IN²UB INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH SEMINARS
Molecular Mosaics Discovery and Electron Crystallography
By, Prof. Kasper S. Pedersen, Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Denmark
Date and Venue: May 30th, 2024 at 16.00h – Aula Magna Enric Casassas
(Chaired by Dr. E. Carolina Sañudo, IN²UB and Faculty of Chemistry)
Abstract:
Quantum materials exhibit exotic phenomena arising from the intricate interplay between electronic, magnetic, and lattice degrees of freedom. Virtually all quantum materials are inorganic in nature and synthesized under conditions that provide nothing but thermodynamic control as a synthetic handle. Molecular chemistry offers the tools for addressing contemporary problems in quantum materials discovery, enabling the rational design, synthesis, characterization, and understanding of novel materials. Metal-ligand assemblies with variable or hardly separable valences (“non-innocence”) are pervasive in molecular coordination chemistry and host the possibility to tame strong electron-electron correlations in extended networks, thereby representing a realistic strategy to challenge current state-of-the-art in quantum materials discovery. The use of well-defined metal ion “building blocks” with predictable bonding characteristics as nodes, in conjunction with rigid molecular linkers, provides a novel strategy to synthetically tailor materials’ tessellations. In the lecture I will discuss the group’s recent findings in the quest for genuinely new symmetries and properties in metal-organic framework materials and showcase how the use of novel 3D electron diffraction methods applied in our laboratory will accelerate materials discovery, broadly defined. 
Recent key references:
[1] M. Dunstan, A. Manvell, N. Yutronkie, F. Aribot, J. Bendix, A. Rogalev, K. S. Pedersen, Nature Chemistry 2024, DOI: 10.1038/s41557-023-01422-8[2] X. Liu, J. N. McPherson, C. E. Andersen, M. S. B. Jørgensen, R. W. Larsen, N. J. Yutronkie, F. Wilhelm, A. Rogalev, M. Gimenéz-Marqués, G. Mínguez Espallargas, C. R. Göb, K. S. Pedersen, Nature Commununications 2024, 15, 1177.
[3] P. Perlepe, I. Oyarzabal, L. Voigt, M. Kubus, D. N. Woodruff, S. E. Reyes-Lillo, M. L. Aubrey, Ph. Négrier, M. Rouzières, F. Wilhelm, A. Rogalev, J. B. Neaton, J. R. Long, C. Mathonière, B. Vignolle, K. S. Pedersen, R. Clérac. Nature Communications 2022, 13, 5766
[4] H. Chen, L. Voigt, M. Kubus, D. Mihrin, S. Mossin, R. W. Larsen, S. Kegnæs, S. Piligkos, K. S. Pedersen. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2021, 143, 14041.
About the Author:
Kasper S. Pedersen was born in Allerød, Denmark and received his PhD from University of Copenhagen in 2014. After a joint postdoctoral stint at the Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, the Institut de Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux, and the University of Montreal, he joined the faculty at the Department of Chemistry, the Technical University of Denmark, in 2017. He quickly rose through the ranks and was appointed Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the early age of 35. In addition, since 2023, he has been the founding director of the DTU Electron Crystallography Facility. His research spans synthetic and structural inorganic chemistry as well as advanced properties characterization and synchrotron-based spectroscopies. His current focus is particularly directed toward the discovery of novel metal-organic framework materials with hitherto unknown structural and physical properties, and the development of the field of low/zero-valent metal cluster-based MOFs for catalysis. Herein, the use of novel 3D electron diffraction techniques is critical and the development of the technique is a new focus area of his group. His findings are reported many high-profile papers, including nine in Science and Nature periodicals. He has received numerous research grants (exceeding 6 M€ as PI and 17 M€ as co-PI since 2017) and awards – most recently the Torkil Holm Prize 2022.
Web: www.kasperpedersen.org