Mafalda's research is directed towards creating flexible spintronic devices based on topological insulators (TI). As demand for wearable technology grows and CMOS technology approaches its limits, there is a need for alternatives paradigms of computation. It has been proved that the unique features of TI, such as strong spin-orbit coupling and spin-polarized surface states, make them highly efficient platforms for designing new device-architectures based on spin-encoding. However, challenges remain in scaling up production and understanding their behaviour under disorder. Mafalda addresses these issues by studying how TI perform on flexible substrates, investigating how their signature transport properties (resistivity, spin-hall effect, magnetoresistance, thermal transport) are influenced by material structure, which she analyses through Raman spectroscopy, X-ray techniques (XRD/XRR), and SEM/EDS.

Research Topics: Topological Insulators, Spintronics, Transport Phenomena, Nanomaterials