ACCESS explored how ultra‑thin materials only a few atoms thick can be engineered to behave in entirely new electrical ways by deliberately breaking their natural symmetries. By twisting, stacking, or electrically tuning materials like bilayer graphene and WTe2, the project created nonlinear electrical responses—effects that could enable future low‑power electronics, ultra‑sensitive sensors, and advanced energy‑harvesting technologies. At the same time, ACCESS supported the professional growth of the researcher through international collaboration, mentoring, and research training. Together, the project’s scientific and career‑development goals were achieved, leading to new discoveries and ongoing collaborations in this rapidly advancing field.
The information and communication technology (ICT) sector consumes approximately 10% of global electricity, which is expected to further increase sharply in the coming decade. At the same time, the back-bone of ICT, the computing processors, and memory devices are hitting the physical limits of transistor miniaturization, where further scaling leads to prohibitive heat loss. To build faster, more efficient electronic devices, ACCESS focuses on atomically thin van der Waals (vdW) materials. By deliberately breaking their symmetry—through twisting, stacking, or electrical tuning—we induce a novel nonlinear electrical response. These effects open the door to ultra-low-power switches and integrated energy-harvesting capabilities. Furthermore, these same symmetry-breaking conditions enhance charge-to-spin conversion, a cornerstone of spintronics. These positions vdW materials as a key platform for merging energy-efficient charge-based logic with advanced spin-based functionality.
ACCESS aims to unlock new ways of controlling the flow of electricity in atomically thin vdW materials by stacking and twisting them with extreme precision. By engineering these delicate structures, we seek to reveal how their internal symmetries, electric polarization, and unique “moiré” patterns influence the way electrons move and interact. ACCESS will develop advanced fabrication methods to build complex stacks of two-dimensional materials, use electric fields to break or manipulate their natural symmetries, and explore how these changes give rise to unusual electrical responses that do not occur in ordinary materials. Ultimately, the goal is to understand how twisting, symmetry, and polarization can be harnessed to create new forms of electronic behavior, paving the way for future low-energy technologies, smarter sensors, and devices that use the strange rules of quantum physics to perform tasks that today’s electronics cannot. In addition to these scientific objectives, ACCESS also focuses on strengthening the researcher’s transferable skills, preparing him to become an independent scientist. The scientific excellence and interdisciplinary natures of the host organizations also provide the researcher with a unique opportunity to work with world leaders in the relevant fields, helping the researcher to build his research career in Europe.
