Solid solution engineering of functional molecular ceramics

Molecular ceramics are crystalline materials made of small molecular constituents that possess technologically useful phase transitions and functional properties such as piezo and ferroelectricity. The study investigate the tuning of phase transition temperatures, enthalpy and functional properties by solid solution formation, using in situ powder diffraction to study the formation characteristics of single phases in pseudo-binary molecular systems. The study will look at phase formation in isothermal conditions, incongruent melting behaviour on cooling and the role of mesophases. We will identify the composition’s influence on phase transition temperature, structural symmetry, molecular re-orientation frustration and extend of frozen molecular disorder and as a function of composition and temperature. The study will produce phase equilibria diagrams for several novel molecular ceramics systems which stand as protypes for ionic molecular ceramic plastic crystals.