Center for Functional Nanomaterials Seminar

Traditional solid-state compounds are infinite crystalline arrays of densely packed atoms. The emergence of collective properties in structured clusters of atoms, which we term "superatoms", offers a new class of fundamental building blocks for assembling materials. The superatom concept has the potential to usher in a new era where materials are designed to have a specific function, rather than discovered by trial and error. To realize this concept, we are exploring the use of molecular clusters as superatomic building blocks, designing and synthesizing not only the molecular clusters but also the means by which they interact. In this presentation, I will show how the atomic control and the diversity afforded by our superatoms allows us to dictate the structure of the solids and control the interactions between the building blocks. I will discuss how collective properties emerge from these interactions by providing examples of magnetic phase transition, electrical transport and thermal energy transport.