| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/P020534/1 |
| Title: |
Advanced Inorganic Functional Materials: Floating Zone Crystal Growth System |
| Principal Investigator: |
Evans, Professor IR |
| Other Investigators: |
| Cavill, Dr SA |
Hatton, Professor PD |
Sinclair, Professor D |
| Rosseinsky, Professor M |
Evans, Professor JSO |
Cernik, Professor R |
| Johnston, Dr KE |
Alaria, Dr J |
Lancaster, Professor T |
| Hussey, Professor P |
Metcalfe, Professor IS |
West, Professor AR |
| Halliday, Professor DP |
Bell, Professor AJ |
Claridge, Dr JB |
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| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Chemistry |
| Organisation: |
Durham, University of |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research |
| Starts: |
15 April 2017 |
Ends: |
14 April 2021 |
Value (£): |
401,688
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Materials Characterisation |
Materials Synthesis & Growth |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
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| Related Grants: |
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| Panel History: |
| Panel Date | Panel Name | Outcome |
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05 Dec 2016
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EPSRC Strategic Equipment Interviews Dec 2016
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Announced
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
The development of new inorganic functional materials, needed for a range of applications, requires the understanding of structures and physical properties of the candidate phases.
On the structural side, high-quality large (cm-sized) single crystals are the best samples on which to solve and refine structures of such materials. The reason for this is two-fold. Firstly, single crystal diffraction has the advantage over powder diffraction in that the intensities of individual Bragg reflections can be measured reliably, whereas the latter suffers from peak overlap. Secondly, neutron diffraction is the method of choice for structure determination of functional materials in which the X-ray scattering is dominated by heavier cations and key information (atomic positions, occupancies, thermal displacement parameters) about the anions cannot be determined reliably. In addition, neutron diffraction can also probe long-range magnetic order. Large single crystals are needed due to the weaker interaction of matter with neutrons relative to X-rays.
For physical property measurements, large single crystals offer several advantages compared to working with powdered samples. For example, crystals can be oriented with respect to experimental probes in order to investigate the directionality and anisotropy of physical properties such as electrical or magnetic responses. In addition, property measurements on polycrystalline powered materials often suffer from grain boundary effects, which cannot always be separated from the response of the bulk of the material.
In this project we will establish a floating zone crystal growth system to produce high-quality samples of a range of important inorganic materials. These include materials for energy applications (fuel cells, photovoltaics, thermoelectrics) and those where electronic or magnetic ordering leads directly to exploitable properties such as piezoelectricity, sensing, under-water and medical imaging, gas separation, memristor and multiferroic memory applications. The information we gain on the structures and physical properties will help the exploitations of these compounds and give us the insight needed to design new generation of improved functional materials.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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