APhMS: EAS Trailblazers Department Seminar

Abstract:
Interfaces increasingly define material behavior as devices approach nanometer dimensions. In this limit, many open questions remain about how hybridization across and within atomic layers governs the coupling between bonding, curvature, strain gradients, and polarization. This talk discusses interface-driven phenomena in atomically thin hybrid systems through two limits of hybridization. First, I will present "glapheneTM," a chemically hybridized material formed between graphene and two-dimensional silica glass. Measurements show that glaphene is not a simple van der Waals stack, but an interface-stabilized hybrid in which interlayer interactions produce distinct vibrational signatures and emergent semiconducting behavior. Second, I will discuss how sub-nanometer curvature in graphene nanowrinkles drives intralayer orbital rehybridization and generates large flexoelectric polarization through strain gradients near extreme bending limits. These studies show that interfaces are active regions where charge, bonding, polarization, and mechanics are strongly coupled, with broader implications for thermal transport, topological transport, and soft matter-integrated electronic systems.

Bio:
Sathvik Ajay Iyengar is a 2026 Schmidt Science Fellow in the EECS Department at UC Berkeley. He is also a 2026 Bakar Innovation Fellow working to translate topological semimetal interconnects toward scalable next-generation computing hardware. His research connects materials chemistry, condensed matter physics, and device engineering to understand how charge, polarization, electromechanics, and heat couple across interfaces for energy-efficient computing and soft matter-integrated electronic systems. He received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and NanoEngineering from Rice University, where his work focused on atomic-scale interfaces in ultrathin hybrid materials. During his Ph.D., he was named a 2024 JSPS Fellow at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, where he worked on 2D van der Waals heterolayers for ultrafast spectroscopy. In 2023, he was named an inaugural Quad Fellow at the White House, part of a science-diplomacy initiative among the US, India, Japan, and Australia.