Dr Pankaj Sharma is an experimental condensed matter physicist with a strong focus and expertise in nanoscale materials science and engineering. Pankaj received his doctorate from the University of Nebraska Lincoln, USA in 2013. After a brief postdoctoral stint at the University of Nebraska during which he established and validated a new device design of electron tunnel junction memory under the framework of an industry project funded by Semiconductor Research Corporation (CNFD), in 2015, he moved to UNSW Sydney. From 2017 to 2022, he was a member and research scientist at the NSW node of ARC's Centre of Excellence in Future Low Energy Electronics Technologies, and in 2021, was promoted to the position of a Lecturer (Materials Sci & Eng, UNSW) before joining Flinders University a year later. At Flinders, Pankaj leads a cutting edge reserach program on the nanoscale investigation of functional materials and devices, and has pioneered new research directions and technological innovations within the field, e.g. low-energy domain wall memory^1,2,3 and the discovery of a new class of electronic materials^4,5 first predicted in the 1960's by the Nobel Laureate physicist Philip Anderson.

Dr Sharma's research interests include the development and utilization of cutting-edge scanning probe microscopy and spectroscopic techniques^6 ,7 for the investigation of advanced electronic materials, surfaces and interfaces at the nanometre scales for technological applications in low-energy data storage, agile nanoelectronics, sustainable energy harvesting and biomedical devices & implants. His research group focuses on advanced electronic material systems and devices made of, e.g. (multi-) ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics, oxide heterostructures, 2D van der Waals materials, photovoltaics, and battery materials among others.

Key Responsibilities

• Instrument Leader, AFM/SPM facilties, Flinders Microscopy and MicroAnalysis (FMMA)
• Associate Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Technologies (FLEET)

Fellowships (selected)

• US National Science Foundation, Georgia Institute of Technology (2013) 
• US National Science Foundation, CMMI Boston (2012)

Grants (selected)

• University of New South Wales - Research Infrastructure Grants, $383,000 (2016 - 2022)
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory - User Grant, $30,000 (2021 - 2022)
• University of New South Wales / Manipal Academy of Higher Education - Seed Grant, $20,000 (2020-2022)
• University of New South Wales - Science Faculty Research Grant, $8,000 (2022)
• Australian Research Council - Centre of Excellence in FLEET Grant, Idea Factory, $10,000 (2022)
• University of New South Wales - Strategic Support Grant, $4,000 (2021)
• Australian Research Council - Centre of Excellence in FLEET, MacDiarmid Institute NZ Grant, $5,500 (2019 - 2020)

• Condensed matter physics, electronic and piezoelectric applications of metal oxides (MAHE) (1)

• Condensed Matter Physics, Nanoferroelectrics and domain walls (1)
• Polar complex oxide heterointerfaces, 2 dimensional electron gas (1)
• Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (1)
• Strain engineering and control of complex oxide materials (1)
• Transition metal dichalcogenides, Scanning probe microscopy (1)