Mission Statement

The Grutter group is one of the internationally leading groups in the development of atomic force microscopes (AFM) and its application to understanding how nanoscale objects can be used for information storage and processing (the field commonly known as nanoelectronics). AFMs are a unique tool for the nanoscale: they are capable of imaging, measuring properties and manipulating nano objects such as single electrons, individual molecules or individual neuronal synapses in almost any environment.  A dynamic, creative and highly collaborative team builds or adapts AFM hardware to investigate and manipulate:

• the behaviour of individual electrons in quantum dots (relevant for quantum information processing or catalysis),
• how one or a few single molecules conduct electricity and how this depends on the atomic structure of the contacts and interaction with light (relevant for fundamental understanding of charge transport in molecules or to probe the fundamental limits of organic photovoltaics),
• ions by combining electrochemistry and atomic resolution imaging (relevant to fundamental understanding of  the solid-liquid interface or the rate limiting diffusionof Li ion  in battery cathodes)
• individual live neurons (to understand synapse formation or develop a new method to repair neurons after injury or disease).