Associate Professor Tilo Söhnel

Biography

Associate Professor

2017              Visiting guest professor at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, RWTH Aachen, Germany

from  2016    Associate Professor, School of Chemical Sciences, The University of Auckland

2015-2016    Deputy Head of School (academic)

2013 - 2015   Senior Lecturer above the bar, School of Chemical Sciences, The University of Auckland

2006 - 2012   Senior Lecturer, School of Chemical Sciences, The University of Auckland

2004 – 2006  Lecturer, Department of Chemistry, The University of Auckland

2001 – 2004  Research Assistant at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Technical University of Dresden, Germany

2000 – 2001 Feodor Lynen - Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Department of Chemistry, The University of Auckland, NZ

2000 Research Fellow at the Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany

1993 – 1999 Research assistent, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Technical University of Dresden, Germany

For information please take a look at my personal website.

Research | Current

Solid State and Inorganic Materials Chemistry

The main focus of my research lies in the field of experimental and theoretical chemistry of solid state compounds and inorganic materials such as mixed main group metal / transition metal cluster compounds and complex transition metal oxides. This includes the preparation and characterisation of novel tin, antimony and lead cluster compounds with promising materials properties and the calculation of band structures of solid state compounds to investigate the crystal structure and the electronic structure. For the preparation of these compounds quite a number of different methods will be used, from classical high temperature sintering in evacuated quartz tubes for the synthesis of pure powder materials, to the crystallisation from metal melt, or even gas phase reactions (chemical transport reactions) for the preparation of single crystals. For the identification of these compounds we use X-ray single crystal or powder diffraction, Mössbauer spectroscopy, electron spin resonance, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), high resolution electron microscopy (HREM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), measurements of temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility and the electrical resistance.

This work involves a large number of national and international co-operations with research groups on the different topics in inorganic materials and theoretical chemistry.

For more information please visit my personal website.

Teaching | Current

CHEM210 - quantum mechanics

CHEM220 - inorganic solid state compounds

CHEM310 - structural chemistry and spectroscopy

CHEM350 - X-ray crystallography

CHEM380 - inorganic materials

CHEM720 - inorganic cluster chemistry

CHEM780 - structure and bonding in extended structures

Distinctions/Honours

2014  Elected Member of the ANBUG Executive Committee, Bragg Institute, Australian national nuclear research and development organisation (ANSTO)

2013  Member of the XAS Program Advisory Committee, Australian Synchrotron

2010  Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany

2010  Hon. Research Associate, New Zealand Institute of Advanced Study, Massey University

2008  Hon. Research Fellow, Institute of Fundamental Science (IFS), Massey University

2006 Early Career Research Excellence Award, The University of Auckland

2005 Hon. Research Associate, Institute of Fundamental Science (IFS), Massey University

2000 Feodor Lynen - Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany

Responsibilities

Single Crystal and powder X-ray diffraction in School of Chemical Sciences (ASAS X-ray Centre)

Areas of expertise

• Materials Chemistry
• Inorganic Chemistry
• Theoretical and Computational Chemistry
• X-Ray Crystallography
• Synchrotron and Neutron Diffraction