Profile

My research group is broadly interested in inorganic chemistry and related disciplines spanning from the synthesis of exotic complexes of the d- and f-blocks, over advanced spectroscopies, to metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and inorganic solids. Our main focus areas are materials discovery and the development of “redox non-innocence” in MOFs, with the goal of synthetically tailoring the electronic, optical, and magnetic properties of metal-organic materials. Whilst the very concepts are well established for molecules, the translation to polymeric materials is largely unexplored. We have recently shown that several ligands, previously considered wholly innocent, may become redox-active when brought into the vicinity of reducing metal ions. The resulting, otherwise highly reactive radical ligands, are stabilized tremendously in the rigid frameworks, which are commonly even air-stable. The realization of simplistic materials allows for detailed physical characterization aiming at correlations between molecular structure, electronic structure, and macroscopic physical properties. Here, we apply a plethora of advanced spectroscopic methods at synchrotrons, neutron and muon facilities.