报告人：Prof. Dr. Richard Dronskowski, RWTH Aachen University 

题目： Transition-Metal Carbodiimides: From Basic Research to Applications
时间：2018年6月4日（星期一）下午2:00-4:00
地点：电院楼群1号楼418A会议室
邀请人: 郭守武 教授

Abstract:
Solid-state physics often deals with various studies on “correlated” oxides such as NiO. Here, electron–electron repulsion on the metal atom competes with chemical bonding between metal and O. To modify matter, one may exchange the metal but also substitute oxygen. For example, the N-based pseudo-oxide of CaO is given by CaNCN in which the NCN2– carbodiimide anion (a “divalent nitride”) replaces O2–. Interestingly, the existence of the transition-metal carbodiimides was established only within the last decade when DFT calculations predicted their metastability. Then, the “correlated” 3d carbodiimides were synthesized one after the other, namely MNCN with M = Mn‒Cu which are all antiferromagnets; other phases exist as well. And yet, there is new physics and also chemistry; for example, phases such as FeNCN have turned out as excellent anode materials for Li/Na batteries. In addition, MnNCN and other carbodiimides catalyze photoelectrochemical water oxidation.


Biography:

Richard Dronskowski studied chemistry and physics at the University of Münster and received his doctoral degree from the Technical University of Stuttgart in 1990. He worked as a visiting scientist at Cornell University in Roald Hoffmann’s group, as a senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Solid-State Research in Stuttgart and as a lecturer at Dortmund University in 1992‒1996. In 1997 he became Director of the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry at RWTH Aachen University where he is a Distinguished Professor and holds the Chair of Solid-State and Quantum Chemistry. His interest lie in synthetic chemistry (e.g., metastable and nitrogen-based solids), in quantum chemistry (e.g., chemical bonding, ab initio thermochemistry), in chemical crystallography (e.g., small molecules), and in neutron diffraction (e.g., time-of-flight diffractometers).