Planar Carbon Lattices

Project RTG2861-A5
Majid Shaker pursued his PhD studies in Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Hans-Peter Steinrück at FAU and co-supervision of Prof. S. Kaskel (TUD). In his RTG/PCL project, he employed scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to characterize the interactions of a variety of organic molecules (e. g. porphyrins and ligands) on metallic single crystals and 2D materials such as graphene and h-BN substrates, which were prepared and functionalized at ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions. He obtained his doctoral degree in Chemistry at FAU in July 2026.
Before the PhD, Majid received his BSc (2017) from KN Toosi University of Technology and his MSc (2020) from Beijing University of Chemical Technology in the field of Materials Science and Engineering. Afterward, he joined Chongqing 2D Materials Institute in China and worked as an R&D engineer for applying 2D materials in various engineering applications.

Project RTG2861-A3
Kevin Gerein pursued his PhD studies under the supervision of Prof. Andreas Hirsch at FAU and co-supervision of Prof. Thomas Heine at TUD. During his doctoral studies he explored the spatially resolved chemical functionalization of graphene and investigated the resulting 2D-engineered PCL using Raman spectroscopy and scanning probe microscopy techniques. In October 2026, he obtained his doctoral degree in Chemistry at FAU.
Before the PhD, Kevin worked as a student researcher on different 1- and 2-dimensional materials such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, and black phosphorus. He obtained his BSc (2020) and MSc (2022) in Chemistry at FAU.