Final Activity Report Summary - OXYHALIDE MATERIALS (Synthesis, Raman scattering and infra-red spectroscopy investigations of correlated behaviour in transition metal oxyhalides)
The most important scientific achievement made during the project was the characterisation of the structural changes that occur in the material Cd2Re2O7 on cooling it from room temperature to 10 K using Raman spectroscopy. On further cooling, to 1 K (-272 Degrees Celsius), this material becomes a superconductor, i.e. electrons can move in the material without any resistance. Understanding the structural behaviour of the material is vital to understand this property and our results allowed the first model explaining the structural changes to be developed. Another highlight of the project was the discovery of new materials of the form Sr1-xBixCoO3-y (0.1 x 0.2) e.g. Sr0.85Bi0.15CoO2.7. These materials have interesting structures made up of layers of CoO6 octahedra and CoO4 tetrahedra and when treated with oxygen gas they can absorb it and change structure.