University of Groningen
Reversible conductance and surface polarity switching with synthetic molecular switches
Kumar, Sumit
DOI:
10.33612/diss.95753670
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Publication date:
2019
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Citation for published version (APA):
Kumar, S. (2019). Reversible conductance and surface polarity switching with synthetic molecular switches.
University of Groningen. https://doi.org/10.33612/diss.95753670
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CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It is a great pleasure to express my deepest appreciation to people who contributed during my PhD journey. I am infinitely thankful from the core of my soul to prof. dr. Petra Rudolf for accepting my request as PhD supervisor for the Svagata fellowship program. Dear Petra, thank you for your hospitality during these PhD years and for your individual approach to advice and supervision. It was an adventurous PhD journey, I appreciate the freedom and support you provided, which helped me to develop my projects in the direction of my own interest. Thank you for trusting me with XPS responsibilities, this gave me a huge amount of experience on characterization of various materials. As a part of my professional learning, I also learned a lot about scientific networking, managing groups, and supervising students.
I am lucky that the chemical side of the project was a collaboration with Nobel Prize (2016) winner prof. dr. Ben L. Feringa. I still remember the day when you got the Nobel prize, everyone in the university was so excited. Ben, our interactions were very condensed and focused, but I appreciated the outcome of each discussion. You showed me how to think “big”, outside the box and on a large scale. You always encourage exciting ideas and also guide very humbly.
I express a tremendous amount of respect and appreciation to prof. dr. R.C. (Ryan) Chiechi. Ryan, I was not officially part of your group at the beginning, I started working with Davide for conductivity measurements of spiropyrans with the EGaIn set-up. However, despite the initially disappointing results, I slowly received your attention. I am always inspired by your positive words for this project, and my interest towards molecular electronics has developed. You definitely showed me the best example of a good supervisor and excellent motivator, you are someone who really gives freedom to the student. I am very thankful for all our discussions and numerous rounds of corrections of papers. I am very glad that you supervised my projects; it constantly pushed me to new limits. Besides countless lessons on molecular electronics and surface chemistry, I learned valuable life lessons from you. I am very thankful to members of the thesis reading committee - prof. dr. B. J. van Wees, prof. dr. H.J.W. Zandvliet, prof. dr. D. Dulic for approving the manuscript.
It was an honour to meet and talk with numerous distinguished scientists from the Zernike Institute – prof. dr. Maria Loi, prof. dr. Shirin Faraji , dr. prof. dr. ir. Caspar van der Wal, prof. dr. Jianting Ye, prof. dr. Graeme Blake, prof. dr. Kees Hummelen, dr. Tamalika Banerjee, prof. dr. Sander, dr. Ajay Kottapalli, prof. dr. M. A Stohr and many others.
Regis, you are a good friend, and an excellent scientist. You arrived in our group as Senior post-doc when I was in my first year. It was a great pleasure to work with you. You introduced me to the most challenging surface spectroscopy (XPS and UPS) and vacuum technology, which I kept using in different projects until the end of my PhD. I enjoyed doing the experiments together and solving vacuum related problems with you. I wish
that everyone could start a new position with a competent researcher like you. You have very bright ideas and you always inspire people around you.
Wojteck, our fruitful work started at the moment you brought the first compound of azobenzene switches in a tube. You are a brave chemist, as well as a smart scientist. Thank you for all the compounds that you synthesized for me to immobilize on a surface and study their behaviour. Additionally, I appreciate you increasing my knowledge about photo-stationary states (PSS) and quantum yields, etc. – no one will scare me with those words anymore. My grateful thanks to all the people in the office 5112.0066. Jiquan and Ali, I am so lucky that, I was surrounded by you guys, we have had so many unforgettable moments in our office. I enjoyed countless discussion in our office, from science to general life. Nic, it was nice to share an office with you.
Ali, you are a wonderful person, you are one of the very active and dynamic students. I enjoyed working with you on 2D materials project. I still remember you made an amazing birthday video for me. Thank you for agreeing to be my paranymph.
Fegn, you are a most energetic, joyful, and good materials scientist. I always enjoyed working with you on different projects. I am very impressed with your ability to synthesise new materials. I wish you the best of luck in your PhD and upcoming projects. Nico and Brian , I remember you guys as the glue of the group. Nico, I think you are the person who first took initiative to arrange group outings and monthly dinners. We had a lot of fun together, and I wish you the best of luck for your future. Brain, we have a lot of memories of countless dinners, and discussions about life and had a lot of fun together. I will never forget the Amsterdam trip with Brain, Lam and Leonid, and especially wandering in the street at midnight. That was an amazing memory. I wish you a very happy life and successful career.
Jos Noteboom , thank you for fixing a lot of instruments during my PhD. Yvonne Nagelhout, and Hilda Riemens, thanks for taking care of all our administrative problems. Without you guys, my PhD would not be possible. Joris and Pascal, thank you for helping me with the dutch version of my PhD summary. Surface and thin film group people; Tasfeen, Martina, Oleksii, Peter, Georgia, Dr. Stefano, Pham, Dr. Jun, Lam, Dr. Orestee, Eleni, Theodosis, Dr. Bay, Dr. Anh, Dr. Peter, Florian, Dr. Zi, Estela, Yiannis, Pascal thank you very much for all the scientific discussions and lunches together.
Saurabh, you are a smart student as well as a good artist (photographer). You were very helpful to me at the end of my PhD, for proofreading my articles. I also have nice memories with you of our Euro trip during christmas. I enjoyed sharing an office with you, where we had numerous discussions on different topics. I wish you the best of luck for your PhD career.
Sri, you are a very energetic person and good sportsman. I enjoyed both scientific and non-scientific discussions with you, wishing you the best of luck for your PhD. Jena, thanks for helping with the preparation of my CV and interview. I would also like to acknowledge all the molecular electronics people; Ali, Marco, Dr. Yanxi, Xinkai, Olga, Yuru, Thijs, Victor, and Thomas for all the scientific discussions and help during my project. Andrew, thank you for making some molecules for me. I would like to say special thanks to Sylvia for proof reading some of my thesis chapters and helping me with corrections. I would like to say thank you very much to Gang for helping me to understand Hora Finita.
Ajay, it’s difficult to explain you in few words, you are a one of my good friends, and a great hearted person. We started our PhDs together, even lived in the same apartment. We’ve had countless dinners and parties in your room, you are a very good cook and the best host. I still remember our first Diwali party in your room, cycle trip and Rome visit. I am wising you the best of luck for your academic career. I would like to say thank you to all my UMCG friends, Chari, Visvanathan, Sarvanan, Patil and Ajay for organizing cycle trips and picnics in Netherlands.
My PhD in the Netherlands would not have been possible without the Erasmus Mundus ‘Svagata’ scholarship for Indian students. I am grateful to Drs. Anita Veltmaat for answering our scholarship related queries. Thank you, Anita, for staying in touch throughout these years and for organizing occasional dinners at your house, hikes and city tours. I would also like to thank my fellow Svaagata scholars, Hemant, Anne, Ajay, and Anurag for all the support and care in these years.
Raj, you are a positive person and a real gentleman. We’ve had several dinners together, you are a great cook . I hope you remember our first and last Wire trip in Giethoorn, which was amazing. Wishing you the best of luck for your next job.
It was a learning experience while being part of the Groningen Indian Student Association and I would like to say thank you to all my GISA 2013 members, Ekta, Arijit, Saurabh, Akansha, and Anurg. I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Tamalika Banerjee, for all the help and care you provided to me. I would also like to say thank you for accepting to be a committee member in my defense committee.
I would like to say thank you to all my friend, H.Cao, Sid, Malik, Ankur, Dr. Anil, Dr. Bhgwan, Pulkesh, R.P. Singh, Silva, Mallik, Sid and many other.
And last but not least, I would like to thank my friends, parents and family members for their continuous support. Thank you, My DADA jee (late Sri Bishwanath Prasad), and DADI jee (Late Srimati Kishori devi) you are my first teacher and mentor. You may not be with us today but you will live forever within me. The dreams I am chasing today were nurtured by both of you. I miss you both every day in the stars. MAA (Smt. Bina devi) and PAPA (Sri. Binod Kumar), thank you both for being my parents, and believing in me. I will never find enough words for your sacrifices, without your support, this PhD is not possible.I would like to say thankyou to my wife (Saumya) and my in-laws for their patience and support. Bhonu (Sujit Kumar srivastava), thank you very much for supporting me till today. I have great strength that, my brother is there. I am wishing you the best of luck for your future. Chacha jee (Sri Rabindra Prashad), Mama jee (Sri Anil Kumar) my dearest Phua ( Smt. Mala Verma), thank you very much for your care and support.
Thank you ! Sumit Kumar
