Prof. Dr. Anja-Verena Mudring

The Mudring group and collaborators have described a new class of open framework materials (OFMs). OFMs, such as zeolites, contain voids in their structures that give them attractive functionalities including catalysis, gas storage, separation and ion exchange. The framework structures of practically all known inorganic OFMs are restricted to tetrahedral building blocks, such as silicate (SiO₄^4-). In their paper, however, the authors describe their discovery of a whole new class of OFMs with exclusively octahedral building blocks forming the open framework. The octahedral building blocks of these new compounds are reminiscent of the zero-dimensional units that form polyoxometalates (POMs), which are known for their interesting magnetic properties. Repeating those units in three dimensions in an open framework make the authors’ new OFMs interesting for new applications in magnetics, like spintronics for the green transition.

The authors’ approach to synthesising these new materials is key. The use of ionic liquids – that act as the reaction medium, mineralizer, and templating agent – allows for the formation of the open framework instead of dense phases that form by using traditional solvents.

Read the article here.

Danmarks Frie Forsknings Fond (Independent Research Fund Denmark) has just funded AVM’s Green Transition project Enabling energy-efficient refrigeration through new magnetocaloric materials

About the project: Household and commercial refrigeration is responsible for 17% of global electrical energy consumption. It is estimated that by 2030, 13% of global greenhouse gas emissions will be due to refrigeration, unless a revolutionary technology comes along. With respect to conventional cooling, magnetic cooling is a transformational technology where 75% efficiency can be reached. Magnetic cooling does not rely on environmentally hazardous refrigerants such as fluorocarbons or chlorofluorocarbons, which are known to contribute to global warming. Despite the great energy saving potential of magnetic cooling, the technology is not widely used, as there is a lack of materials that demonstrate the magnetocaloric effect. We aim to close this gap through a systematic exploration of the most promising systems that demonstrate efficacy.

The Mudring group’s work with Ukrainian collaborators made it to the cover of the Journal of Solid State Chemistry!

Crystal structures with symmetry are the art of nature – the electronic structure has its beauty, too. Read more about our results from a long-standing collaboration with colleagues from the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine:

Crystal and electronic structures of a new hexagonal silicide Sc₃₈Co₁₄₄Si₉₇

A new publication from the group Phonon-Mediated Nonradiative Relaxation in Ln³⁺-Doped Luminescent Nanocrystals tackles the unsatisfactory photoluminescence efficiency of Ln³⁺-doped nanocrystals that severely restricts their practical application. The publication shows that phonon-mediated nonradiative relaxation in Ln³⁺-doped nanocrystals is substantially influenced by a variety of factors. Moreover, without explicit knowledge and consideration of these factors, property analysis will probably end up with misinterpretation. Thus the use of knowledge established for bulk materials to interpret the experimental findings collected at the nanoscale should be cautiously scrutinized. The authors conclude that systematic studies are needed for the informed development of Ln³⁺-doped luminescent nanomaterials that can meet the application needs for a sustainable society.

Frustration and 120° Magnetic Ordering in the Layered Triangular
Antiferromagnets AFe(PO3F)2 (A = K, (NH4)2Cl, NH4, Rb, and Cs)

The newest publication from the Mudring group is here! The paper presents a new family of layered iron oxofluorophosphates, AFe(PO3F)2, that were made by ionothermal methods using PF6 ionic liquids. In the context of frustrated triangular antiferromagnets, the close structural relationship between the layered compounds as well as polymorphism enables studying the magnetic properties as a function of cation identity and crystal symmetry.

Prof. Anja-Verena Mudring has just been named a fellow at the LE STUDIUM Loire Valley Institute for Advanced Studies!

Watch this space for exciting news about the collaborative research on ¨Lanthanide-based luminescent hybrid nanomaterials for theragnostic applications¨ with Svetlana Eliseeva & Stephane Petoud at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Orléans.

From the group’s latest paper, relativistic effects show in chemical bonding: Bader analysis reveals a strong anionic character for the transition metals M = Pd, Pt in Ca3M4Bi8. Thus, the compounds have to be called a palladide and platinide, just like halides!

You can read the new article here.

In the latest article from the Mudring group, they demonstrate that using ionic liquids as the reaction medium, structure templates, and mineralizer, all-in-one, allows for the design of transition metal fluorophosphate of varied dimensionality. Aside from engineering of magnetic exchange interaction, which is extremely exciting particularly from a fundamental viewpoint, their synthetic approach might lead to new battery cathode materials!

You can read the full article here.