Stefan Bromley heads the Nanoclusters and Nanostructured Materials (www.ub.edu/nnmgroup) group within the Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry at the University of Barcelona (IQTC-UB). He obtained his PhD in Computational Physics (University of Southampton, UK) in 1997 and previously held research posts in the UK (Postdoctoral fellow, Royal Institution), the Netherlands (Associate Professor, Delft University of Technology) and Spain (Ramón y Cajal fellow, UB). He has published >200 research articles and 8 book chapters, which have received >8500 citations (h-index = 48). He has given many invited talks about his work at international conferences and academic institutions and has co-edited two books and co-authored two reviews on computational modelling of nanoparticles and nanomaterials.
Research interests
With the constant technological drive for device miniaturisation, materials are increasingly being used at scales of only a few 100s or 1000s of atoms (i.e. the nanoscale). Such nanomaterials display novel size-dependent properties compared to materials at everyday length scales. Employing classical atomistic and quantum chemical modelling methods implemented on powerful supercomputers, we aim to provide a detailed predictive understanding of the structural, electronic and chemical properties of nanomaterials. We focus on how nanomaterials evolve with size, and designing new materials from nanoscale building blocks. Our research follows three main themes: (i) inorganic nanoclusters and nanostructured materials for energy applications (e.g TiO2, ZnO, CeO2), (ii) nucleation and properties of astronomically important nanomaterials (e.g. TiC, silicates), and (iii) design and understanding of low-dimensional materials for electronics/spintronics using organic molecular building blocks .
Selected publications
- Gobrecht D, Hashemi SR, Plane JMC, Bromley ST, Nyman G & Decin L 2023, 'Bottom-up dust nucleation theory in oxygen-rich evolved stars II. Magnesium and calcium aluminate clusters', Astronomy & astrophysics, 680.
- Tang Z, Bromley ST & Hammer B 2023, 'A machine learning potential for simulating infrared spectra of nanosilicate clusters.', The Journal Of Chemical Physics, 158, 22.
- Zeegers ST, Guiu JM, Kemper F, Marshall JP & Bromley ST 2023, 'Predicting observable infrared signatures of nanosilicates in the diffuse interstellar medium', Faraday Discussions, 10.1039/d3fd00055a.
- Alcon I, Ribas-Arino J, Moreira IPR & Bromley ST 2023, 'Emergent Spin Frustration in Neutral Mixed-Valence 2D Conjugated Polymers: A Potential Quantum Materials Platform', Journal Of The American Chemical Society, 145, 10, 5674-5683.
- Lopez-Suarez M, Lleopart G, Morales-Salvador R, Moreira IPR, Bromley ST 2023, 'Buckletronics: how compression-induced buckling affects the mechanical and electronic properties of sp(2)-based two-dimensional materials', Philosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society A-mathematical Physical And Engineering Sciences, 381, 2250, 20220248.
- Recio-Poo M, Morales-Garcia A, Illas F & Bromley ST 2023, 'Crystal properties without crystallinity? Influence of surface hydroxylation on the structure and properties of small TiO2 nanoparticles', Nanoscale, 15, 4809-4820.
- De Sousa JA, Pfattner R, Gutiérrez D, et al. 2023, 'Stable Organic Radical for Enhancing Metal-Monolayer-Semiconductor Junction Performance', Acs Applied Materials & Interfaces, 15, 3, 4635-4642.
Selected research activities
Invited talk: "From Molecular Radicals to 2D Quantum materials: 2D Covalent Organic Radical Frameworks", Chem2Dmat - European Conference on Chemistry of 2D Materials, Bologna, Italy.
Invited talk: "Silicate Clusters and Nanoparticles in the Interstellar Medium:
Theory, Experiment and Observation",
ISSPIC XXI - International Symposium on Small Particles and Inorganic Clusters, Berlin, Germany.