Group of Crystal Engineering and Advanced Solid-State Characterisation

Head: dr hab. Liliana Dobrzańska, prof. NCU

The research group conducts research in the field of Crystal Engineering and Solid-State Chemistry, including:

• Design, synthesis and characterization of crystalline materials with specific structure and properties, for example porous materials based on discrete or polymeric coordination compounds (LD, ZR, conducted in cooperation with KU Leuven, Belgium), or materials showing specific magnetic properties (TM, in cooperation with the Jagiellonian University in Cracow)
• Synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials applicable in optoelectronics, photo- and electrocatalysis, and photodegradation (RS, in cooperation with the University of Glasgow, UK; GT)
• Synthesis and characterization of carbon materials for energy conversion and storage (GT, in cooperation with GUT Gdańsk, UG Gdańsk, TUD Darmstadt, Germany)

In addition, the group’s interests include:

• research on the dynamics occurring in single-crystals (LD)
• research on the behavior of matter under specific conditions – for example, under elevated pressure (LD, TM, RS)
• polymorphism studies (LD, ZR, ŁF, in cooperation with Imperial College London, UK)
• topological studies of coordination compounds (LD, TM)
• studies of crystalline materials showing non-linear optical properties (LD, RS)
• testing of materials with nanoscale properties using electron microscopy techniques and spectroscopic methods (GT, in cooperation with the University of Gdańsk, MPI Stuttgart, Germany)
• quantitative IR and Raman spectroscopy, determination of organic pollutants in clean rooms (GT, RS, in cooperation with ESA, Netherlands).

Initials – LD, TM, ZR, RS, GT, ŁF – refer to the group members (see personnel file)

Dr. hab. Liliana Dobrzańska, prof. NCU – leads the Crystal and Materials Engineering group within the Department of Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy of the Faculty of Chemistry. She spent over 10 years (2004-2015) at foreign centers, such as Stellenbosch University (South Africa) and KU Leuven (Belgium). She was the manager of projects financed by the National Research Foundation, South Africa (NRF) and the National Fund for Scientific Research Flanders, Belgium (FWO). In the period from October 1, 2015 to May 31, 2018, she was the Head of the Crystal Engineering Laboratory at the Center of New Technologies of the University of Warsaw, where she obtained funding from the National Science Center (Sonata Bis). In 2018, she moved to her hometown of Toruń (Faculty of Chemistry, NCU).

Dr. hab. Liliana Dobrzańska, prof. NCU cooperates with many foreign units (Belgium, Spain, Japan, UK, India). Her interests oscillate around structural changes taking place in single-crystals, polymorphism, isostructurality and the design of crystalline functional materials.