Zinc based coordination polymers – the GUT series
An interdisciplinary team of researchers supported the first author Katharina Kodolitsch as she investigated a series of of zinc(II) coordination polymers with readily accessible 3-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)propanoate ligands. The respective paper is now available at the European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry. These crystalline compounds are named as GUT (short for Graz University of Technology) and are prepared using only water as a solvent. Sodium 3-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)propanoate and sodium 3-(2-phenyl-1H-imidazol-1-yl)propanoate initially yield amorphous precipitates that convert to crystalline materials (GUT1 and GUT3) with prolonged heating. In contrast, sodium 3-(2-methyl-1H-imidazol-1-yl)propanoate immediately forms the crystalline coordination polymer GUT2. GUT2 was recently studied using Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy (see DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.4c03070) and it’s thermal expansion was investigated (see DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2504.05189). All three coordination polymers are characterized structurally by single-crystal and by powder X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy supported by theoretical calculations, and thermogravimetry. Additionally, the researchers examined the compounds' solubility in water and buffer solutions. They also conducted gas sorption measurements using CO2, N2, and CH4 to study the porosity of the coordination polymers.
Renewable epoxy thermoset
Biobased thermosets are of significant societal interest due to their potential to address critical challenges related to sustainability, environmental impact, and resource management. However, cost, performance limitations, and feedstock concerns hamper their real-world application. Sometimes even basic knowledge is lacking. Researchers of ICTM identified a knowledge gap in the field of biobased epoxy monomers and examined the curing of epoxidized eugenol, a monomer that is only one synthetic step away from the natural product, using two industrially relevant initiators. Specifically, the Mannich base 2,4,6-tris(dimethylaminomethyl)phenol (K54) and 1-methylimidazole (1-MI) were used. They also extended their study to copolymers with the petroleum-based workhorse monomer for epoxies, bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (DGEBA) and found distinctly different curing behaviors and thermal properties depending on the initiator used, showing the potential of epoxidized eugenol as a monomer for epoxy thermoset materials. Read the details in a publication dedicated to Prof. Wolfgang Kern, who sadly passed away in 2024.
Ultrafast Ion Dynamics in LTPS Probed by cryo SLR NMR wizardry
In our latest study, we used nuclear spin relaxation techniques to investigate the unique diffusion pathways in LiTi2(PS4)3 (LTPS) down to cryogenic temperatures (10 K). Our findings reveal unprecedented details about both long-range and short-range Li⁺ dynamics, with one of the highest Li⁺ diffusion coefficients ever observed. Paper download: D. Tapler et int. HMR Wilkening, J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2025).
Lithiated LATP: mixed conductors studied by NMR
How does lithiation affect Li transport in LATP? Using Li-7 NMR, we show that lithiation slightly enhances Li hopping rather than hindering it, shedding light on interphase dynamics in solid-state batteries. Read more in our latest study published in Comm. Chem.
2D Ionic Conductors in Energy Science
Ever since their discovery, low-dimensional ionic conductors have long played a crucial role as high-performance materials in electrochemical energy storage. The ternary halide Li3InCl6 serves as an archetypal material for probing 2D Li hopping between its In-rich layers, see F. Stainer, H. M. R. Wilkening, Phys. Rev. B, 109 (2024) 174304. We demonstrate 2D Li hopping using frequency-dependent spin-lock spin-lattice relaxation Li(7) NMR and shed light on the role of defects in determining local ion jumps in this layered material. Image: Analysis of the isosurface topology using softBV and the bond valence pathway finder. F. Stainer, B. Gadermaier and H. M. R. Wilkening, Chem. Mater. (2025).
Ionic transport and diffusion in beta-alumina
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A new study investigating Na ion dynamics in highly sintered Na beta-alumina using GHz conductivity spectroscopy and Na NMR, providing a comprehensive view of both short- and long-range transport. Our results reveal a conductivity of 4 mS / cm at ambient temperature, governed by an activation energy of 0.3 eV for long-range transport and 0.13 eV for short-range motions, with excellent consistency between electric relaxation and NMR data. |
The study is part of the Solid State Ionics 100 special issue initialized by Will Chueh (Stanford).
See Solid State Ionics, 2025.
Mechanical properties of MOFs by Brillouin Scattering
The mechanical properties of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are of high fundamental and practical relevance. A particularly intriguing technique for determining anisotropic elastic tensors is Brillouin scattering, which is used in present contribution published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. A team of researchers from 6 different institutes in Austria and the University of California studies a MOF material developed at ICTM and combines the Brillouin scattering data with simulations of elastic properties and phonon bands, which are based on machine-learning force fields and dispersion-corrected density functional theory. This provides a comprehensive understanding of the experimental signals, which can be correlated to the longitudinal and transverse sound velocities of the material. Notably, the combination of the insights from simulations and experiments allows the determination of approximate values for the components of the elastic tensor of the studied material even when dealing with comparably small single crystals, which typically limit the range of accessible experimental data.
2D ionic transport in Li4C60
Lithiated Buckminster fullerene (Li₄C₆₀) has previously been identified as a fast Li⁺ ion conductor. Through our NMR analysis we characterized both long-range and localized Li⁺ dynamics. We show that long-range ion dynamics is of 2D nature and is to be characterized by an activation energy as low as 0.26 eV. Solid State Ionics, 2025.
Morphology aspects in understanding ionic conduction in thiophosphates
Amorphous vs. crystalline: The (exact) morphology may strongly influence overall ion dynamics in many cases. For Li3PS4, if prepared via a solvent-assisted approach, the change of ionic conductivity between a fully X-ray amorphous sample and a crystalline one obtained after annealing was much less influenced by this principle. See our latest study in Dalton Trans.: Morphology-dependent Li+ ion dynamics in X-ray amorphous and crystalline Li3PS4 prepared by solvent-assisted synthesis, J. Spychala, C. Mandl, K. Hogrefe, H. M. R. Wilkening, B. Gadermaier, Dalton Trans. (2025) in press.
2025 IEEE International Symposium on Applications of Ferroelectrics (IEEE ISAF-ICE-ISIF-PFM 2025)
IEEE ISAF 2025 | Graz, Austria
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