Quantum behaviours in disordered systems

能量和电荷传输在电子设备和生物系统中发挥着重要作用，我们对分子电子技术的理解与对生命系统关键方面的理解之间有着惊人的相似之处。特别是，在无序介质中的传输机制的理解方面取得了令人兴奋的进展。无序可以产生电子的捕获位置，这反过来又会阻止诸如晶体管之类的器件的稳定操作。然而，无序也可以通过安德森转变来打开和关闭传导，这可能在晶体管和蛋白质中发挥作用。二硫化钼是未来电子学最有前途的材料之一，但它受到不稳定性的困扰，可能会妨碍可靠的操作。通过研究由MoS 2纳米片复合材料构建器件的制造过程中产生的陷阱，我们试图更好地了解如何最大限度地减少陷阱。当我们这样做时，我们将研究这些器件中的安德森跃迁的作用。最终，我们希望利用这些知识来制造稳定的晶体管、传感器、光伏和存储设备。细胞色素c氧化酶是一种质子泵蛋白，对生命至关重要，但人们对它的功能知之甚少。然而，很明显，该功能与蛋白质内金属的相互作用有关。微流体技术的最新进展将使我们能够用与研究MoS 2类似的方法来研究这些蛋白质。我们希望了解安德森转换可能在这些蛋白质中发挥的作用，从而深入了解生物化学中的一个基本挑战。我们相信，我们可以开发出更有效的跨膜蛋白组装方法，这样我们就可以在光伏和光敏系统中使用光子驱动的质子泵。我们对蛋白质运输的了解可能有助于实现未来的分子电子技术。每个学生通常会设计，构建和测试自己的系统，从第一原则开始，从而提供动手培训。这项工作将开发具有工业意义的领域（特别是电子，能源生产），这些领域需要熟练人员，学生将在微制造，芯片实验室，生物化学，微光学和微/纳米电子学领域接受非常广泛的培训。

Energy and charge transport play fundamental roles in both electronic devices and biological systems, and recent advances in our understanding show surprising parallels between what is needed for a molecular electronic technology and understanding key aspects of living systems. In particular, exciting advances have been made in the understanding of transport mechanisms within disordered media. Disorder can create trapping sites for electrons that in turn prevent stable operation of devices such as transistors. However, disorder can also switch conduction on and off through an Anderson transition that may play a role both in transistors and proteins.MoS2 is one of the the most promising materials for future electronics but it is plagued with instabilities that can prevent reliable operation. By studying the traps created by the fabrication processes involved in building devices from composites of MoS2 nanosheets, we seek to develop a better understanding of how to minimise the trapping. As we do this, we will study the role of the Anderson transitions in these devices. Ultimately we expect to use this knowledge to build stable transistors, sensors, photovoltaic and memory devices.Cytochrome c oxidase is a proton pumping protein that is central to life, yet its function is poorly understood. However, it is clear that the function is related to the interaction of metals within the protein. Recent advances in microfluidics will allow us to study such proteins with similar methods as used to study MoS2 . We hope to understand the role that Anderson transitions may play in such proteins, providing insight into a fundamental challenge in biochemistry. We believe that we can develop more effective assembly methods for transmembrane proteins so that we can use photon-driven proton pumps in photovoltaic and photosensing systems. The insights we gain into transport in proteins may help enable a future molecular electronics technology. Each student will typically design, build and test their own systems, starting from first principles, thereby providing hands-on training. This work will develop areas of industrial significance (notably electronics, energy production) for which there is a demand for skilled personnel and the students will receive unusually broad training in the fields of microfabrication, lab-on-chip, biochemistry, micro-optics and micro/nanoelectronics.