Expanding Boundaries in Layered Solids: New Materials, Structures and Properties
Free refreshments for attendees are available from 3:30pm.
Layered materials are foundational to many technologies, such as lithium-ion batteries. However, expanding these materials to include diverse chemistries remains challenging. In this talk, I will address three effort in our lab that seek to expand the scope of structures and properties of these fascinating materials:
First, I will describe a simple and generalisable strategy to self-assemble virtually any molecule with a 2D semiconductor into 3D materials with customisable stacking sequences. Our simulations show how these solids form from a liquid crystalline phase and our experiments demonstrate how the resulting 3D solids merge two unexpected properties: quantum confinement and high electrical conductivity.
Second, I will present our efforts to discover layered electrides; unique ionic solids with lattice sites containing bare electrons instead of anions. We explore the intercalation of fluoride ions into electrides, with the goal of enabling high-performance fluoride-ion batteries.
Third, I will describe our efforts to solve the atomistic structure of thin (‘2D’) amorphous films. I will demonstrate software that allows one to identify local structures in amorphous materials using a statistically rigorous methodology, while highlighting opportunities that are likely to emerge from this capability.
Date: 19 October 2023, 16:00
Venue: Hume-Rothery Building, Parks Road OX1 3PH
Venue Details: Lecture Theatre (to the left of the Reception foyer, through the glass doors)
Speaker: Professor Scott Warren (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Organising department: Department of Materials
Organiser: Lorraine Laird (Department of Materials)
Organiser contact email address: communications@materials.ox.ac.uk
Host: Professor Mauro Pasta (University of Oxford)
Part of: Materials Departmental Colloquia
Booking required?: Not required
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Lorraine Laird