Cambridge scholar engages with CityUHK faculty and students at a Distinguished Visiting Professor Lecture

City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) hosted a Distinguished Visiting Professor Lecture earlier. Professor Colm Durkan, Professor of Nanoengineering Science and Head of the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge, shared his research expertise with CityUHK faculty and students, further promoting academic exchange.

Professor Durkan is a leading expert in nanoengineering science. He is interested in how nanostructured materials behave and how the properties of matter can be tailored by controlling geometry and size at the nano scale. He obtained a PhD in Physics from Trinity College Dublin and built the first Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM) in Ireland. Professor Durkan is a member of the editorial board of Scientific Reports (Springer Nature) and has published over 150 academic papers. He is also the founder and head of the Nanoengineering Science Group in the Nanoscience Centre at the University of Cambridge.

In his lecture, titled "Tailoring Graphene’s Bandgap", Professor Durkan began by introducing the properties of graphene, including its high carrier mobility at room temperature, high Young's modulus and lack of an intrinsic bandgap. Subsequently, Professor Durkan elaborated on the size-dependence of resistivity of graphene nanoribbons and substrate-mediated device architectures. He explained how his research team introduced a bandgap into graphene, including quantum confinement in structures below 50 nanometres, periodic potentials, and direct-write via the Atomic Force Microscope with resolution below 10 nanometres.

The lecture was well-received by CityUHK faculty and students. The audience participated enthusiastically in the Q&A session, which resulted in in-depth discussions with Professor Durkan about the properties of graphene and the details of introducing a bandgap.

CityUHK was recognised as the "Most International University in the World" in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings in 2024 and 2025 for two consecutive years, reflecting the University’s achievements in fostering collaboration in international academic and scientific research. Since its inception in 2023, the Distinguished Visiting Professors Scheme has invited over 50 renowned scholars to work alongside CityUHK faculty and students to promote interdisciplinary scientific and academic research, further expanding the University’s international academic research network and global talent pool.

For more details about the scheme, please visit https://www.cityu.edu.hk/vpti/dvps/.