Dr. Naresh Kumar
Dr. Naresh Kumar
Lecturer at the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences
ETH Zürich
Additional information
Research area
Development of scanning probe microscopy (AFM and STM) based plasmon-enhanced optical spectroscopies (Raman, fluorescence and photoluminescence) for hyperspectral molecular/chemical imaging at the nanoscale. Application of optical nanospectroscopies to study catalytic materials, biomaterials, organic photovoltaic devices, polymer-blends, self-assembled molecular systems, solid-liquid interfaces and 2D materials such as single-layer graphene, MoS2, WSe2 etc.
Naresh Kumar is a Senior Scientist and Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich since 2020.
Naresh obtained his Bachelor of Technology (BTech) degree in Engineering Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. During his undergraduate studies, Naresh worked a Guest Researcher at the University of Muenster, Germany and studied interaction of organic molecules with supported lipid membranes using Molecular Dynamics simulations. His Master of Research (MRes) degree in Physics at the Nanoscale was obtained from King's College London with a mark of distinction. Naresh carried out his PhD research in a collaborative project between the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), UK and Utrecht University, Netherlands on the “Development of Tip-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (TERS) and its Application to Heterogeneous Catalysis Research” under the guidance of Prof. Bert Weckhuysen.
Naresh joined NPL, UK as a Research Scientist in 2011 to work on the development and applications of TERS. During this time, he set up a state-of-the-art AFM-TERS system at NPL and worked on a range of inter-disciplinary projects. He applied TERS to solve problems in diverse areas of scientific research including heterogeneous catalysis, organic solar cells, polymer-blends, distribution of small molecules within biological cells, nanoscale chemical imaging of solid-liquid interfaces and 2D materials such as graphene and single-layer MoS2. Naresh also worked on underpinning metrology to improve reproducibility of TERS measurements and extend plasmonic enhancement, lifetime, robustness and chemical inertness of TERS probes. For his professional achievements, Naresh was awarded the Rayleigh Early Career Award by NPL in 2016 and promoted to Higher Research Scientist in 2017.
Naresh is regularly invited to peer-review articles for the leading scientific journals and is a regular speaker at the international scientific conferences. He has been a Visiting Professor in the School of Sciences, Hangzhou Dianzi University, China from 2020 - 2023.
Membership
| Since | Membership |
|---|---|
| 2022 | Member of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), USA |
| 2022 | Member of the Swiss Chemical Society, Switzerland |
| 2017 | Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK |
Honours
| Year | Distinction |
|---|---|
| 2023 | Masao Horiba Award for Advancements in Optical Nanospectroscopy, HORIBA Ltd., Japan |
| 2017 | Chartered Physicist Award, Institute of Physics, London, UK |
| 2016 | Rayleigh Early Career Award, National Physical Laboratory, London, UK |
| 2015 | Best Paper Award, International Conference on Tip-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy, Osaka, Japan |
| 2005 | Award of Academic Excellence, University of London, London, UK |
Additional information
Selected Publications (For full publication list see Google Scholar)
1. Y. Pandey, D. F. Abbott, V. Mougel, N. Kumar*, R. Zenobi* “Probing the Role of Environmental and Sample Characteristics in Gap Mode Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy” Analytical Chemistry, 2023, 95, 23, 8869–8878
2. D. Mrđenović, Z-.X. Tang, Y. Pandey, W. Su, Y. Zhang, N. Kumar*, R. Zenobi* “Regioselective Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy of Lipid Membranes with Sub-Nanometer Axial Resolution” Nano Letters, 2023, 23, 9, 3939–3946
3. K. R. Paton, K. Despotelis, N. Kumar, P. Turner, A. J. Pollard “On the use of Raman spectroscopy to characterize mass-produced graphene nanoplatelets” Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology, 2023, 14 (1), 509-521
4. D. Mrđenović, Z.-F. Cai, Y. Pandey, G. L. Bartolomeo, R. Zenobi*, N. Kumar* “Nanoscale chemical analysis of 2D molecular materials using tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy” Nanoscale, 2023, 15, 963-974
5. Z.-F. Cai, N. Kumar, R. Zenobi, “Probing On-Surface Chemistry at the Nanoscale Using Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy” CCS Chemistry, 2023, 5, 55-71
6. S. Bienz, S. H. van Vreeswijk, Y. Pandey, G. Bartolomeo, B. M. Weckhuysen, R. Zenobi*, N. Kumar* “Probing coke formation during the methanol-to-hydrocarbon reaction on zeolite ZSM-5 catalyst at the nanoscale using tip-enhanced fluorescence microscopy” Catalysis Science & Technology 2022, 12, 5795-5801
7. Z.-F. Cai, J. P. Merino, W. Fang, N. Kumar*, J. O. Richardson, S. D. Feyter, R. Zenobi* “Molecular-Level Insights on Reactive Arrangement in On-Surface Photocatalytic Coupling Reactions Using Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy” Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2022, 144, 538−546
8. D. Mrđenović, W. Ge, N. Kumar*, R. Zenobi* “Nanoscale Chemical Imaging of Human Cell Membranes Using Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy” Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2022, 61, e2022102
9. D. Mrđenović, D. Abbott, V. Mougel, W. Su, N. Kumar*, R. Zenobi* “Visualizing Surface Phase Separation in PS-PMMA Polymer Blends at the Nanoscale” ACS Applied Material & Interfaces 2022, 14, 21, 24938–24945
10. Z.-F. Cai, N. Kumar, R. Zenobi “Probing On-Surface Chemistry at the Nanoscale Using Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy” CCS Chemistry 2022, DOI: 10.31635/ccschem.022.202202287
11. Z.-F. Cai, T. Käser, N. Kumar, R. Zenobi “Visualizing On-Surface Decomposition Chemistry at the Nanoscale Using Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy” Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2022, 13, 22, 4864–4870
12. J. Shao, F. Chen, W. Su, N. Kumar, Y. Zeng, L. Wu, H.-W. Lu “Probing Nanoscale Exciton Funneling at Wrinkles of Twisted Bilayer MoS2 Using Tip-Enhanced Photoluminescence Microscopy” Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2022, 13, 14, 3304–3309
13. G. L. Bartolomeo, Y. Zhang, N. Kumar*, R. Zenobi* “Molecular Perturbation Effects in AFM-Based Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy: Contact versus Tapping Mode” Analytical Chemistry, 2021, 93(46), 15358-15364
14. W. Su*, N. Kumar*, H. Shu, O. Lancry, M. Chaigneau “In situ Visualization of Optoelectronic Behavior of Grain Boundaries in Monolayer WSe2 at the Nanoscale” The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2021, 125(48), 26883-26891
15. Y. Pandey, N. Kumar*, G. Goubert, R. Zenobi* "Nanoscale Chemical Imaging of Supported Lipid Monolayers using Tip‐Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy" Angewandte Chemie 2021, 133, 19189-19194
16. W. Su*, A. Esfandiar, O. Lancry, J. Shao, N. Kumar*, M. Chaigneau* "Visualising structural modification of patterned graphene nanoribbons using tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy" Chemical Communications, 2021, 57, 6895-6898
17. N. Kumar, S. Marchesini, T. Howe, L. Edwards, B. Brennan, A. J. Pollard "Nanoscale characterization of plasma functionalized graphitic flakes using tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy" The Journal of Chemical Physics, 2020, 153, 184708
18. M. Race, A. Rae, J.-L. Vorng, R. Havelund, A. Dexter, N. Kumar et al. "Correlative Hyperspectral Imaging Using a Dimensionality-Reduction-Based Image Fusion Method" Analytical Chemistry, 2020, 92, 10979-10988
19. E. L. Legge, K. R. Paton, M. Wywijas, G. McMahon, R. Pemberton, N. Kumar et al. “Determining the level and location of functional groups on few-layer graphene and their effect on the mechanical properties of nanocomposites” ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2020, 12(11), 13481-13493
20. N. Kumar, B. M. Weckhuysen, A. J. Wain, A. J. Pollard “Nanoscale chemical imaging using tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy” Nature Protocols 2019, 14, 1169-1193
21. N. Kumar†, C. S. Wondergem†, A. J. Wain, B. M. Weckhuysen “Towards in situ nanoscale mapping of catalytic reactions in liquid phase using tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy” The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2019,10, 1669-1675 (†Equal contribution)
22. N. Kumar, S. Kalirai, A. J. Wain and B. M. Weckhuysen “Nanoscale chemical imaging of a single catalyst particle with tip-enhanced fluorescence microscopy” ChemCatChem 2019, 11, 417-423
23. W. Su†*, N. Kumar†*, A. Krayev, M. Chaigneau* “In situ topographical chemical and electrical imaging of carboxyl graphene oxide at the nanoscale” Nature Communications 2018, 9: 2891 (†Equal contribution)
24. N. Kumar*, W. Su, F. A. Castro, B. M. Weckhuysen “Applications of Tip-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy: From Graphene to Catalysis” Nanoimaging and Nanospectroscopy 2018, 10726, 1072608
25. N. Kumar, W. Su, M. Veselý, B. M. Weckhuysen, A. J. Pollard, A. J. Wain “Nanoscale chemical imaging of solid-liquid interfaces using tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy” Nanoscale, 2018, 10, 1815 - 1824
26. N. Kumar*, A. Zoladek-Lemanczyk, A. Gilbert, S. M. Tuladhar, T. Kirchartz, B. C. Schroeder, I. McCulloch, J. Nelson, D. Roy, F. A. Castro* “Simultaneous topographical, electrical and optical microscopy of optoelectronic devices at the nanoscale” Nanoscale, 2017, 9, 2723-2731
27. N. Kumar*, M. M. Drozdz, H. Jiang, D. M. Santos, D. J. Vaux “Nanoscale mapping of newly-synthesised phospholipid molecules in a biological cell using tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy” Chemical Communications, 2017, 53 (16), 2451-2454
28. N. Kumar* and F. A. Castro “Molecular mapping beyond the diffraction limit using tip-enhanced optical spectroscopy” Imaging & Microscopy 2017, 3, 34 – 36
29. W. Su†, N. Kumar†, S. Mignuzzi, J. Crain, D. Roy “Nanoscale mapping of excitonic processes in single layer MoS2using tip-enhanced photoluminescence microscopy” Nanoscale 2016, 8, 10564-10569 (†Equal contribution)
30. W. Su†, N. Kumar†, N. Dai, D. Roy “Nanoscale chemical mapping of intrinsic defects in graphene using tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy” Chemical Communications 2016, 52, 8227-8230 (†Equal contribution)
31. N. Kumar*, S. J. Spencer, A. J. Wain, D. Imbraguglio, A. Rossi, B. M. Weckhuysen, D. Roy*, “Extending the plasmonic lifetime of tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy probes” Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2016, 18, 13710-13716
32. T. Hartman, C. S. Wondergem, N. Kumar, A. Berg, B. M. Weckhuysen “Surface- and tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy in catalysis” The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2016, 7, 1570-1584
33. N. Kumar, B. Stephanidis, R. Zenobi, A. J. Wain, D. Roy “Nanoscale mapping of catalytic activity using tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy” Nanoscale 2015, 7, 7133–7137
34. S. Mignuzzi, N. Kumar, B. Brennan, I. S. Gilmore, D. R. Richards, A. J. Pollard, D. Roy “Probing individual point defects in graphene via near-field Raman scattering” Nanoscale 2015, 9, 19413-19418
35. W. Su, N. Kumar, S. J. Spencer, N. Dai, D. Roy “Transforming bilayer MoS2into single-layer with strong photoluminescence using UV-ozone oxidation” Nano Research 2015, 8(12), 3878-3886
Course Catalogue
Spring Semester 2024
| Number | Unit |
|---|---|
| 529-0059-00L | Nanoscale Molecular Imaging |
| 529-0289-00L | Spectra Interpretation of Organic Compounds |