Research topics
Overview
The Kloß group studies novel transition metal nitrides by combining inorganic synthesis at extreme pressures and temperatures with modern characterization methods from solid-state physics to create an interdisciplinary field of research. Very large pressures in the range from ten thousand to one million bar, ten to one thousand times higher than at the bottom of the Marianna trench, allow us to create materials with high nitrogen content that cannot be obtained at ambient pressure. To achieve these high-pressures we employ with state-of-the-art hydraulic large-volume-presses (pressure range 1-25 GPa) and diamond anvil cells (pressure range up to ca. 100 GPa).
We are interested in two kinds of nitride materials, nitridometallates with 3d transition metals and nitride perovskites with heavy 4d and 5d transition metals. These compounds with general sum formula AxMyNz, where A is an electropositive element such as an alkine earth or rare earth and M is the transition metal, show a range of physical properties stemming from empty, partly filled, or filled d- and f-electron shells. To understand the structure and physics of our materials we employ a range of characterization techniques ranging from X-ray and (magnetic) neutron diffraction to magnetisation and transport measurements, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and UV-Vis spectroscopy.
Nitridometallates
