Project Details
Projekt
Powder-X-Ray-Diffraction
Subject Area
Molecular Chemistry
Term
Funded in 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 524781995
Until recently, the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at TU Dortmund University only had access to one powder X-ray diffractometer in addition to two single-crystal X-ray diffractometers, which after 31 years of operation has now had to be taken out of service for good due to repairs that cannot be carried out economically. This means that a standard method for analysing microcrystalline samples is no longer available at the Dortmund site. However, the new appointments made in the past 3 years in the teaching area of inorganic chemistry are intended to strengthen the materials science focus of the TU Dortmund in particular, so there is an urgent need for this method, which is now considered a high-throughput standard analysis method. This large-scale equipment application is therefore for the replacement of an X-ray powder diffractometer, which is to be used both for basic crystallographic analysis of known compounds (phase identification, phase purity and quantitative phase analysis) and for structure solution of unknown compounds of the faculty's Inorganic Chemistry teaching area. The measurement data will enable or support the establishment of structure-property relationships of photoactive metal complexes, stimulus-responsive framework compounds and (metal)organic materials. The very diverse compound classes and the associated scientific questions, which are reflected to a considerable extent in the current research and planned further thematic development of the faculty within the framework of the official development plan, place concrete demands on a complementary large-scale equipment procurement. The research projects presented include to a not inconsiderable extent air- and moisture-sensitive as well as hygroscopic compounds, so that in addition to measurements in reflection geometry (Bragg-Brentano), transmission measurements of powder samples sealed between foils are also necessary. For highly sensitive samples and for powder diffraction measurements with the aim of structure solution of unknown compounds with subsequent Rietveld refinement, it should also be possible to carry out measurements in melted glass capillaries. An important aspect is the possibility of temperature-dependent structure analysis in the range of 80-500 K to investigate entropy- and enthalpy-driven phase transformations, which can influence the density and porosity of e.g. crystalline MOF materials, as well as determine linear/non-linear optical phenomena of responsive molecular and aggregated luminophores. This equipment represents a significant complementary extension of existing structural analytics, opens up new research perspectives and represents an important step in the implementation of the CCB faculty development plan.
DFG Programme
Major Research Instrumentation
Major Instrumentation
Pulver-Röntgendiffraktometer
Instrumentation Group
4010 Einkristall-Diffraktometer
Applicant Institution
Technische Universität Dortmund
