Faculty Directory
Mark C. Hersam

Chair of Materials Science and Engineering

Walter P. Murphy Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and (by courtesy) Electrical and Computer Engineering and Chemistry

Director, Materials Research Science and Engineering (MRSEC)

Contact

2220 Campus Drive
Cook Hall 2036; Office - Cook 1135
Evanston, IL 60208

Email Mark Hersam

Website

The Hersam Research Group

Departments

Materials Science and Engineering

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Affiliations

PhD Program in Applied Physics

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Education

Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, IL

M.Phil. Microelectronic Engineering and Semiconductor Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

B.S. Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, IL


Research Interests

Low-Dimensional Nanoelectronic Materials

The Hersam Research Group specializes in the synthesis, purification, functionalization, and application of low-dimensional nanoelectronic materials including monodisperse carbon nanotubes, graphene, plasmonic nanoparticles, transition metal dichalcogenides, hexagonal boron nitride, black phosphorus, and borophene. Surface chemical functionalization allows further tunability over the properties of these low-dimensional nanoelectronic materials including self-assembled monolayers on epitaxial graphene, covalent functionalization of graphene epoxide, monolayer molybdenum disulfide, graphene nanoribbons on germanium, surface passivation of black phosphorus, and organic-borophene heterostructures. The integration of these diverse materials into mixed-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures enables significant advances in diverse applications including thin-film transistors, memristors, transparent conductors, photovoltaics, batteries, biosensors, and quantum computing. In addition to fundamental studies, the Hersam Research Group commercializes low-dimensional nanoelectronic materials through scalable nanomanufacturing methods such as continuous flow solution processing and a range of printing methods encompassing inkjet, aerosol jet, gravure, screen, and 3D printing.


Significant Recognition

  • National Academy of Engineering (NAE), 2024
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2024
  • Materials Research Society Mid-Career Researcher Award, 2024
  • Dorothy Ann and Clarence L. Ver Steeg Distinguished Research Fellowship, 2023
  • American Chemical Society (ACS) Fellow, 2021
  • AAAFM Stoddart Award, 2021
  • American Vacuum Society (AVS) Medard W. Welch Award, 2020
  • Department of Energy Technology and Tools Award, 2019
  • Advanced Materials Hall of Fame, 2018
  • National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow, 2017
  • AVS Nanotechnology Recognition Award, 2017
  • U.S. Science Envoy, 2016
  • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow, 2016
  • MacArthur Fellowship, 2014
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow, 2014
  • ACS Arthur K. Doolittle Award in Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering, 2013
  • American Physical Society (APS) Fellow, 2012
  • Materials Research Society (MRS) Fellow, 2012
  • International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) Fellow, 2012
  • AVS Fellow, 2012
  • Materials Research Society Outstanding Young Investigator Award, 2010
  • SES Research Young Investigator Award, Electrochemical Society, 2010
  • AVS Peter Mark Award, 2006
  • TMS Robert Lansing Hardy Award, 2006
  • Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, 2005
  • Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, 2005
  • Army Research Office Young Investigator Award, 2005
  • Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, 2005
  • National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2002
  • Arnold and Mabel Beckman Young Investigator Award, 2001
  • IBM Distinguished Fellowship, 1999
  • National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, 1997
  • British Marshall Scholarship, 1996

Selected Publications

J. T. Gish, D. Lebedev, T. W. Song, V. K. Sangwan, and M. C. Hersam, “Van der Waals opto-spintronics,” Nature Electronics, 7, 336 (2024).


H. Liu, J. Wu, J. Ma, X. Yan, N. Yang, X. He, Y. He, H. Zhang, T.-H. Hsu, J. H. Qian, J. Guo, M. C. Hersam, and H. Wang, “A van der Waals interfacial junction transistor for reconfigurable fuzzy logic hardware,” Nature Electronics, 7, 876 (2024).


L. E. Chaney, W. J. Hyun, M. Khalaj, J. Hui, and M. C. Hersam, “Fully-printed, high-temperature micro-supercapacitor arrays enabled by a hexagonal boron nitride ionogel electrolyte,” Advanced Materials, 36, 2305161 (2024).


X. Yan, Z. Zheng, V. K. Sangwan, J. H. Qian, X. Wang, S. E. Liu, K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi, S.-Y. Xu, P. Jarillo-Herrero, Q. Ma, and M. C. Hersam, “Moiré synaptic transistor with room-temperature neuromorphic functionality,” Nature, 624, 551 (2023).


X. Yan, J. H. Qian, J. Ma, A. Zhang, S. E. Liu, M. P. Bland, K. J. Liu, X. Wang, V. K. Sangwan, H. Wang, and M. C. Hersam, “Reconfigurable mixed-kernel heterojunction transistors for personalized support vector machine classification,” Nature Electronics, 6, 862 (2023).


J. R. Downing, S. Diaz-Arauzo, L. E. Chaney, D. Tsai, J. Hui, J.-W. T. Seo, D. R. Cohen, M. Dango, J. Zhang, N. X. Williams, J. H. Qian, J. B. Dunn, and M. C. Hersam, “Centrifuge-free separation of solution-exfoliated 2D nanosheets via cross-flow filtration,” Advanced Materials, 35, 2212042 (2023).


M. I. B. Utama, H. Zeng, T. Sadhukhan, A. Dasgupta, S. C. Gavin, R. Ananth, D. Lebedev, W. Wang, J.-S. Chen, K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi, T. J. Marks, X. Ma, E. A. Weiss, G. C. Schatz, N. P. Stern, and M. C. Hersam, “Chemomechanical modification of quantum emission in monolayer WSe2,” Nature Communications, 14, 2193 (2023).


X. Yan, J. H. Qian, V. K. Sangwan, and M. C. Hersam, “Progress and challenges for memtransistors in neuromorphic circuits and systems,” Advanced Materials, 34, 2108025 (2022).


C. M. Thomas, W. J. Hyun, H. C. Huang, D. Zeng, and M. C. Hersam, “Blade-coatable hexagonal boron nitride ionogel electrolytes for scalable production of lithium metal batteries,” ACS Energy Letters, 7, 1558 (2022).


X. Liu, Q. Li, Q. Ruan, M. S. Rahn, B. I. Yakobson, and M. C. Hersam, “Borophene synthesis beyond the single-atomic-layer limit,” Nature Materials, 21, 35 (2022).