Innovative mixed-anion approach to design materials with optical and selective ionic conduction properties

Cel

"Because the Earth’s atmosphere contains mainly reactive oxygen (and inert nitrogen), conventional inorganic synthetic
materials are mostly oxides. From the research point of view, the 20th century was a prosperous era in the field of solid-state
chemistry with discoveries of many inorganic oxide compounds that laid strong foundations of materials synthesis and
characterization. The impressive development of oxides followed by other single-anion compounds, such as fluorides,
nitrides, and chlorides is mainly due to their stability and ease of synthesis. Nevertheless, after a century of intensive
research both conventional solid-state techniques and numerous combinations of metals (or cations) are reaching a point
where they have been exhausted, which makes further development of new single-anion inorganic materials more and more
difficult. Consequently, today, compounds with multiple anions beyond the single-oxide ion composition, offer a new
playground for materials development where greater functionality can be found. Besides, unlike oxides, which exhibit
chemistry and structures often known from mineralogy, the structures of most mixed-anion compounds are yet less explored
with much more to learn.
The aim of this project it to show how the mixed-anion approach will be beneficial to many fields of solid-state chemistry and
how the candidate and the host researcher will apply it to the topics tackled by the host group: materials with optical
properties and selective ionic conductivity. On the one hand, the candidate experience in oxide-derived materials and on the
other hand, the host researcher expertise in the fluorine-derived materials will allow a broad prospection of new compounds
and consequently functional materials with new properties. Finally, the combined efforts of the candidate and the host
researcher is to expand the whole group topic from ""chemistry and photonic of oxide and fluoride materials"" to ""chemistry
and photonic of mixed-anion materials""."