Rational synthesis of novel low-dimensional materials by tuning of the Fermi level via chemical doping

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New materials are the gateway to new phenomena, to a better understanding of known phenomena and to performance enhancements. This research program emphasizes the synthesis of novel electronic materials and fuels new synergies with several condensed matter physics groups at IFW. The aim of this project is to search for novel low-dimensional materials with interesting electronic properties emerging from a competition between different electronic states or a suppression of the electronic order (charge, orbital or spin). By low-dimensional we mean one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) structures found in chalcogenide semiconductors (NaBa6Cu3Te14, CuFeTe2) and in intermetallic pnicogen compounds (REMX3, RE = rare-earth element; M = transition metal and X = P, As, Sb, Bi). All these compounds will provide fundamental insights into a wealth of physical phenomena such as charge and spin density waves, phase transitions, magnetic interactions in low-dimensional systems, as well as thermodynamics, kinetics and stability limits of hierarchical structures. This ambitious collaborative research will generate: a) new insights in controlling structural/electronic instabilities in complex materials, b) new synthesis and crystal growth techniques for advanced electronic materials, and c) Fermi surface tuning accompanied by judicious doping which may drive the phase from a normal state to a metallic or a superconducting state. This proposal addresses the role of synthesis in generating the properties of advanced materials. We use a multi-faceted strategy that combines solid-state synthesis with state-of-the-art structural and electronic probes. The strength of our program is our deep knowledge and intuition of how low-dimensional architectures form in complex solids and evolve with composition as well as the novel synthetic methodologies we have developed for discovering and characterizing new structures in materials.