Oppenheimer Research Fellow
Academic Division: Electrical Engineering
Telephone: NA
Email: ob303@cam.ac.uk
Research interests
Oliver is researching scalable light-controlled nanomaterial synthesis approaches, for applications in catalysis, optical materials, and solar energy.
Oliver has previously worked on integrated routes to 2D material synthesis and subsequent application in device fabrication. Having worked on the chemical vapour deposition of 2D materials such as graphene, Oliver used both in-situ and ex-situ characterization methods to understand how these materials grow and how we can control and utilize contamination levels of certain elements in the catalyst to the advantage of the final 2D film quality. In parallel, he worked towards optimizing the application of these films after their growth for both research and industry and working on novel repeatable methods of process-tolerant 2D material-based device fabrication. Following this, he researched novel nano-lithography strategies using holography and interference phenomena.
Teaching activity
Oliver supervises 1A mathematics for engineers at Fitzwilliam College.
Other positions
Oliver is a Bye-fellow at Fitzwilliam College (Fitzwilliam College Cambridge), Cambridge and the Post-doc theme lead for Functional Nano and Layered Materials, where he organizes intra- and extra- departmental events to enhance collaboration within the university.
He also founded a start-up company Prospectral LTD (ProSpectral), which is creating and scaling novel nanostructured meta-material optical elements.
Biography
Oliver completed an undergraduate degree in Physics with Theoretical Physics at the University of Nottingham in 2015, before coming to Cambridge to complete a MASt. in physics in 2016.
He graduated with his PhD in Engineering, supervised by Prof. Stephan Hofmann (HOFMANN group), in 2021. After this, he won the NanoDTC Translational Prize Fellowship (NanoDTC) to undertake impact-oriented research and commercialization of technologies that he developed using the funding.Following this, he researched novel nano-lithography strategies using holography and interference phenomena in the electronic and photonic materials group.
He is currently a Research Fellow hosted by the electronic and photonic materials group (Electronic and Photonic Nanodevices Group), where he is researching photo-controlled nanomaterial growth for optical transmission filters.
Department role and responsibilities
Oliver is the postdoc theme lead for functional and layered nanomaterials and is co-opted to faculty board.