ANU’s Professor Hoe Tan, a Chief Investigator in TMOS, has identified by The Australian Special Report on Research as the Field Leader in Nanotechnology, within Chemical and Materials Sciences.

Congratulations Hoe!

Hoe’s research in Nanotechnology is primarily on the growth of semiconductor nanostructures such as nanowires, nanomembranes, nanorings and hexagonal-BN (a 2D material) for various optoelectronic applications. “I also dabble a little bit in photo/electro-chemical properties of nanostructures for energy applications” he said.

When asked about one of his key achievements in the field, Hoe says that it his “contribution to the understanding of the fundamental growth mechanism that has allowed us to make nanowire devices such as lasers, detectors and solar cells” that has had the biggest impact. His favourite experiment has to be MOCVD [Metal-Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition] “by far.” “Who doesn’t like changing a cylinder of arsine?”

When looking to the future of nanotechnology, Hoe notes that “the possibilities are endless.” “Nanotechnology is huge and covers pretty much all disciplines in science and technology. In III-V nanostructures, it’s active devices for the next generation meta-optical systems.”

A special talent of Hoe is his knowledge and enjoyment of wine. “Wouldn’t it be awesome to be able to describe a wine as having nanolayers of complex leafy freshness of berries, bramble and cassis…the palate is soft with velvety nanotextures and lingers for seconds (not nanoseconds)?” Sounds like a delightful Friday evening beverage!

The Report by The Australian and the League of Scholars identified leaders by their number citations from papers published in the last five years in the top 20 journals in their field. This analysis considers both the quality (top twenty journal) and the impact (citations) of the science. Citations are a useful indicator for how widely a piece of research is engaged with by peers. Hoe’s recognition as a leader in Nanotechnology is an outstanding achievement.

TMOS Associate Investigator, Professor Andrey Miroshnichenko of UNSW, was also recognised in the report as one of Australia’s Research Superstars – in the top 40 in all of Australia. Massive congratulations!

Andrey is in the top five researchers across the domain of Physics and Mathematics, as measured by his annualised H-index (a measure of publications produced and their citations by peers over time – it measures overall production of published research and peer engagement with that research).

Congratulations to all those named in The Australian. It is wonderful to see Australian science and researchers celebrated!