Walther Schwarzacher is a surface physicist whose research centres on nanoscale materials, electrochemical growth processes, and charge and spin transport in low-dimensional systems. His undergraduate and postgraduate degrees are from the University of Cambridge, and he spent many years at the University of Bristol, before moving to LUMS in 2024. A major theme of his work is the controlled fabrication of nanostructured metals and magnetic materials using electrodeposition, a versatile and cost-effective technique that enables precise tuning of composition, morphology, and layer thickness at the nanometre scale. He has investigated the physics of thin-film growth, including nucleation mechanisms, surface roughening, scaling behaviour, and the evolution of microstructure during deposition, contributing to the quantitative understanding of far-from-equilibrium growth processes. In magnetism, his studies of electrodeposited multilayers and nanoparticle assemblies have addressed magnetic interactions, anisotropy, and magnetotransport phenomena. Another significant strand of his research examines electron transport through single-molecule junctions, where he has used electrochemical control to probe metal–molecule interfaces and conductance switching behaviour. His most recent work is on ice nucleation by DNA origami.
| Title | Publication | Author | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ice nucleation by DNA origami | Nanoscale | Alsalhi S.A., Bath J., Turberfield A., Schwarzacher W., | 2025 |
| NiMo electrocatalysts from a deep eutectic solvent for the hydrogen evolution reaction | International Journal of Hydrogen Energy | Sousa N.G., Bezerra L.L., Gomes K.L., Feitosa F.X., de Sant'Ana H.B., Mascaro L.H., Schwarzacher W., de Lima-Neto P., Monteiro N.K.V., Casciano P.N.S., Correia A.N., | 2025 |
| Quantitative Analysis of Chloride Ion Influence on the Surface Morphology of Electrodeposited Polycrystalline Nickel Films | Journal of the Electrochemical Society | Mubshrah A., Martin T., Jones C., Schwarzacher W., | 2025 |
| Halide adsorption influences snapback distance in Scanning Tunnelling Microscope break junctions | Electrochemistry Communications | Huo C., Vezzoli A., Vasiljevic N., Schwarzacher W., | 2024 |
| Nanoscale Metal/Metal Multilayers Electrodeposited from Ethaline | Journal of the Electrochemical Society | Sousa N.G., Salgueira J.F.S., da Silva L.T.V., do Nascimento R.F., de Lima-Neto P., Correia A.N., Mubshrah A., Schwarzacher W., | 2024 |
| Modelling approach applied to SnIn coatings from choline chloride/ethylene glycol deep eutectic solvent | Journal of Molecular Liquids | Sousa N.G., de Oliveira R.V., Alcanfor A.A.C., Feitosa F.X., de Sant'Ana H.B., Schwarzacher W., de Lima-Neto P., Monteiro N.K.V., Correia A.N., | 2023 |
| ZnxCo(1???x) coatings from choline chloride-ethylene glycol deep eutectic solvent as electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction | Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry | Rodrigues-Junior D.N., Sousa N.G., Luna F.M.T., Oliveira T.M.B.F., Abreu D.S., Schwarzacher W., de Lima-Neto P., Correia A.N., | 2023 |
| Growth of Bi2Te3 topological insulator ultra-thin layers via molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs (100) | Journal of Applied Physics | Rodrigues L.N., de Araujo C.I.L., Mello S.L.A., Laverock J., Fonseca J.M., Schwarzacher W., Inoch W.F., Ferreira S.O., | 2023 |
| Electrochemical and theoretical investigation on the behavior of the Co2+ ion in three eutectic solvents | Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modelling | Bezerra L.L., Oliveira F.G.S., dos Santos L.P.M., de Sant'Ana H.B., Feitosa F.X., Correia A.N., Schwarzacher W., Marinho E.S., de Lima-Neto P., Monteiro N.D.K.V., | 2022 |
| Bridging the Nanogap: Au Electrodeposition at Parallel Electrodes with NM-Scale Spacing | Journal of the Electrochemical Society | Missault N., Schwarzacher W., | 2021 |
| Imaging the Surface of a Polycrystalline Electrodeposited Cu Film in Real Time Using in Situ High-Speed AFM | Journal of the Electrochemical Society | Koorikkat A., Payton O., Picco L., Schwarzacher W., | 2020 |
| The effects of anisotropy on solvent-suspended ???superparamagnetic??? nanoparticles: Magnetization step on melting | Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials | Sitbon G., Chantrell R.W., Schwarzacher W., | 2020 |
| A pyroelectric thermal sensor for automated ice nucleation detection | Atmospheric Measurement Techniques | Cook F., Lord R., Sitbon G., Stephens A., Rust A., Schwarzacher W., | 2020 |
| Electrochemical Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Study of Bismuth Chalcogenide Single Crystals | Langmuir | Yang C., Huang Y., Golden M.S., Schwarzacher W., | 2019 |
| Electrochemical Modification and Characterization of Topological Insulator Single Crystals | Langmuir | Yang C., Cattelan M., Fox N., Huang Y., Golden M.S., Schwarzacher W., | 2019 |
| Dual Control of Molecular Conductance through pH and Potential in Single-Molecule Devices | Nano Letters | Brooke R.J., Szumski D.S., Vezzoli A., Higgins S.J., Nichols R.J., Schwarzacher W., | 2018 |
| Charge transport at a molecular GaAs nanoscale junction | Faraday Discussions | Vezzoli A., Brooke R.J., Ferri N., Brooke C., Higgins S.J., Schwarzacher W., Nichols R.J., | 2018 |
| Single-Molecule Photocurrent at a Metal-Molecule-Semiconductor Junction | Nano Letters | Vezzoli A., Brooke R.J., Higgins S.J., Schwarzacher W., Nichols R.J., | 2017 |
| Erratum to: Coexistence of superconductivity and superparamagnetism in Pb???Co electrodeposited nanowires (Applied Physics A, (2017), 123, 3, (161), 10.1007/s00339-017-0782-z) | Applied Physics A Materials Science and Processing | Riminucci A., Schwarzacher W., | 2017 |
| Top-down design of magnonic crystals from bottom-up magnetic nanoparticles through protein arrays | Nanotechnology | Okuda M., Schwarze T., Eloi J.-C., Ward Jones S.E., Heard P.J., Sarua A., Ahmad E., Kruglyak V.V., Grundler D., Schwarzacher W., | 2017 |
| Coexistence of superconductivity and superparamagnetism in Pb???Co electrodeposited nanowires | Applied Physics A Materials Science and Processing | Riminucci A., Schwarzacher W., | 2017 |
| Single-Molecule Transport at a Rectifying GaAs Contact | Nano Letters | Vezzoli A., Brooke R.J., Ferri N., Higgins S.J., Schwarzacher W., Nichols R.J., | 2017 |
| The single-molecule electrical conductance of a rotaxane-hexayne supramolecular assembly | Nanoscale | Milan D.C., Krempe M., Ismael A.K., Movsisyan L.D., Franz M., Grace I., Brooke R.J., Schwarzacher W., Higgins S.J., Anderson H.L., Lambert C.J., Tykwinski R.R., Nichols R.J., | 2017 |
| Synthesis of cationized magnetoferritin for ultra-fast magnetization of cells | Journal of Visualized Experiments | Carreira S.C., Armstrong J.P.K., Okuda M., Seddon A.M., Perriman A.W., Schwarzacher W., | 2016 |
| Solvent Dependence of the Single Molecule Conductance of Oligoyne-Based Molecular Wires | Journal of Physical Chemistry C | Milan D.C., Al-Owaedi O.A., Oerthel M.-C., Marques-Gonzalez S., Brooke R.J., Bryce M.R., Cea P., Ferrer J., Higgins S.J., Lambert C.J., Low P.J., Manrique D.Z., Martin S., Nichols R.J., Schwarzacher W., Garcia-Suarez V.M., | 2016 |