Structure property relationships in transition metal oxides

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This research programme attempts to answer the question, why do solid materials have the properties which they exhibit? That is, why are some materials good conductors of electricity while others are such poor conductors that they can be used to insulate electrical components from one another? While do some materials exhibit strong magnetism such as refrigerator door magnets while others are actually repelled in the presence of a strong magnet? The materials of most interest to us consist of chemical compounds between metallic elements such as iron or titanium for example and oxygen, the gas which we breathe. These compounds are called metal oxides and thousands of them are known with hundreds more being discovered each year. They exhibit the complete spectrum of properties from the famous "high temperature superconductors" - once featured on the front page of the New York Times,in which electrical currents can flow forever to the aforementioned fridge door magnets without which our lives would be much less well-organized!We believe that the key to understanding the questions posed above is to study and understand the roles played by the "crystal structure", the exact architecture present on the atomic (sub-nanometer!!) scale and the effect of substituting one chemical element for another in some strategic location with the structure on the electrical, magnetic and other properties exhibited. Thus, in our research we make new metal oxides with different combinations of metals and oxygen than anyone has made before, investigate the crystal structure, measure the key properties and then think very hard in an effort to understand the patterns which are presented.