Colorado State University NSF-REU Summer
Program in Materials Chemistry Research:
Synthesis, Characterization, and Device Fabrication
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Matthew P. Shores
For more information, visit our
group webpage…
Matthew P. Shores. The Shores group is interested in
the directed synthesis, structural determination and physical properties of
inorganic complexes, clusters and solids. The synthetic targets are chosen to
address fundamental questions in magnetism and to provide materials with
tailored properties. A major
research thrust is in single-molecule magnets. Current synthetic inorganic chemistry has been successful at
creating transition metal clusters that individually maintain a magnetic moment
in the absence of a polarizing field—but only at extremely low
temperatures. The creation of new
molecules that perform this feat at higher temperatures would have a profound
impact on technological capabilities.
For example, computer hard drives that store 104 to 105 times more data
per unit area than current materials would be possible by advances in the
synthesis of new single-molecule magnets.
REU students would be involved with all aspects of materials design,
synthesis, and characterization. They would become familiar with air-sensitive
synthesis techniques, X-ray crystallography, UV-visible, IR, and NMR spectroscopies,
and measurement of magnetic properties with SQUID magnetometry.