Associate Professor Tilo Söhnel
DiplChem (MSc, 1993), Dr.rer.nat. (PhD, 1998) from the Technical University of Dresden, Germany
Biography
Associate Professor
from 2020 Associate Dean (Masters and Postgraduate Taught), Faculty of Science, University of Auckland
2017 Visiting guest professor at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, RWTH Aachen, Germany
from 2016 Associate Professor, School of Chemical Sciences, University of Auckland
2015-2016 Deputy Head of School (academic), School of Chemical Sciences, University of Auckland
2013 - 2015 Senior Lecturer above the bar, School of Chemical Sciences, University of Auckland
2006 - 2012 Senior Lecturer, School of Chemical Sciences, University of Auckland
2004 – 2006 Lecturer, Department of Chemistry, 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
CHEM252 - Thermodynamics
CHEM254 - Quantum mechanics
CHEM350 - X-ray crystallography
CHEM380 - Inorganic materials
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 (SHaRE Center Microcharacterisation, Faculty of Science)
Areas of expertise
- Materials Chemistry
- Inorganic Chemistry
- Theoretical and Computational Chemistry
- X-Ray Crystallography
- Synchrotron and Neutron Diffraction
Committees/Professional groups/Services
Associate Dean (Masters and Postgraduate Taught), Faculty of Science
Selected publications and creative works (Research Outputs)
- Han, M.-G., Garlow, J. A., Kharkov, Y., Camacho, L., Rov, R., Sauceda, J., ... Sushkov, O. (2020). Scaling, rotation, and channeling behavior of helical and skyrmion spin textures in thin films of Te-doped Cu2OSeO3. Science advances, 6 (13)10.1126/sciadv.aax2138
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Rosanna Rov - Goodacre, D., Blum, M., Buechner, C., Hoek, H., Gericke, S. M., Jovic, V., ... Bluhm, H. (2020). Water adsorption on vanadium oxide thin films in ambient relative humidity. The Journal of chemical physics, 152 (4)10.1063/1.5138959
- Zhang, T., Christopher, T. D., Huang, S., Liu, Y., Gao, W., Sohnel, T., & Cao, P. (2019). Pressureless sintering of Al-free Ta-doped lithium garnets Li7-xLa3Zr2-xTaxO12 and the degradation mechanism in humid air. CERAMICS INTERNATIONAL, 45 (16), 20954-20960. 10.1016/j.ceramint.2019.07.085
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Peng Cao, Saifang Huang, Wei Gao, Timothy Christopher - Spasovski, M., Avdeev, M., & Söhnel T (2019). Synthesis and Structural Determination of the Disordered Bixbyite Cu3-x Sb1+x O5.5+3x/2 with Spin-Glass Behaviour. Chemistry, an Asian journal, 14 (8), 1286-1292. 10.1002/asia.201801835
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Martin Spasovski - Devendra, R., Edmonds, N. R., & Söhnel T (2018). Insight into the mechanism of the catalysis of urethane formation by organotin(IV) dicarboxylate. Reaction Kinetics, Mechanisms and Catalysis, 124 (2), 487-502. 10.1007/s11144-018-1366-4
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Ransi Devendra - Ling, C. D., Allison, M., Schmid, S. A., Adveev, M., Gardner, J. S., Wang, C. W., ... Söhnel T (2017). Striped magnetic ground state of the kagome lattice in Fe₄Si₂Sn₇O₁₆. Physical Review B, 96 (18).10.1103/PhysRevB.96.180410
- Huang, S., Huang, Z., Cao, P., Zujovic, Z., Price, J. R., Avdeev, M., ... Ouyang, X. (2017). Inside Back Cover: “114”-Type Nitrides LnAl(Si 4− Al )N 7 O with Unusual [AlN 6 ] Octahedral Coordination (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 14/2017). Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 56 (14), 4065-4065. 10.1002/anie.201702125
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Peng Cao, Saifang Huang, Wei Gao - Huang, S., Huang, Z., Cao, P., Zujovic, Z., Price, J. R., Avdeev, M., ... Ouyang, X. (2017). "114"-type nitrides LnAl(Si₄-xAlx)N₇Oδ with unusual [AlN₆] octahedral coordination. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 56 (14), 3886-3891. 10.1002/anie.201612488
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Saifang Huang, Peng Cao, Wei Gao
Contact details
- +64 9 923 9722
- +64.9.923.9722
- t.soehnel@auckland.ac.nz
- Media Contact
Primary office location
SCIENCE CENTRE 302 - Bldg 302
Level 9, Room 965
23 SYMONDS ST
AUCKLAND 1010
New Zealand