EPSRC Equipment Account - Dr A Hector Enabling Microfocus

Project overview

X-ray diffraction is the main technique by which scientists and engineers study the structures of crystalline materials, however some sample types are often neglected due to the requirement for specialised instrumentation and expertise. This proposal provides advanced equipment to apply diffraction and related methods to a series of lesser-studied sample types of great importance in technology and in understanding environmental processes. These include thin layers of material on surfaces, where information about atomic separations, particle sizes, crystal orientation and changes in the size of the lattice due to interactions with the underlying material can be obtained. This will be critical to the understanding of a range of functional materials with applications in energy conversion and storage, electronics, optoelectronics and engineering. It will also be possible to study very small regions of a material, this is important in examination of single components or regions of a sample where variations are important in understanding properties. Sample types include minerals, where the structure of individual grains will contribute to knowledge of interactions with the environment, and single components of grids of material designed to have specific interactions with light.

Staff

Lead researchers

Professor Andrew Hector

Head of School

Research interests

Materials synthesis, including metal nitrides, thin film materials, sol-gel and solvothermal …
Materials characterisation – powder and thin film diffraction, microscopy and spectroscopy te…
Electrochemistry, including charge storage in battery and supercapacitor type cells, and elec…

Connect with Andrew

Email: A.L.Hector@soton.ac.uk

Other researchers

Dr Mark Light

Associate Professor

Research interests

Single crystal X-ray diffraction
Powder and materials X-ray diffraction
Total scattering and pair distribution function analysis

Connect with Mark

Email: M.E.Light@soton.ac.uk

Research outputs

Evaluation of Cu3N and CuO as negative electrode materials for sodium batteries

Xianji Li, Andrew Lee Hector & John R. Owen, 2014, The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 118(51), 29568-29573

DOI: 10.1021/jp509385w

Type: article

Total dose hardness of TiN/HfOx/TiN resistive random access memory

Katrina Morgan, Ruomeng Huang, Kenneth Potter, Chris Shaw, William Redman-White & Kees de Groot, 2014, IEEE Transactions Nuclear Science, 61(6), 1-6

DOI: 10.1109/TNS.2014.2365058

Type: article

Niobium(v) and tantalum(v) halide chalcogenoether complexes – towards single source CVD precursors for ME2thin films

Sophie L. Benjamin, Y. Chang, Chitra Gurnani, Andrew Lee Hector, M. Huggon, William Levason & Gillian Reid, 2014, Dalton Transactions, 43(44), 16640-16648

DOI: 10.1039/c4dt02694b

Type: article

The role of Ni–Ti–(Cu) interlayers on the mechanical properties and nano-scratch behaviour of solid lubricant W–S–C coatings

MAURO CALLISTI & T. Polcar, 2014, Surface and Coatings Technology, 254, 260-269

DOI: 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2014.06.028

Type: article

Diode-end-pumped 1.2W Yb:Y₂O₃ planar waveguide laser

Stephen J. Beecher, Tina L. Parsonage, Jacob I. Mackenzie, Katherine A. Sloyan, James A. Grant-Jacob & Robert W. Eason, 2014, Optics Express, 22(18), 22056-22061

DOI: 10.1364/OE.22.022056

Type: article

Controlling the nanostructure of bismuth telluride by selective chemical vapour deposition from a single source precursor

Sophie L. Benjamin, C.H. de Groot, Chitra Gurnani, Andrew L. Hector, Ruomeng Huang, Elena Koukharenko, William Levason & Gillian Reid, 2014, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2(14), 4865-4869

DOI: 10.1039/c4ta00341a

Type: article

High-contrast, GeTe₄ waveguides for mid-infrared biomedical sensing applications

Vinita Mittal, J.S. Wilkinson & G.S. Murugan, 2014

DOI: 10.1117/12.2036972

Type: conference