Richard Balog is currently employed as a TAP - Academic employee working on the Graphene Coated Nanoparticles and Nanograins (GRANN) project, which was recently awarded by ERC to Prof. Liv Hornekær. The low dimensional systems such 1D-nanoparticles and 2D-layered materials are known to possess chemical, electronic and optical properties often significantly altered compared to their 3D counterparts. We aim to explore and understand what kind of exciting new properties can emerge in these low dimensional materials when combined into hybrid structures.

Richard Balog has expertise in growing and studying graphene and graphene based nano-structures. During his postdoctoral stay at Aarhus University his research focused on modifying intrinsic electronic properties of graphene by chemical functionalization. In 2013 he moved to the NPRL research centre at the University of Birmingham, UK, working on the size selected nanoparticles. In 2014 he was awarded an Ikerbasque research fellowship at the Nanogune research centre, San Sebastian, Spain. The main research line aimed at understanding the electronic and optical properties of nano-structures by employing local probes, such as LT-STM, STS, tip induced electroluminescence and tip enhanced photo-luminescence.