Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Congratulations to the UKPorMat 24 Poster Prize Winners!

The 7th Annual UK PorMat Symposium was held at University of Liverpool on 4th-5th June by the RSC Porous Materials Interest Group. To accompany a programme filled with exceptional talks from a number of  esteemed researchers, posters were presented by PhD and post doctorial researchers . With a huge number of posters, from 86 candidates, displaying a wide variety of work within the porous materials field, it is our great pleasure in congratulating our three poster prize winners.

 

 

Winner of the Journal of Materials Chemistry A B and C poster prize: Bethan Turner, University of Liverpool.

‘Strategies towards porous metal-organic framework (MOF) glasses.’

 

Bethan Turner

Bethan Turner

 

Bethan graduated with an MCHEM in chemistry and is currently in the first year of their PhD at the University of Liverpool with Dr Lauren McHugh as a supervisor and Professor Andy Cooper as a co-supervisor.

“The work I do is centred around MOF glasses with the aim of tailoring them for real life application. In my poster I discussed the trialling of a prospective porogen and the outcomes of those experiments. It was ultimately unsuccessful in increasing porosity, however, it was deduced that the incorporation method may be the fault. Subsequently, alternative methods were proposed such as experimenting with altered linkers in the structure and incorporating the porogen through saturating the pores of the crystalline material by soaking in a saturated solution. Long with porous materials, I also have an interest in accessibility in chemistry teaching. And ultimately with my project, I hope to contribute to the efforts in developing materials for water purification.”

 

 

 

 

Winner of the Dalton Transactions poster prize: Omar Al-Miqdadi, Imperial College London.

‘Accelerating discovery and implementation of porous liquids for CO2 removal.’

Omar Al-Miqdadi

Omar Al-Miqdadi

 

Omar Al-Miqdadi’s background is in chemistry where they attended the University of Warwick for their undergraduate studies. During Omar’s master’s year, they worked under the supervision of Professor Richard Walton to discover iron-based metal organic frameworks which could be built from sustainably sourced organic ligands.

In 2022, Omar began their PhD at Imperial College London under the supervision of Dr Becky Greenaway and Professor Camille Petit. Their experience in metal organic frameworks proved to be useful when delving into the world of type III porous liquids; dispersions of metal organic frameworks in pore-excluded liquids. They are using automated high-throughput experimentation to discover effective type III porous liquids for CO2 capture.

“In order to discover the ‘best’ porous liquid systems for carbon capture, we have employed an automated high-throughput workflow as our approach. Using 8 different ionic liquids as our pore-excluded liquids, we vary cation functional group and alkyl chain length using a constant anion and metal organic framework.

We are able to synthesise ZIF-8 on the automated platform and using solid dispensing, combine it with the 8 ionic liquids. Using a different liquid handling platform, we then test the viscosity of these dispersions based on a relationship between flow rate and viscosity. Following this, we use thermogravimetric analysis to measure CO2 uptake of the dispersions and by comparing to the uptake of the neat ionic liquids, we’re able to determine whether they are porous combinations or not. Finally, we look at the stability of these porous liquids by using a camera and custom monitoring rack to analyse how well they remain dispersed and by using dynamic light scattering to analyse the ZIF-8 particle size over time looking for any potential aggregation.

We hope that by using this workflow we are able to elucidate key structure-property relationships and by continuing to study these systems are able to understand what makes a type III porous liquid a good CO2 capture sorbent.”

 

Winner of the Materials Advances poster prize: Evandro Castaldelli, University of Nottingham.

‘The role of interfacial chemistry on MOF-coated optical fibres for gas sensing applications.’

Evandro Castaldelli

Evandro Castaldelli

Evandro Castaldelli received his PhD in Chemistry in 2016 from Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil, working on the synthesis of a new semiconducting metal-organic framework with interesting photoelectronic properties. The electrical characteristics were investigated at University of Surrey, UK, where Evandro spent 12 months working with Prof Ravi Silva CBE. He followed up with his first post-doctoral position, in 2017, also at Universidade de Sao Paulo, working on the synthesis of phthalocyanine-based coordination polymers and derived graphene nanocomposites, for electrochemical applications in water splitting and glucose sensing.

In 2018, alongside Evandro’s post-doc, he was offered a position in industry as main researcher and scientific consultant at Golden Technology LDTA, Brazil, working in fine chemicals for textiles. Projects and interests encompassed all aspects of this industry, from pre-treatments, dyeing, finishing, and water treatment. Evandro was particularly excited to be part of the development of products to obtain functional textiles, including antimicrobial, insect repellent and flame-retardant coatings. During this time, he also had an active role in bridging the gap between academia and industry, when they attracted the interest of local research institutions for innovation partnerships.

In 2021 Evandro  decided to return to academia, when he started as a Lecturer in Physical Chemistry at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil, teaching Thermodynamics, Kinetics, Chemistry of Interfaces and Quantum Mechanics. Then, in 2022, he started my current role as Post-Doctoral Research Associate at University of Nottingham, UK, working with the development of optical fibres coated with metal-organic frameworks for gas sensing in healthcare. Evandro is also a volunteer demonstrator, for laboratory and outreach events, and tutor in Inorganic Chemistry.

“The development of sensors for gases and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is key for a range of applications such indoor air quality control and healthcare. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising candidates as they have been demonstrated to have excellent and tuneable selectivity for different gases and VOCs. Despite recent progress, MOF integration into devices is still a major challenge, as synthetic conditions are often harsh and deposition mechanisms are not yet fully understood1. Furthermore, studies are often limited to layer-by-layer deposition of archetypal MOFs. In this work we show: the rapid solvothermal deposition of isostructural MFM-101 and MFM-190(CH3) frameworks onto optical fibres; and the influence of synthetic conditions and role of surface functionalisation on coverage, morphology, and phase purity. Our results will fill a knowledge gap in this field and move towards a general protocol for controlled MOF deposition onto various substrates.
Surface-mounted MOFs are usually obtained via liquid phase epitaxial layer-by-layer growth on substrates featuring some surface functionalisation, which can be achieved via sol-gel, self-assembled monolayers or nanoparticle deposition. While it affords great control over film thickness, morphology, and homogeneity, it is often slow and may not be applicable to all MOFs. On the other hand, simple solvothermal techniques usually yield poor coverage and little control over thickness, crystal phase and orientation2. In our case study, we have used MFM-101 and MFM-190(CH3), two isostructural copper-based MOFs which are typically synthesized solvothermally at 80 °C, using HCl as modulator, with reaction times varying from 2 to 4 days3. These conditions are usually optimized to yield high quality, large crystals, which are often contradictory with effective surface coverage and fibre optic sensors. For the latter, crystals larger than 5 μm fall outside the effective sensing area. We were able to achieve phase purity and reduce crystal sizes to the 1-5 μm range by removing the modulator, while optimizing deposition temperatures and significantly reducing reaction times to 15 min.
U-shaped optical fibres were functionalised with hydroxyl (-OH) groups to provide initial anchoring for MOF deposition, while a non-functionalised (bare) fibre was included as reference. SEM/EDX and Raman analyses of the coatings revealed that morphology and phase purity can be controlled via surface functionalisation alone. Real-time spectroscopical investigation of MFM-101 and MFM-190(CH3) depositions provided information about growth kinetics and surface coverage, revealing the unexpected influence of interfacial chemistry not only on surface coverage, as well as in crystal density and size. On average, non-functionalised fibres had crystals in the 5-20 μm range while hydroxylated fibres showed crystals in the 1-5 μm range. The resulting sensors can be used with a range of VOCs, and, surprisingly, their performance is also affected by the initial anchoring group. Preliminary results in VOC sensing indicate that hydroxylated fibres perform significantly better than their non-functionalised counterparts.”
References
[1] A. Kirchon, L. Feng, H. F. Drake, E. A. Joseph and H.-C. Zhou, Chem. Soc. Rev. 2018, 47, 8611
[2] A. L. Semrau, Z. Zhou, S. Mukherjee, M. Tu, W. Li and R. Fischer, Langmuir 2021, 37, 6847-6863
[3] W. Li et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 13196-13204

Congratulations once again to our UKPorMat 2024 poster prize winners!

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Congratulations to the prize winners at SSCG 2023

The 42nd RSC Solid State Chemistry Group Christmas Meeting (SSCG 2023) took place in Edinburgh, UK from 18–19 December 2023. Materials Chemistry Frontiers, Materials Advances, Dalton Transactions, New Journal of Chemistry, CrystEngComm, RSC Mechanochemistry and Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers were pleased to support awards at this event and we would like to congratulate our winners! In addition to the awards supported by our RSC journals, the Roy Prize for best graduate student oral presentation and the Dent-Glasser Prize for best crystallography in oral or poster were awarded by the RSC Solid State Chemistry Group.

Group photo of the prize winners at SSCG 2023.

Group photo of the prize winners at SSCG 2023.

 

Learn more about the prize winners below:

Photo of Roy Prize winner Anthony Onwuli.

Roy Prize for best graduate student oral presentation

Anthony Onwuli (Imperial College London)

Anthony Onwuli is a PhD Student in Materials Science at Imperial College London under the supervision of Prof. Aron Walsh. He obtained his MEng degree from Imperial College London, UK, with a First Class Honours in Materials Science and Engineering in 2020. His current doctoral research has focused on developing software and leveraging materials data to aid in the screening and identification of new chemical spaces. He uses chemical heuristics, density functional theory calculations and machine learning to explore and design novel chemical spaces to discover potential candidates for solid-state electrolytes.

Photo of prize winner Eliza Dempsey.

Dent-Glasser Prize for best crystallography in oral or poster

Eliza Dempsey (University of Edinburgh)

Eliza Dempsey is a PhD student with Dr James Cumby at the University of Edinburgh. She completed her degree in Chemical Physics in 2021 and now researches the control of functional properties in metal oxyfluorides. Using solid-state synthesis, X-ray diffraction and density functional theory she is exploring the links between chemical composition, structure and properties in these materials. Alongside her PhD she also works on science communication as president of EUSci: the Edinburgh University Science Media society.

Photo of prize winner Cara Hawkins.

Materials Chemistry Frontiers Prize for Characterisation

Cara Hawkins (University of Liverpool)

Cara Hawkins is a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Liverpool, studying under the supervision of Prof. Matthew Rosseinsky FRS in the Materials Innovation Factory. Cara obtained her Master’s degree in Physics from the University of Liverpool in 2021, before moving into Chemistry as a postgraduate. Her research focuses on the discovery of new inorganic materials for use in energy technologies. She is particularly interested in the synthesis of novel mixed anion compounds for photovoltaic applications, with the aim of engineering improved properties beyond single anion compositions.

Photo of prize winner Andrew McCluskey.

Materials Advances Prize for Computational Science

Andrew McCluskey (University of Bristol)

Andrew McCluskey is a lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Bristol. He moved to Bristol in 2023 following periods at the European Spallation Source and Diamond Light Source to establish a research group focusing on the role of mathematical modelling in materials science. In particular, he is interested in using Bayesian and probabilistic approaches to offer improved analysis of both simulation and experiment.

Photo of prize winner Alexandra Morscher.

Dalton Transactions Poster Prize

Alexandra Morscher (University of Liverpool)

Alexandra Morscher is originally from Austria and moved to Scotland for her undergraduate studies where she received her master’s degree from the University of Aberdeen in 2019 under the supervision of Professor Abbie McLaughlin. Her master’s work focused on the investigation of magnetocaloric materials and was carried out at the ICMCB in Bordeaux. After completing her master’s degree, she joined the University of Liverpool as a PhD student working under the supervision of Professor Matthew Rosseinsky and as part of the Faraday Institution’s SOLBAT project. Her work focuses on the discovery and characterisation of novel solid electrolytes for the use in All Solid-State Batteries. Her interest lies in utilising diffraction techniques to elucidate robust structure-property relationships and using this insight to guide research, striving for property optimisation.

 

Photo of prize winner Giuditta Perversi.

New Journal of Chemistry Prize for Interdisciplinarity

Giuditta Perversi (Maastricht University, Netherlands)

Giuditta Perversi is an Assistant Professor of Materials Chemistry at Maastricht University (NL), which she joined in 2019. She obtained her PhD in 2018, under the supervision of Prof. Paul Attfield at the University of Edinburgh (UK), and was subsequently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Montpellier (FR) in the group of Prof. Werner Paulus. Her main research interests focus on functional materials, in particular transition metal oxides for energy applications: she tackles new synthesis methods and new phase spaces, but also performs in-depth structural analysis (including single crystal, local structure and magnetic structure work) to correlate structure and property in complex order-disorder systems. Giuditta is extensively active in teaching and research-base learning, leading inorganic chemistry education at the Maastricht Science Programme, and liaises with interdisciplinary institutes: a key example is the bridging of materials science into cultural heritage, as she works in support of painting conservation efforts alongside the Stichting Restauratie Atelier Limburg (SRAL).

Photo of prize winner John Cattermull.

CrystEngComm Poster Prize

John Cattermull (University of Oxford)

John Cattermull is a final year DPhil student at the University of Oxford, working in the groups of Prof Mauro Pasta and Prof Andrew Goodwin FRS. John read Chemistry for his undergraduate at the University of Oxford, winning a thesis prize in Inorganic Chemistry for his Master’s research project. His doctoral research focuses on investigating the structural chemistry of Prussian Blue Analogue materials in the context of their application in K-ion batteries. In 2021, John was awarded a Lord Bullock Memorial Scholarship from St. Catherine’s College, Oxford.

Photo of prize winner Craig Hiley.

RSC Mechanochemistry Prize for Synthesis

Craig Hiley (University of Warwick)

Craig Hiley is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Warwick in the groups of Prof. Richard Walton and Dr Mark Senn. He received a Master’s degree and PhD in Chemistry from the University of Warwick after studying the synthesis and magnetic and catalytic properties of new oxide materials. After postdoctoral positions at the University of Liverpool and University of Leicester, in 2022 he returned to Warwick to explore solution synthesis of transition metal fluoride layered perovskites.

Photo of prize winner Nataliia Hulai.

Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers Poster Prize

Nataliia Hulai (University of Liverpool)

Dr. Nataliia Hulai obtained her bachelor’s (2016) and master’s (2018) degrees at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine, under the guidance of Prof. Yaroslav Kalychak. After that, she joined the group of Prof. Rainer Pöttgen at the University of Münster, Germany, where she was studying crystal structure and physical properties of intermetallic compounds of indium. After receiving her PhD degree in 2022, she has joined the group of Prof. Matthew Rosseinsky at the University of Liverpool. Dr. Hulai’s current research is focused on discovery of new oxide materials, their structure and property characterization, and crystallography.

We’d like to congratulate all the prize winners once more, it’s a great achievement for their work to be selected from all the excellent research presented at the event. We’d also like to thank all organisers and the RSC Solid State Chemistry Group for organising this conference. You can follow the RSC Solid State Chemistry Group (@SscgR) on Twitter to keep up to date with their latest news.

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Materials Advances latest metrics

View our new metrics including our first impact factor

Materials Advances metrics infographic

Materials Advances is celebrating its third birthday this year! As the journal continues to grow and finds its place within the materials research community, we would like to thank all our authors, reviewers, editors, and readers for their support.

Some exciting initiatives that you can get involved with include:

  • Topical themed collections: find out about our current open calls for paper here.
  • Materials Advances Paper Prize The inaugural winners can be found here. To be in with a chance of winning a future paper prize, submit your next piece of work to the journal.

 

Submit now

 

Keep up to date with the latest journal news! Sign up to our newsletter and content alerts or follow us on Twitter.

 

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Announcing the new Materials Advances Paper Prize!

We are delighted to announce that Materials Advances will run an annual Paper Prize to celebrate the most significant articles published in the journal in the previous calendar year.

This year we recognise 3 outstanding papers that were published in 2022. The authors of each paper will receive a free infographic (normally worth between £350 – £750), a signed certificate, and promotion of their work through the journal networks.

Find the winner and runner-up papers below, and keep an eye out for more information soon!

Materials Advances 2023 Paper Prize winner:

Facet-dependent carrier dynamics of cuprous oxide regulating the photocatalytic hydrogen generation
Cui Ying Toe, Marlene Lamers, Thomas Dittrich, Hassan A. Tahini, Sean C. Smith, Jason Scott, Rose Amal, Roel van de Krol, Fatwa F. Abdi and Yun Hau Ng

 

Materials Advances 2023 Paper Prize runner-up:

Metal-free polypeptide redox flow batteries
Zhiming Liang, Tan P. Nguyen, N. Harsha Attanayake, Alexandra D. Easley, Jodie L. Lutkenhaus, Karen L. Wooley and Susan A. Odom

 

Materials Advances 2023 Paper Prize runner-up:

White light emission generated by two stacking patterns of a single organic molecular crystal
Yuma Nakagawa, Kuon Kinoshita, Megumi Kasuno, Ryo Nishimura, Masakazu Morimoto, Satoshi Yokojima, Makoto Hatakeyama, Yuki Sakamoto, Shinichiro Nakamura and Kingo Uchida

 

If you want to be in with a chance of winning the Materials Advances Paper Prize in a future year then submit your next high quality materials science research to the journal here.

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A and Materials Advances welcome Dr Yang Xu from University College, London to their Advisory Boards

Journal of Materials Chemistry A and Materials Advances are delighted to welcome Dr Yang Xu from University College London to their Advisory Boards.

 

Dr Yang Xu, University College London, UK

Dr Yang Xu is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Electrochemical Energy Storage in the Department of Chemistry at University College London (UCL). He received his bachelor’s and PhD degrees at the University of Science and Technology of China under the supervision of Professor Yi Xie, and carried out his postdoctoral work in the US, Canada, and Germany. He joined UCL Chemistry in 2019 and started his independent research group. His research focus is emerging battery technologies including Na, K, and Ca-based systems, with particular interest in Na/K/Ca-ion intercalation chemistry, the electrodeposition of Na/K metal anodes, and the electrochemical mechanism of Na-S and K-S batteries. His group recently developed new interest in hybrid ion battery systems.

Here is what Prof. Xu had to say about joining the Materials Advances family:

  • What does it mean to you to join the Advisory Board of Materials Advances?

 It means I will have the opportunity to share my knowledge, expertise, and ideas with the journal and engage to a large extent with the research community of materials science. At the same time, it will enhance the visibility of my research and my experience of getting involved in the functioning and development of a journal. Let’s not forget that this is also a great networking opportunity to me.

  • What is the current biggest challenge you face in your field?

I think the biggest challenge for emerging battery technologies is the gap between academic research and industrial production and application. Often exciting results from publications can be insufficiently relevant to the practical use of the materials due to various reasons such as scalability of the synthesis, sustainability of the processing, the non-standardized testing protocols to test batteries and so on. Although the development of many emerging battery technologies is still at infancy, we can learn from the paths to commercialization of Li-ion batteries and more recent Na-ion batteries when researching new materials for new batteries. Another challenge I think is that we need more support for the research of emerging battery technologies, be it more funding, more attention from industry, or more opportunities for academics to talk with industry, even though the return to the support will be in a long term. The success of Na-ion batteries is a good example.

  • What advances in your field are you most excited about?

I’m very excited about the new advances of Na-ion batteries transforming from lab research to commercial products, which has made Na-ion batteries coming into the spotlight of electrochemical energy storage. I’m also very excited to see a range of emerging battery systems including K, Ca, Mg, and Al are gaining rapidly increasing attention. Many interesting research results of these systems have diversified the energy research landscape and further our understanding of electrochemistry.

  • Why do you feel that researchers should choose to publish their work in Materials Advances?

Gold open access allows research results to be disseminated quickly and widely. This is crucial for fast paced research areas like materials science and particularly beneficial for researchers working in these areas. Materials Advances is in the RSC materials journal family. It will give a wide exposure of the research published in the journal to the community.

Check out some of Yang’s recent publications in Royal Society of Chemistry journals:

Join us in welcoming Yang to our Advisory Boards!

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Materials Advances welcomes Prof. Yogendra Kumar Mishra to our Advisory Board

Materials Advances is delighted to welcome Prof. Yogendra Kumar Mishra from the Mads Clausen Institute, University of Southern Denmark to our Advisory Board.

Prof. Yogendra Kumar Mishra, University of Southern Denmark

Professor Yogendra Kumar Mishra is Professor MSO and Leader of Smart Materials at Mads Clausen Institute, University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Sønderborg, Denmark. Prior to SDU, he was leading a scientifically independent group at the Institute for Material Science, Kiel University, Germany. In Kiel, he developed a new flame-based process for versatile nanostructuring of metal oxides and their 3D interconnected networks in the form of flexible ceramics materials. These zinc oxide tetrapod nanostructures have found many applications in engineering and biomedical fields. Additionally, he introduced a new field of hollow 3D tetrapodal materials engineering, i.e., by using these ZnO networks as sacrificial templates, almost any material can be synthesized in tetrapodal form. This sacrificial template-based strategy opened a completely new field of materials engineering in the form of hybrid and new tetrapodal materials.  At SDU, NanoSYD, his lab is developinga  new class of functional materials bridging the gap from Lab to Life, i.e., Smart Materials for Green and Sustainable Future Technologies’. His research keywords are: Zinc Oxide Tetrapods, 3D Nanotechnology, Smart Materials, Biomaterials, Imaging, Sensing, Drug Delivery, Antiviral, Therapy, Energy Technologies, Photocatalysis, Water Purification

Here is what Prof. Mishra had to say about joining the Materials Advances family:

  • What does it mean to you to join the Advisory Board of Materials Advances?

Royal Society of Chemistry is among one of the most prestigious societies and it is my pleasure and honour to be associated and contribute to RSC. Although RSC has several prestigious journals covering materials aspects, but their focuses are somehow aligned in particular directions. Materials are the key components in everything surrounding us and therefore, their development and understanding could play a major role in progressing society. Materials advancement is therefore very much desired and such a portfolio was missing somehow at RSC. The launch of Materials Advances was therefore a very smart move from RSC and I am very happy to be an advisory board member. Already witnessing the high rank publications, I am very much sure about the high prestige of Materials Advances in future.

  • What is the current biggest challenge you face in your field?

Materials development is key to progressing science and society in every sense. Integrating various functions in desired compact nanoscale forms and understanding their structure-property relationships is something that has been investigated since few decades already, but it is still an open topic. Translating  materials from laboratory to life is  going to be very important in the future in order to bridge the gap from Lab to Life. Material architecture in this context, e.g., 3D  materials, have become a very important topic of investigation in the interdisciplinary materials community, because they can bridge this gap. The most important challenge is to develop a new class of materials which can address both, i.e  the real-life application as well as be socially sustainable to fulfill the desired green transition and sustainable development goals (SDGs).

  • What advances in your field are you most excited about?

Three dimensionally arranged materials out of nanoscopic building blocks open the scope for easy functionalization as well as use in desired applications. I am very much fascinated about how easily one can integrate many functions inside porous architecture materials and reliably use them in various ways. Additionally, they reveal new fundamental knowledge about their novel structure-property relationships. These materials have opened the door to many new challenging applications.

  • Why do you feel that researchers should choose to publish their work in Materials Advances?

Materials Advances is fully open access journal covering detailed aspects about advancement in materials, synthesis, properties, and applications in broad interdisciplinary directions. The published articles are going to have high visibility and impact too in the science community and this is a good motivation to choose Materials Advances as a promising platform to publish.  

 

Check out some of Prof. Mishra’s recent publications in Royal Society of Chemistry journals:

Join us in welcoming Prof Mishra to our Advisory Boards!

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A and Materials Advances welcomes Prof. Hui (Claire) Xiong to the Advisory Board

Journal of Materials Chemistry A and Materials Advances are delighted to welcome Prof. Claire Xiong from Boise State University, USA to their Advisory Boards.

Prof. Claire Xiong,  Boise State University, USA

Prof. Hui (Claire) Xiong is an Associate Professor in the Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering at Boise State University, USA. Dr. Xiong received her BE degree in Applied Chemistry and MS degree in Inorganic Chemistry from East China University of Science and Technology. She received her Ph.D. in Electroanalytical Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh in 2007. Between 2008 and 2012, she conducted postdoctoral work at Harvard University and Argonne National Laboratory where her research involved electrochemical characterization of micro-fabricated cathode materials for micro-solid oxide fuel cells and the development of novel nanostructured electrode materials for Li-ion and Na-ion batteries. She joined Boise State University in 2012. Dr. Xiong received NSF CAREER Award in 2015, is a Scialog Fellow, and the Fellow of the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES). Her research group focuses on design and development of nanoarchitectured and defect-driven electrode materials for Li-ion and Na-ion batteries and beyond, ion irradiation effects on electroceramics, mechanistic insights on electrolyte degradation, interface/interphase engineering, and in situ and operando characterizations.

Here is what Prof. Xiong had to say about joining the Materials Advances family:

  • What does it mean to you to join the Advisory Board of Materials Advances?

I am very delighted to join the Advisory Board of Materials Advances to provide my perspectives and give feedback to the journal related to my field of materials research. It will be especially valuble to encourage and promote the young investigators to publish their best work in the journal.

  • What is the current biggest challenge you face in your field?

The current biggest challenge I face is to understand and charaterize defects and metastable phases in the electrode materials that might play a big role in high performance battery systems.

  • What advances in your field are you most excited about?

I am most excited about the advances in characterization tools that enable us to understand materials and their related processes with high spatial and temporal resolution.

  • Why do you feel that researchers should choose to publish their work in Materials Advances?

Shared editors with JMC family and this journal is open access so the work can reach out to a broader audience.

Check out some of Claire’s recent publications in Royal Society of Chemistry journals:

C. R. Ma, Z. Xu, J. Jiang, Z.-F. Ma, T. Olsen, H. Xiong, S. Wang and X.-Z. Yuan “Tailored nanoscale interface in a hierarchical carbon nanotube supported MoS2@ MoO2-C electrode toward high performance sodium ion storage“, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 8 (2020) 11011-11018.

C. J. Deng, M. L. Lau, C. R. Ma, P. Skinner, Y. Z. Liu, W. Xu, H. Zhou, X. Zhang, D. Wu, Y.D. Yin, Y. Ren, J. Perez, D. Jaramillo, P. Barnes, D. Hou, M. Dahl, B. Williford, M. Dahl, C. Zheng and H. Xiong “A mechanistic study of mesoporous TiO2 nanoparticle negative electrode materials with varying crystallinity for lithium ion batteries“, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 8 (2020) 3333-3343.

C. R. Ma, H. Yang, Z. Xu, Z. Fu, Y. Xie, H. Zhang, M. Hong, Z.-F. Ma, H. Xiong and X.-Z. Yuan ” Insights into High Capacity and Ultrastable Carbonaceous Anodes for Potassium-Ion Storage via Hierarchical Heterostructure“, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 8 (2020) 2836-2842.

I. Savva, K. A. Smith, M. Lawson, S. R. Croft, A. E. Weltner, C. D. Jones, H. Bull, P. J. Simmonds, L. Li, and H. Xiong “Defect generation in TiO2 nanotube anodes via heat treatment in various atmospheres for lithium- ion batteries”, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 20 (2018) 22537-22546.

Join us in welcoming Claire to our Advisory Boards!

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A: themed issue on single-atom catalysis

We are delighted to present this Journal of Materials Chemistry A themed issue on single-atom catalysis, guest edited by Zhiqun Lin (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA), Maria Escudero Escribano (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) and Jun Li (Tsinghua University, China).

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) with isolated metal atoms dispersed on solid supports have emerged as a new frontier in catalysis science owing to their great potential to bridge the gap between heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis. The active centers of this new class of materials possess unique electronic structure and unsaturated coordination environments, which have been proven to improve catalytic activity in a variety of reactions. Moreover, the homogeneity in the active sites and geometric structure of SACs, which show similarities to their homogeneous catalyst analogs, afford them a great potential to enhance selectivity because of similar spatial and electronic interactions to substrates.

To this end, this themed collection of Journal of Materials Chemistry A aims to provide a platform for recent developments in this rapidly evolving field of SACs including synthetic strategies, selectivity regulation, theoretical understanding of the catalytic activity and stability, single-atom alloy, support effect, and novel applications in electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, photoelectrocatalysis, selective hydrogenation, and other fields. We hope that readers find this themed collection informative and useful.

All of the articles in the collection are free to access until 18 April 2022. A selection of articles from the issue is provided below.

 

 Editorial

Recent progress and perspectives on single-atom catalysis

Zhiqun Lin, María Escudero-Escribano and Jun Li

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022, 10, 5670-5672 DOI: 10.1039/D2TA90050E

 

 Reviews

 

Support-based modulation strategies in single-atom catalysts for electrochemical CO2 reduction: graphene and conjugated macrocyclic complexes
Zhanzhao Fu, Mingliang Wu, Yipeng Zhou, Zhiyang Lyu, Yixin Ouyang, Qiang Li and Jinlan Wang
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022, 10, 5699-5716 DOI: 10.1039/D1TA09069K

 

Synergistically enhanced single-atomic site catalysts for clean energy conversion

Fa Yang and Weilin Xu

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022, 10, 5673-5698 DOI: 10.1039/D1TA08561A

 

Articles

 

Metal coordination in C2N-like materials towards dual atom catalysts for oxygen reduction
Jesús Barrio, Angus Pedersen, Jingyu Feng, Saurav Ch. Sarma, Mengnan Wang, Alain Y. Li, Hossein Yadegari, Hui Luo, Mary P. Ryan, Maria-Magdalena Titirici and Ifan. E. L. Stephens
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022, 10, 6023-6030 DOI: 10.1039/D1TA09560A

Multiscale porous single-atom Co catalysts for epoxidation with O2
Xiao Chen, Yong Zou, Mingkai Zhang, Wangyan Gou, Sai Zhang and Yongquan Qu
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022, 10, 6016-6022 DOI: 10.1039/D1TA09227H

Zinc/graphitic carbon nitride co-mediated dual-template synthesis of densely populated Fe–Nx-embedded 2D carbon nanosheets towards oxygen reduction reactions for Zn–air batteries
Xiao-Fei Gong, Yun-Long Zhang, Lei Zhao, Yun-Kun Dai, Jia-Jun Cai, Bing Liu, Pan Guo, Qing-Yan Zhou, Ichizo Yagi and Zhen-Bo Wang
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022, 10, 5971-5980 DOI: 10.1039/D1TA08007E

 

We hope you enjoy reading this collection of papers in Journal of Materials Chemistry A on single atom catalysis and guest edited by Zhiqun Lin, Maria Escudero Escribano and Jun Li.

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1 year of Materials Advances – the covers

 

This month we are celebrating our fantastic first year of Materials Advances!  We have seen 15 issues, containing over 400 high quality articles.

We have chosen some of our favourite covers from all the wonderful artwork that has featured on the journal so far.  Thank you to all the authors who have provided these amazing artworks!

We invite you to join us on Twitter to vote for your favourite cover from the shortlisted covers below.

 

Join us on Twitter to vote for your favourite

 

Click on each of the images for a close-up look of each shortlisted cover.

 

A

Cold atmospheric plasma cancer treatment, direct versus indirect approaches
Alisa Malyavko, Dayun Yan, Qihui Wang, Andrea L. Klein, Khyati C. Patel, Jonathan H. Sherman and Michael Keidar
Mater. Adv., 2020,1, 1494-1505
DOI: 10.1039/D0MA00329H

B

Aspect ratio controlled synthesis of tellurium nanowires for photovoltaic applications
Dipendra Pokhrel, Ebin Bastola, Adam B. Phillips, Michael J. Heben and Randy J. Ellingson
Mater. Adv., 2020,1, 2721-2728
DOI: 10.1039/D0MA00394H

C

Plasmonic triangular nanoprism sensors
Joe Otsuki, Kosuke Sugawa and Shota Jin
Mater. Adv., 2021,2, 32-46
DOI: 10.1039/D0MA00644K

D

Trends in additively manufactured microfluidics, microreactors and catalytic materials
Andrea Rogolino and Gianpaolo Savio
Mater. Adv., 2021,2, 845-855
DOI: 10.1039/D0MA00704H

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Outstanding Reviewers for Journal of Materials Chemistry A in 2018

We would like to highlight the Outstanding Reviewers for Journal of Materials Chemistry A in 2018, as selected by the editorial team, for their significant contribution to the journal. The reviewers have been chosen based on the number, timeliness and quality of the reports completed over the last 12 months.

We would like to say a big thank you to those individuals listed here as well as to all of the reviewers that have supported the journal. Each Outstanding Reviewer will receive a certificate to give recognition for their significant contribution.

Dr Michelle Browne, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, ORCID: 0000-0002-3574-9113
Professor Joaquin Coronas, Universidad de Zaragoza, ORCID: 0000-0003-1512-4500
Dr Fei Du, Jilin University, ORCID: 0000-0001-6413-0689
Dr Yongjin Fang, Wuhan University, ORCID 0000-0002-8988-525X
Dr Prashun Gorai, Colorado School of Mines, ORCID: 0000-0001-7866-0672
Dr Binghong Han, Argonne National Laboratory, ORCID: 0000-0002-2919-3235
Dr Xingkang Huang, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, ORCID: 0000-0001-7965-1866
Dr Charles Kappenstein, Universite de Poitiers, ORCID: 0000-0001-6695-9263
Dr Zaiyuan Le, University of California Los Angeles, ORCID: 0000-0002-9925-7513
Dr Tianyu Liu, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, ORCID: 0000-0002-8716-749X
Professor Liqiang Mai, Wuhan University of Technology, ORCID: 0000-0003-4259-7725
Dr Xiangtong Meng, Dalian University of Technology, ORCID: 0000-0001-6611-7023
Dr Wee-Jun Ong, Xiamen University Malaysia, ORCID: 0000-0002-5124-1934
Dr Martin Oschatz, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, ORCID: 0000-0003-2377-1214
Dr Kaiyuan Shi, National Research Council Canada, ORCID: 0000-0002-9371-5405
Professor Seung Uk Son, Sungkyunkwan University, ORCID: 0000-0002-4779-9302
Dr Kaido Tammeveski, Tartu Ulikool, ORCID: 0000-0002-4144-4471
Professor Bart Van der Bruggen, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, ORCID: 0000-0002-3921-7472
Dr Shengping Wang, China University of Geosciences, ORCID: 0000-0003-3064-9348
Professor Cafer Yavuz, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, ORCID: 0000-0003-0580-3331
Dr Xi Yin, Los Alamos National Laboratory, ORCID: 0000-0002-6624-5823
Dr Le Yu, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, ORCID: 0000-0003-1227-1273
Dr Yuan Yue, E O Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, ORCID: 0000-0002-6531-6546
Dr Mohamed Zakaria, Busshitsu Zairyo Kenkyu Kiko, ORCID: 0000-0003-2525-0092
Professor Bin Zhang, Tianjin University School of Science, ORCID: 0000-0003-0542-1819

We would also like to thank the Journal of Materials Chemistry A board and the materials chemistry community for their continued support of the journal, as authors, reviewers and readers.

If you would like to become a reviewer for our journal, just email us with details of your research interests and an up-to-date CV or résumé. You can find more details in our author and reviewer resource centre

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