Research Overview

Research in the group is driven by our fascination in the structural chemistry and its ties to the material properties in condensed matter. On-going research directions are:

  • Synthesis of New Materials (Molecular Perovskites, MOFs, Inorganics)
  • High-Pressure Crystal Chemistry of Soft Crystalline Materials
  • Information Theory in the Complexity Analysis of Crystalline Matter & Molecules
  • Barocaloric Properties of Soft Condensed Matter

Our research is at the interface of solid-state inorganics and supramolecular coordination chemistry, applying a broad methodology of synthetic techniques, structure analytics and computational modeling. We search for materials with improved, new and unexpected properties with the goal to develop an in-depth understanding of their crystal chemistry as the basis for rational material design. Focus is given to temperature and pressure responsive behaviour such as phase transitions, mechanical properties, negative linear and area compressibilities and negative thermal expansion. While openly fundamental , our research has strong relations to various applied areas ranging from cooling technologies, mechanical energy storage, material processing and stability, and photovoltaics amongst others.

In the pursuit to pin down the relation between composition, structure, and properties, we continuously expand and improve experimental, analytical, and computational methods. Synthesis is complemented by state-of-the-art diffraction and scattering techniques as available at large scale synchrotron and neutron facilities, and custom-made computational tools help us to manage big data and guide us in the interpretation of experimental outcomes.

Some overview publications:
  • P. Vervoorts, J. Stebani, A. S. J. Méndez, G. Kieslich. Structural Chemistry of Metal-Organic Frameworks under Hydrostatic Pressures. ACS Materials Lett. 2021, 3, 1635.
  • C. L. Hobday, G. Kieslich. Structural flexibility in crystalline coordination polymers: a journey along the underlying free energy landscape. Dalton Trans. 2021, 50, 3759-3768.
  • S. Burger, M. Ehrenreich, G. Kieslich. Tolerance Factors of hybrid perovskites: recent improvements and current state of research. J. Mater. Chem. A, 2018, 6, 21785-21793.
  • G. Kieslich, A. Goodwin. The same and not the same: Molecular perovskites and their solid-state analogues. Mater. Horiz. 2017, 4, 362-366.