Thin Films and Nanowires

The focus of this research effort is to synthesize and characterize tunneling magneto resistance (TMR) materials in a form of nanowires vertically standing and substrate supported. This is achieved by filling the cylindrical empty interior space in carbon nanotubes and also by constructing nanocolumns through glancing angle deposition. The properties are compared with that of thin films synthesized under similar conditions. TMR materials with high enough MR ratio at room temperature can be used for several applications including sensors, logic gates, and MRAM in quantum computers. Nanowires / nanocolumns form makes it applicable for components in NEMS (nano-electromechanical systems).

Selected Publications

• D. Aryee, *D. Seifu, Shape Anisotropy and Hybridization Enhanced Magnetization in Nanowires of Fe/MgO/Fe Encapsulated in Carbon Nanotubes, Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, 2017 - Elsevier (*Author to whom correspondence should be send)
• Newman, Alexander, Suman Khatiwada, Suman Neupane, and *Dereje Seifu. "Nanowires of Fe/multi-walled carbon nanotubes and nanometric thin films of Fe/MgO." Journal of Applied Physics 117, no. 14 (2015): 144302. (*Author to whom correspondence should be send)
• Newman, Alexander, and *Dereje Seifu. "Fe/MgO/Fe Tunnel Magneto Resistance Structure." In APS March Meeting Abstracts, vol. 1, p. 1241. 2014. (*Author to whom correspondence should be send)
• Aryee, Dennis, and *Dereje Seifu. "Tunnel Magneto Resistance of Fe/Insulator/Fe." In APS March Meeting Abstracts. 2016. (*Author to whom correspondence should be send)
• Oliver, F. W., *D. Seifu, E. J. Hoffman, and V. Webb. "Transmission Mössbauer Spectroscopy on Pulsed-Laser-Deposited Thick CoFe 2 O 4 Films." Hyperfine interactions 153, no. 1 (2004): 57-60. (*Author to whom correspondence should be send)
• Masters of Science in Physics Thesis: Magneto-optics Kerr effect instrumentation Newman, Alexander. Morgan State University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2015. 10076261. Advisor: Dr. Dereje Seifu
• Masters of Science in Physics Thesis: TUNNELING MAGNETORESISTANCE IN IRON (Fe) / TOPOLOGICAL INSULATOR / IRON (Fe) Aryee, Dennis. Morgan State University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2017. Advisor: Dr. Dereje Seifu

Nanoparticles coated on Graphene & on Nanotubes

The focus of this research effort is to characterize graphene and carbon nanotubes coated with magnetic nanoparticles. This research is a collaborative effort between SDSM and ARL.

Selected Publications

• *Seifu, Dereje, Suman Neupane, Lily Giri, Shashi P. Karna, Haiping Hong, and M. S. Seehra. "Multilayered graphene acquires ferromagnetism in proximity with magnetite particles." Applied Physics Letters 106, no. 21 (2015): 212401. (*Author to whom correspondence should be send)
• *Seifu, Dereje, Lily Giri, Haiping Hong, Govind Mallick, Shashi P. Karna, and Mohindar S. Seehra. "Enhanced magnetic properties of carbon nanotubes and multilayer graphene decorated with Co3O4." In Nanotechnology (IEEE-NANO), 2016 IEEE 16th International Conference on, pp. 587-590. IEEE, 2016. (*Author to whom correspondence should be send)
• Neupane, Suman, Suman Khatiwada, Cherno Jaye, Daniel A. Fischer, Hammad Younes, Haiping Hong, Shashi P. Karna, Samuel G. Hirsch, and Dereje Seifu. "Single-walled carbon nanotubes coated by Fe2O3 nanoparticles with enhanced magnetic properties." ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology 3, no. 8 (2014): M39-M44.
• Kayondo, Moses, and *Dereje Seifu. "Magnetic Nanoparticles in Non-magnetic CNTs and Graphene." In APS March Meeting Abstracts. 2016. (*Author to whom correspondence should be send)

Computational Physics

• Ph.D. in Industrial and computational Mathematics: Density Functional computation of TMR and functionalized graphene and nanotubes Seck, Papa. Morgan State University to be published in 2021. Advisor: Dr. Dereje Seifu

Collaborative Research

This effort is to interact with other STEM disciplines researchers to find the sweet boundary summit.

Coadvisor of MS in Biology

Molecular dynamics investigation of single-walled carbon nanotubes with soluble proteins, A Vahedi-Faridi - 2015 - Advisors: James Wachira, Ph.D. and. Dereje Seifu, Ph.D.

Coadvisor of MS in Chemistry

Metal-assisted and microwave accelerated-evaporative crystallization: Application to lysozyme protein, Kevin Mauge-Lewis, Master of Science, December 2015. Thesis Chair: Dereje Seifu, Ph.D. Department of Physics. October 2015. _____, Advisors. Kadir Aslan, Ph.D. and Dereje Seifu, Ph.D.

Thesis chair of MS in Chemistry

Crystallization of L-glutathione on iCrystal plates using metal-assisted and microwave-accelerated evaporative crystallization and a mono-mode microwave, F Alsharari - 2016 - search.proquest.com_____, Chair. Dereje Seifu, Ph.D. _____, Advisor. Kadir Aslan, Ph.D.

Metal-assisted and microwave accelerated-evaporative crystallization: Application to glutathione tripeptide, A Zaakan - 2016 - search.proquest.com ... Aysha Zaakan, Master of Science, May 2016. Thesis Chair: Dereje Seifu, Ph.D. Department of Physics. ... May 2016. _____, AdvisorKadir Aslan, Ph.D.

Thesis chair for Ph.D. in Bio Environmental Science

Enzymatic signal amplification using plasmonic nanostructures for applications in bioenvironmental science and engineering, B Abel - 2015 - search.proquest.com. Kadir Aslan, Ph.D., Research Advisor _____. Dereje Seifu, Ph.D.,Committee Chair

Development of rapid analysis system based on microwave-accelerated bioassay technique for point-of-care applications, M Mohammed - 2015 - search.proquest.com... Kadir Aslan, Ph.D., Research Advisor _____. Dereje Seifu, Ph.D.,Committee Chair

Synthesis, anion sensing and DNA binding properties of Schiff Base derivatives of 2-amino-6 methoxybenzothiazole and other commercially available reagents, BG Barare - 2016 - search.proquest.com... Kadir Aslan, Ph.D., Research Advisor _____. Dereje Seifu, Ph.D.,Committee Chair

Thesis committee member for Ph.D. in Bio Environmental Science

Metal-Assisted and Microwave-Accelerated Decrystalization, Zainab Boone-Kukoyi, Doctor of Philosophy, January 2018

SYNTHETIC AND NATURAL PROBES FOR SELECTIVE ANION SENSING, Solomon Tadesse, Doctor of Philosophy in Bioenvironmental Science, December 2017

RAPID ASSESSMENT OF BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES IN RESOURCE-LIMITED SETTINGS, Enock Bonyi, Doctor of Philosophy, May 2017