Michal Pawlus

University College London

Biography

Research Project: Unravelling Electronic, Structural and Functional Phenomena in Complex Materials
Supervisors:
Anna Regoutz (UCL) and Laura Radcliff (ICL)

Michal graduated with an Integrated Master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Kent in 2020. His Master’s project focused on synthesis and characterisation of novel antiferroelectric Perovskite-like materials. The materials were synthesised using solid state reactions and they were characterised using X-Ray Powder Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy and electric hysteresis loop measurements.

During his time at the university, he developed an interest in material science which lead him to continue this research pathway. In 2021, he worked as a research assistant in an industrial project at the University of Kent, to discover new battery chemistries. The project involved making, assembly and characterisation of the purpose-built batteries.

At UCL, he will work on characterisation of complex materials, such as materials with dopants or structural defects. To understand the electronic, structural and functional properties of the complex structures, the research will combine the experimental use of X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Hard X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy with theoretical modelling utilising Density Funcntional Theory.