On March 23, 2026, Sherif Kamal successfully defended his doctoral dissertation entitled “Spectroscopy and microscopy of pristine and decorated epitaxial borophene on iridium” at the Faculty of Physics, University of Rijeka. The dissertation was written under the mentorship of dr. sc. Marin Petrović and is closely related to the Croatian Science Foundation project “Boron-based 2D materials” (HrZZ UIP-2020-02-1732). In addition to experimental measurements performed at the Institute of Physics, the dissertation contains measurements from the MESA+ Institute of the University of Twente, the Faculty of Physics at the University of Rijeka, and the Elettra (Trieste) and Soleil (Krakow) synchrotrons.
The dissertation studies the electronic structure and morphology of borophene– a 2D material composed of boron atoms– synthesized on Ir(111) single crystal. Processes relevant to the synthesis in ultra-high vacuum, effects of borophene’s polymorphism and its inhomogeneous binding to the substrate, and the possibility of modifying the intrinsic properties of borophene by additional decoration with elements such as lithium are considered, among other things. The dissertation provides new insight into the electronic properties of the atomically-thin layer of boron and lays the foundations for further consideration of borophene as a material suitable for integration into more complex, potentially applicable nanoscopic systems.
We congratulate Sherif on successful completion of his doctorate and wish him luck in his future career!