Metastable functional materials

We are exploring the control of function and properties of materials away from equilibrium using a combination of external stimuli. Applications include solid-state sensors and switches, including next-generation molecular ferroelectric compounds. Our research into metastable materials is supported by the Philip Leverhulme Prize in Chemistry.

Optical stimuli

including single-crystal phase transitions due to linkage isomerism.

Thermal stimuli

involving displacive instabilities, including highly anharmonic systems where there exists large differences between local and average structures.

Electrical stimuli

including both conventional ferroelectrics, with macroscopic polarisation, to systems that exhibit microscopic polarisation domains that respond to an applied electric field.

Kinetic control

covering crystal engineering into new polymorphs, as well as the fabrication of artificial heterostructures and material composites.

Select Publications

• An unusual phase transition driven by vibrational entropy changes in a hybrid organic–inorganic perovskite (Angenwadte Chemie, 2018)

• Heterometallic perovskite-type metal–organic framework with an ammonium cation: structure, phonons, and optical response of [NH₄]Na_0.5Cr_xAl_0.5−x(HCOO)₃ (x = 0, 0.025 and 0.5) (PCCP, 2018)

• A rapidly-reversible absorptive and emissive vapochromic Pt(II) pincer-based chemical sensor (Nature Communications, 2017)

• Electroactive nanoporous metal oxides and chalcogenides by chemical design (Chemistry of Materials, 2017)

Funded by the Faraday Institution, EPSRC, the Royal Society, H2020, and the NRF