About Lecturer
Prof. Abu Yaya obtained his first degree in Chemistry in 2002 at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana. He was then awarded a EU scholarship to do his masters in Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Aveiro, Portugal and Aalborg University, Denmark. And he was subsequently awarded a CNRS, scholarship in France where he obtained his PhD in Nanomaterials Physics at the Institute of Materials in Nantes, University of Nantes, France in 2011.
He was again awarded a six month Postdoctoral fellowship at Cambridge University, UK, where he worked on the development of electroporcelain insulators from local raw materials in Ghana.
Research Work and Publications
My research involves the use of ab initio density functional modelling programme (AIMPRO) and experimental optical spectroscopic techniques to study several important examples of weak intermolecular interactions in carbon nanomaterials. At the quantum mechanical level, calculations give a reliable and improved understanding of the role and feature of weak intermolecular interactions, which cannot be accurately predicted by conventional methods such as classical interatomic potentials. Also, in order to fully verify the theoretical calculations experimental tool such as resonant Raman and FT-IR are used to shed light on these interactions. Some useful applications of these are for understanding charge transfer interactions, photoconductivity and sensors.
Presently, am looking at the fabrication and characterization of polymer and other filler materials such as graphene, graphites, nanotubes and clays which has specialized applications such as electro-porcelain insulators, lightweight composites & sensors.
Areas Of Research
Atomistic Materials Modelling
Polymer/Nano Composite Materials
Nanomaterials
Research Publications
Book Chapters
V. V. Ivanovskaya, P. Wagner, A. Zobelli, I. Suarez-Martinez, A. Yaya, C. P. Ewels (2012), Graphene edge structures: Folding, scrolling, tubing, rippling and twisting “Graphene Edge Structures: Folding, Scrolling, Tubing, Rippling and Twisting,” in GraphITA, L. Ottaviano and V. Morandi, Eds. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 75–85, http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-642-20644-3_10#page-1