi surface of LaSb2 and direct observation of a CDW transition, Appl. Surf. Sci., 2022, 610, 155477.

A. Jain, S.A. McPhee, T. Wang, M. Narayanan Nair, D. Kroiss, T.Z. Jia, and R.V. Ulijn, Tractable Molecular Adaptation Patterns in a Designed Complex Peptide SystemChem2022in press.

M.S. Choi, A. Nipane, B.S.Y. Kim, M. Ziffer, I. Datta, A. Borah, Y. Jung, B. Kim, D. Rhodes, A. Jindal, Z.A. Lamport, M. Lee, A. Zangiabadi, M.N. Nair, T. Taniguchi, K. Watanabe, I. Kymissis, A. Pasupathy, M. Lipson, X. Zhu, W.J. Yoo, J. Hone, and J.T. Teherani, High carrier mobility in graphene doped using a monolayer of tungsten oxyselenide, Nat. Electron., 2021, 4, 731-739, ​https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-021-00657-y.​

S. Bawari, M.N. Nair, J. Mondal, and T. Narayanan, Elucidating the Mechanism of Nitrogen Doping in Graphene Oxide: Structural Evolution of Dopants and Role of Oxygen, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c06270.

R. Villarreal, P-C. Lin, F. Faraji, N. Hassani, H. Bana, Z. Zarkua, M.N. Nair, H-C. Tsai, M. Auge, F. Junge, H. Hofsass, S. De Gendt, M. Auge, S. de Feyter, S. Brems, E.H. Åhlgren, E.C. Neyts, L. Covaci, F.M. Peeters, M. Neek-Amal, and L.M.C. Pereira,  Breakdown of universal scaling for nanometer-sized bubbles in graphene, Nano Letters, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02470.

M.N. Nair, A. Celis, F. Nicolas, S. Kubsky, A. Taleb-Ibrahimi, and A. Tejeda, Substrate effect on the electronic properties of graphene on vicinal Pt(1 1 1), Appl. Surf. Sci., 2021, 565, 150593.

M-I. Lee, S.A. Khan, H. Mrezguia, A. Barragán, M.N. Nair, H. Khelidj, Y. Ksari, L. Giovanelli, J-M. Themlin, F. Lédée, G. Trippé-Allard, E. Deleporte, A. Taleb-Ibrahimi, J. Minár and A. Tejeda, Renormalization of the valence and conduction bands of (C6H5C2H4NH3)2PbI4 hybrid perovskite, J.Phys. D. Appl. Phys., 2021, in press.

P-C. Lin, R. Villarreal, S. Achilli, H. Bana, M.N. Nair, A. Tejeda, K. Verguts, S. De Grendt, M. Auge, H. Hofsass, S. De Feyter, G. Di Santo, L. Petaccia, S. Brems, G. Fratesi, and L.M.C. Pereira, Doping Graphene with Substitutional Mn, ACS Nano, 2021, 15, 3, 5449-5458.

A. Celis, M.N. Nair, M. Sicot, F. Nicolas, S. Kubsky, D. Malterre, A. Taleb-Ibrahimi and A. Tejeda, Growth, morphology and electronic properties of epitaxial graphene on vicinal Ir(332) surface, Nanotechnology, 2020, 31, 285601 (corresponding author).

I. Madarevic, U. Thupakula, G. Lippertz, N. Claessens, P-C. Lin, H. Bana, S. C. Gonzalez, G. Di Santo, L. Petaccia, M.N. Nair, L.C. Pereira, C.V. Haesendonck and M.V. Bael,  Structural and electronic properties of the pure and stable elemental 3D topological insulator a-Sn, APL Mater, 2020, 8, 031114.

D. Pariari, R.M. Varma, M.N. Nair, P. Zeller, M. Amati, L. Gregoratti, K.K. Nanda and D.D. Sarma, On the origin of metallicity and stability of the metastable phase in chemically exfoliated MoS2, Appl. Mater. Today, 2020, 19,100544.

A.L. Miettinen, M.S. Nevius, W. Ko, M. Kolmer, A.-P Li, M.N. Nair, A. Taleb-Ibrahimi, B. Kierren, L. Moreau, E.H. Conrad and A. Tejeda. Edge states and ballistic transport in zig-zag graphene ribbons: the role of SiC polytypes, Phys. Rev. B., 2019, 100, 045425.

M.M. Devi, W. Koshibae, G. Sharma, R. Tomar, V.M. Gaikwad, R.M. Varma, M.N. Nair, M. Jha, D.D. Sarma, R. Chatterjee, A.K. Gangulia and S. Chakraverty, The Limit to Realize Isolated Magnetic Single Skyrmionic State, J. Mater. Chem. C., 2019, 7, 1337-1334.

L. Daukiya, M.N. Nair, M. Cranney, F. Vonau, S. Hajjar-Garreau, D. Aubel,  and L. Simon, Functionalization of 2D materials by intercalationProg. Surf. Sci, 2018, 91, 1, 1-20.

A. Celis, M.N. Nair, M. Sicot, F. Nicolas, S. Kubsky, D. Malterre, A. Taleb-Ibrahimi and A.Tejeda, Superlattice-induced minigaps in graphene band structure due to underlying one-dimensional nanostructuration, Phys. Rev. B., 2018, 97, 195410(1-6).

L. Daukiya, M.N. Nair, S. Hajjar-Garreau, F. Vonau, D. Aubel, J.L. Bubendorff, M. Cranney, E. Denys,A. Florentin, G. Reiter and L. Simon, Highly n-doped graphene generated through intercalated terbium atoms, Phys. Rev. B., 2018, 97, 035309(1-6).

M.N. Nair, I. Palacio, A. Celis, A. Zobelli, A. Gloter, S. Kubsky, J-P. Turmaud, M. Conrad, C. Berger, W.A. de Heer,  E.H. Conrad, A. Taleb-Ibrahimi and A. Tejeda, Band gap opening induced by the structural periodicity on the graphene buffer layer, Nano Lett., 2017, 17, 2681 (corresponding author).

M-I. Lee, A. Barragán, M.N. Nair, P. Fertey, A. Taleb-Ibrahimi, V. Jacques, D. Le Bolloc’h, K. Jemli, F. Lédée, G. Allard-Trippe, E. Deleporte, L. Pedesseau, C. Katan, J. Even and A. Tejeda. First Experimental Observation of the Electronic Structure on MAPI Hybrid Perovskite, J. Phys. D. Appl. Phys., 2017, 50.

M. Conrad, F. Wang, M.S. Nevius, K. Jinkins, A. Celis, M.N. Nair, A. Taleb-Ibrahimi, A. Tejeda, Y. Garreau, A. Vlad, A. Coati, P.F. Miceli and E.H. Conrad, Wide Band gap semiconductor from a hidden 2D incommensurate graphene phase, Nano. Lett., 2017, 17, 341-347.

A. Gloter, I. Palacio, A. Celis, M.N. Nair, A. Zobelli, M. Sicot, D. Malterre, M.S. Nevius, W.A. de Heer, C. Berger, E.H. Conrad, A. Taleb-Ibrahimi and A. Tejeda, STEM and EELS investigation of graphene nanoribbons epitaxially grown over SiC, European Microscopy Congress Proceedings, 2016, 429-430.

A. Celis, M.N. Nair, A. Taleb-Ibrahimi , C. Berger, W.A. de Heer, E.H. Conrad and A. Tejeda, Graphene Nanoribbons: fabrication, properties and devices, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys., 2016, 49, 143.

M.N. Nair, M. Cranney, T. Jiang, S. Hajjar-Garreau, D. Aubel, A. Florentin, E. Denys, M.L. Bocquet and L. Simon, Noble metal intercalation process leading to a protected adatom in Graphene hollow site, Phys. Rev. B., 2016, 94, 075427.

M.S. Nevius, M. Conrad, F. Wang, A. Celis, M.N. Nair, A. Taleb-Ibrahimi, A. Tejeda and E.H. Conrad, Semiconducting graphene from highly ordered substrate interactions, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2015, 115,136802.

M.N. Nair, C. Mattioli, M. Cranney, J.P. Malval, F. Vonau, D. Aubel, J.L. Bubendorff, A. Gourdon and L. Simon, STM Studies of Self-Assembled Tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) Derivatives on Graphene: Influence of the Mode of Deposition, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2015, 119 (17), 9334.

I. Palacio, A. Celis, M.N. Nair, A. Gloter, A. Zobelli, M. Sicot, D. Malterre, M.S. Nevius, W.A. de Heer, C. Berger, E.H. Conrad, A. Taleb-Ibrahimi and A. Tejeda, Atomic structure of epitaxial graphene sidewall nanoribbons: Flat graphene, miniribbons and confinement gap, Nano Lett., 2015, 15,182.

M. N. Nair, N. Hobeika, S. Aloïse, A. Spangenberg, L. Simon, M. Cranney, F. Vonau, D. Aubel, F. Serein-Spirau, J.-P. Lère-Porte and J. P. Malval, One- and Two-Photon Absorption and Emission Properties of Oligo (phenylenethienylene)s series, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2014, 16, 12826.

M.N. Nair, M. Cranney, F. Vonau, D. Aubel, P. Le Fèvre, A. Tejeda, F. Bertran, A. Taleb-Ibrahimi and L. Simon, High van Hove singularity extension and Fermi velocity increase in epitaxial graphene functionalized by intercalated gold clusters, Phys. Rev. B., 2012, 85245421.