Claudia Backes

Claudia Backes is a Professor at the University of Heidelberg, leading the Layered Nanomaterials Group. Her work focuses on low-dimensional materials, particularly liquid-exfoliated two-dimensional nanomaterials like transition metal dichalcogenides (e.g., MoS₂, WSe₂) and III-VI semiconductors (e.g., GaS), which she processes into free-floating sheets for advanced material engineering.

• Education: Ph.D. with honors (2011, University of Erlangen, Germany)

Research Interests center on exploiting 2D nanomaterials as building blocks for solution processing and supramolecular chemistry. These materials exhibit unique physical and electronic properties compared to their bulk forms, and her group applies spectroscopic and microscopic techniques to tune their characteristics through size control, surface modification, and functionalization.

Scientific Awards include the 2019 Materials Research Prize for Young Investigators, recognizing her innovative contributions to nanomaterial fabrication.

Grants & Positions: She received a German Research Foundation (DFG) fellowship (2012) and the prestigious Emmy Noether funding (2016) to establish her independent research group at Heidelberg University.

Labs & Teams: Leads the Layered Nanomaterials Group, dedicated to advancing the study and applications of two-dimensional materials.