TY - JOUR A1 - Zorn, R. A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina A1 - Kolmangadi, Mohamed Aejaz A1 - Wolf, M. A1 - Alentiev, D. A1 - Bermeshev, M. A1 - Böhning, Martin A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Low frequency vibrational density of state of highly permeable super glassy polynorbornenes – The Boson peak N2 - Inelastic incoherent neutron time-of flight scattering was employed to measure the low frequency density of states for a series of addition polynorbornenes with bulky side groups. The rigid main chain in combination with the bulky side groups give rise to a microporosity of these polymers in the solid state. The microporosity characterized by the BET surfaces area varies systematically in the considered series. Such materials have some possible application as active separation layer in gas separation membranes. All investigated materials show excess contributions to the Debye type density of states characteristic for glasses known as Boson peak. The maximum position of the Boson peak shifts to lower frequency values with increasing microporosity. Data for PIM-1 and Matrimid included for comparison are in good agreement to this dependency. This result supports the sound wave interpretation of the Boson peak. KW - Polynorbornes KW - Neutron Scattering PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d0cp03360j SN - 1463-9076 VL - 22 IS - 33 SP - 18381 EP - 18387 PB - Royal Chemical Society AN - OPUS4-51165 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zorn, R. A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina A1 - Kolmangadi, Mohamed Aejaz A1 - Malpass-Evans, R. A1 - McKeown, N. A1 - Tyagi, M. A1 - Böhning, Martin A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Low frequency vibrations and diffusion in disordered polymers bearing an intrinsic microporosity as revealed by neutron scattering N2 - The microscopic diffusion and the low frequency density of states (VDOS) of PIM-EATB(CH3) are investigated by inelastic and quasi-elastic neutron scattering where also the demethylated counterpart of PIM-EA-TB(H2) is considered. These intrinsic microporous polymers are characterized by large BET surface area values of several hundred m2/g and pore sizes between 0.5 and 2 nm. Detailed comparison is made to the archetype of polymers of intrinsic microporosity, PIM-1, and polynorbornenes also bearing a microporosity. Due to the wavelength of neutrons, the diffusion and vibrations can be addressed on microscopic length and time scales. From the inelastic neutron scattering experiments the low frequency density of states (VDOS) is estimated which shows excess contributions to the Debye-type VDOS known as Boson peak. It was found that the maximum frequency of the Boson peak decreases with increasing microporosity characterized by the BET surface area. However, besides the BET surface area, additional factors such as the backbone stiffness govern the maximum frequency of the Boson peak. Further the mean squared displacement related to microscopic motions was estimated from elastic fixed window scans. At temperatures above 175 K, the mean squared displacement PIM-EA-TB(CH3) is higher than that for the demethylated counterpart PIM-EA-TB(H2). The additional contribution found for PIM-EATB(CH3) is ascribed to the rotation of the methyl group in this polymer because the only difference between the two structures is that PIM-EA-TB(CH3) has methyl groups where PIM-EA-TB(H2) has none. A detailed comparison of the molecular dynamics is also made to that of PIM-1 and the microporous polynorbornene PTCNSi1. The manuscript focuses on the importance of vibrations and the localized molecular mobility characterized by the microscopic diffusion on the gas Transport in polymeric separation membranes. In the frame of the random gate model localized fluctuations can open or close bottlenecks between pores to enable the diffusion of gas molecules. KW - Polymer of intrisic microporosity KW - Neutron scattering KW - Boson peak KW - Methyl group rotation PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-538490 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11121482 VL - 11 IS - 12 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-53849 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zorn, R. A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina A1 - Kolmangadi, Mohamed Aejaz A1 - Malpass-Evans, R. A1 - McKeown, N. A1 - Jalarvo, N. A1 - Tyagi, M. A1 - Böhning, Martin A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Microscopic molecular mobility of high-performance polymers of intrinsic microporosity revealed by neutron scattering – bend fluctuations and signature of methyl group rotation N2 - Polymers of intrinsic microporosity exhibit a combination of high gas permeability and reasonable permselectivity, which makes them attractive candidates for gas separation membrane materials. The diffusional selective gas transport properties are connected to the molecular mobility of these polymers in the condensed state. Incoherent quasielastic neutron scattering was carried out on two polymers of intrinsic microporosity, PIM-EA-TB(CH3) and its demethylated counterpart PIM-EA-TB(H2), which have high Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area values of 1030 m2 g-1 and 836 m2 g-1, respectively. As these two polymers only differ in the presence of two methyl groups at the ethanoanthracene unit, the effect of methyl group rotation can be investigated solely. To cover a broad dynamic range, neutron time-of-flight was combined with neutron backscattering. The demethylated PIM-EA-TB(H2) exhibits a relaxation process with a weak intensity at short times. As the backbone is rigid and stiff this process was assigned to bendand-flex fluctuations. This process was also observed for the PIM-EA-TB(CH3). A further relaxation process is found for PIM-EA-TB(CH3), which is the methyl group rotation. It was analyzed by a jump-diffusion in a three-fold potential considering also the fact that only a fraction of the present hydrogens in PIM-EATB(CH3) participate in the methyl group rotation. This analysis can quantitatively describe the q dependence of the elastic incoherent structure factor. Furthermore, a relaxation time for the methyl group rotation can be extracted. A high activation energy of 35 kJ mol-1 was deduced. This high activation energy evidences a strong hindrance of the methyl group rotation in the bridged PIM-EA-TB(CH3) structure. KW - Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity KW - Neutron Scattering PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-604114 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d4sm00520a SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - RSC AN - OPUS4-60411 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zocca, Andrea A1 - Müller, Bernd R. A1 - Laquai, René A1 - Kupsch, Andreas A1 - Wieder, Frank A1 - Benemann, Sigrid A1 - Wilbig, Janka A1 - Günster, Jens A1 - Bruno, Giovanni T1 - Microstructural characterization of AP40 apatite-wollastonite glass-ceramic N2 - The microstructure of an apatite-wollastonite (code name AP40) glass-ceramic is analyzed in this study by combining 2D microscopy, phase analysis, X-ray absorption and synchrotron X-ray refraction computed tomography (XCT and SXRCT, respectively). It is shown that this combination provides a useful toolbox to characterize the global microstructure in a wide scale range, from sub-micrometer to millimeter. The material displays a complex microstructure comprising a glassy matrix with embedded fluorapatite and wollastonite small crystals. In this matrix, large (up to 200 μm) spike-shaped structures are distributed. Such microstructural features are oriented around a central sphere, thereby forming a structure resembling a sea urchin. A unique feature of SXRCT, in contrast to XCT, is that internal interfaces are visualized; this allows one to show the 3D distribution of these urchins with exceptionally good contrast. Furthermore, it is revealed that the spike-shaped structures are not single crystals, but rather composed of sub-micrometric crystals, which are identified as fluorapatite and diopside phases by SEM-EDX analysis. KW - Glass-ceramic KW - X-ray refraction KW - Computed tomography KW - Microstructure PY - 2023 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2022.12.130 SN - 0272-8842 VL - 49 IS - 8 SP - 12672 EP - 12679 PB - Elsevier Science CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-57452 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - INPR A1 - Zimmermann, Yoel A1 - Bazgir, Adib A1 - Al-Feghali, Alexander A1 - Ansari, Mehrad A1 - Bocarsly, Joshua A1 - Brinson, L. Catherine A1 - Chiang, Yuan A1 - Circi, Defne A1 - Chiu, Min-Hsueh A1 - Daelman, Nathan A1 - Evans, Matthew L. A1 - Gangan, Abhijeet S. A1 - George, Janine A1 - Harb, Hassan A1 - Khalighinejad, Ghazal A1 - Khan, Sartaaj Takrim A1 - Klawohn, Sascha A1 - Lederbauer, Magdalena A1 - Mahjoubi, Soroush A1 - Mohr, Bernadette A1 - Moosavi, Seyed Mohamad A1 - Naik, Aakash A1 - Ozhan, Aleyna Beste A1 - Plessers, Dieter A1 - Roy, Aritra A1 - Schöppach, Fabian A1 - Schwaller, Philippe A1 - Terboven, Carla A1 - Ueltzen, Katharina A1 - Wu, Yue A1 - Zhu, Shang A1 - Janssen, Jan A1 - Li, Calvin A1 - Foster, Ian A1 - Blaiszik, Ben T1 - 34 Examples of LLM Applications in Materials Science and Chemistry: Towards Automation, Assistants, Agents, and Accelerated Scientific Discovery N2 - Large Language Models (LLMs) are reshaping many aspects of materials science and chemistry research, enabling advances in molecular property prediction, materials design, scientific automation, knowledge extraction, and more. Recent developments demonstrate that the latest class of models are able to integrate structured and unstructured data, assist in hypothesis generation, and streamline research workflows. To explore the frontier of LLM capabilities across the research lifecycle, we review applications of LLMs through 34 total projects developed during the second annual Large Language Model Hackathon for Applications in Materials Science and Chemistry, a global hybrid event. These projects spanned seven key research areas: (1) molecular and material property prediction, (2) molecular and material design, (3) automation and novel interfaces, (4) scientific communication and education, (5) research data management and automation, (6) hypothesis generation and evaluation, and (7) knowledge extraction and reasoning from the scientific literature. Collectively, these applications illustrate how LLMs serve as versatile predictive models, platforms for rapid prototyping of domain-specific tools, and much more. In particular, improvements in both open source and proprietary LLM performance through the addition of reasoning, additional training data, and new techniques have expanded effectiveness, particularly in low-data environments and interdisciplinary research. As LLMs continue to improve, their integration into scientific workflows presents both new opportunities and new challenges, requiring ongoing exploration, continued refinement, and further research to address reliability, interpretability, and reproducibility. KW - Automation KW - LLM KW - Machine Learning KW - Agent KW - Bonding Analysis KW - Materials Searches KW - Finetuning PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-631720 DO - https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2505.03049 SP - 1 EP - 33 AN - OPUS4-63172 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zimmermann, Yoel A1 - Bazgir, Adib A1 - Al-Feghali, Alexander A1 - Ansari, Mehrad A1 - Bocarsly, Joshua A1 - Brinson, L Catherine A1 - Chiang, Yuan A1 - Circi, Defne A1 - Chiu, Min-Hsueh A1 - Daelman, Nathan A1 - Evans, Matthew A1 - Gangan, Abhijeet S A1 - George, Janine A1 - Harb, Hassan A1 - Khalighinejad, Ghazal A1 - Takrim Khan, Sartaaj A1 - Klawohn, Sascha A1 - Lederbauer, Magdalena A1 - Mahjoubi, Soroush A1 - Mohr, Bernadette A1 - Mohamad Moosavi, Seyed A1 - Naik, Aakash Ashok A1 - Ozhan, Aleyna Beste A1 - Plessers, Dieter A1 - Roy, Aritra A1 - Schoeppach, Fabian A1 - Schwaller, Philippe A1 - Terboven, Carla A1 - Ueltzen, Katharina A1 - Wu, Yue A1 - Zhu, Shang A1 - Janssen, Jan A1 - Li, Calvin A1 - Foster, Ian A1 - Blaiszik, Ben T1 - 32 examples of LLM applications in materials science and chemistry: towards automation, assistants, agents, and accelerated scientific discovery N2 - Large Language Models (LLMs) are reshaping many aspects of materials science and chemistry research, enabling advances in molecular property prediction, materials design, scientific automation, knowledge extraction, and more. Recent developments demonstrate that the latest class of models are able to integrate structured and unstructured data, assist in hypothesis generation, and streamline research workflows. To explore the frontier of LLM capabilities across the research lifecycle, we review applications of LLMs through 34 total projects developed during the second annual Large Language Model Hackathon for Applications in Materials Science and Chemistry, a global hybrid event. These projects spanned seven key research areas: (1) molecular and material property prediction, (2) molecular and material design, (3) automation and novel interfaces, (4) scientific communication and education, (5) research data management and automation, (6) hypothesis generation and evaluation, and (7) knowledge extraction and reasoning from the scientific literature. Collectively, these applications illustrate how LLMs serve as versatile predictive models, platforms for rapid prototyping of domain-specific tools, and much more. In particular, improvements in both open source and proprietary LLM performance through the addition of reasoning, additional training data, and new techniques have expanded effectiveness, particularly in low-data environments and interdisciplinary research. As LLMs continue to improve, their integration into scientific workflows presents both new opportunities and new challenges, requiring ongoing exploration, continued refinement, and further research to address reliability, interpretability, and reproducibility. KW - Large Language Models KW - Machine Learning KW - Materials Design KW - Bonding Analysis KW - Phonons KW - Thermal properties PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1088/2632-2153/ae011a SN - 2632-2153 VL - 6 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 34 PB - IOP Publishing AN - OPUS4-64019 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zhu, L. A1 - Srinivasan, P. A1 - Gong, Y. A1 - Hickel, Tilmann A1 - Grabowski, B. A1 - Körmann, Fritz A1 - Neugebauer, J. T1 - Melting properties of the refractory metals V and W and the binary VW alloy fully from first principles N2 - We investigate the melting properties of the bcc refractory metals V and W, and the disordered equiatomic VW alloy from first principles. We show that thermal vibrations have a large impact on the electronic density of states (DOS) and thus considerably affect the electronic contribution to the free energy. For W, the impact of vibrations on the electronic free energy of solid and liquid is different. This difference substantially impacts the computed melting point and also triggers a large electronic heat capacity difference between solid and liquid. For V, although vibrations likewise affect the electronic free energy, the effect on the melting properties cancels out to a large degree. For the binary VW alloy we observe a similar impact as for W, but slightly weaker. The underlying physics is explained in terms of the electronic DOS of the solid and liquid phases. Based on our accurate first-principles results, we reveal critical limitations of the Sommerfeld approximation in predicting the electronic heat KW - Crystal melting KW - Thermodynamics KW - Metals KW - Ab initio molecular dynamics KW - Density functional theory PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-618100 DO - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.109.094110 SN - 2469-9950 VL - 109 IS - 9 SP - 1 EP - 18 PB - American Physical Society (APS) AN - OPUS4-61810 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zhou, Xuyang A1 - Kumar, Sourabh A1 - Chen, Xinren A1 - Gault, Baptiste A1 - Dehm, Gerhard A1 - Hickel, Tilmann A1 - Raabe, Dierk T1 - Grain Boundary Transformation Induced by Boron Segregation N2 - Boron enhances the hardenability of low-alloyed steel and reduces embrittlement at low temperatures, at parts-per-million concentration levels. Ist effectiveness arises from segregation to grain boundaries (GBs)-planar defects- between crystals-yet atomic-scale evidence remains limited.We addressed this gap by synthesizing GBs with controllable geometry and orientation, enabling reproducible comparison with and without boron segregation. Differential phase-contrast imaging directly reveals boron at iron GBs, and in-situ TEM heating (20 °C to 800 °C) allows us to track the dynamic evolution of GB structures. We found that boron segregation induces local structural changes and triggers GB phase transformations, as corroborated by calculated GB defect phase diagrams spanning broad ranges of carbon and boron content. Our findings not only bridge a gap in understanding the interplay between GB structure and chemistry but also lay the groundwork for targeted design and passivation strategies in steel, potentially transforming its resistance to hydrogen embrittlement, corrosion, and mechanical failure. KW - Steel KW - Defect Phases KW - Grain Boundary PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655812 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62264-1 VL - 16 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Nature Communications AN - OPUS4-65581 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zhou, X. A1 - Mathews, P. A1 - Berkels, B. A1 - Delis, W. A1 - Saood, S. A1 - Alhassan, A. A1 - Keuter, P. A1 - Schneider, J. A1 - Korte-Kerzel, S. A1 - Sandlöbes, S. A1 - Raabe, D. A1 - Neugebauer, j. A1 - Dehm, G. A1 - Hickel, Tilmann A1 - Scheu, C. A1 - Zhang, S. T1 - Materials Design by Constructing Phase Diagrams for Defects N2 - Phase transformations and crystallographic defects are two essential tools todrive innovations in materials. Bulk materials design via tuning chemicalcompositions is systematized using phase diagrams. It is shown here that thesame thermodynamic concept can be applied to manipulate the chemistry atdefects. Grain boundaries in Mg–Ga system are chosen as a model system,because Ga segregates to the boundaries, while simultaneously improving thestrength and ductility of Mg alloys. To reveal the role of grain boundaries,correlated atomic-scale characterization and simulation to scope and buildphase diagrams for defects are presented. The discovery is enabled bytriggering phase transformations of individual grain boundaries through localalloying, and sequentially imaging the structural and chemical changes usingatomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. Ab initiosimulations determined the thermodynamic stability of grain boundaryphases, and found out that increasing Ga content enhances grain boundarycohesion, relating to improved ductility. The methodology to trigger, trace,and simulate defect transformation at atomic resolution enables a systematicdevelopment of defect phase diagrams, providing a valuable tool to utilizechemical complexity and phase transformations at defects. KW - Automatic pattern recognition KW - Defect phase diagram KW - Density functional theory KW - Grain boundary complexion KW - Transmission electron microscopy PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-618063 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202402191 SN - 1521-4095 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Wiley AN - OPUS4-61806 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zhang, X. A1 - Zhang, J. A1 - Wang, H. A1 - Rogal, J: A1 - Li, H.-Y. A1 - Wei, S.-H. A1 - Hickel, Tilmann T1 - Defect-characterized phase transition kinetics N2 - Phase transitions are a common phenomenon in condensed matter and act as a critical degree of freedom that can be employed to tailor the mechanical or electronic properties of materials. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms of the thermodynamics and kinetics of phase transitions is, thus, at the core of modern materials design. Conventionally, studies of phase transitions have, to a large extent, focused on pristine bulk phases. However, realistic materials exist in a complex form; their microstructures consist of different point and extended defects. The presence of defects impacts the thermodynamics and kinetics of phase transitions, but has been commonly ignored or treated separately. In recent years, with the significant advances in theoretical and experimental techniques, there has been an increasing research interest in modeling and characterizing how defects impact or even dictate phase transitions. The present review systematically discusses the recent progress in understanding the kinetics of defect-characterized phase transitions, derives the key mechanisms underlying these phase transitions, and envisions the remaining challenges and fruitful research directions. We hope that these discussions and insights will help to inspire future research and development in the field. KW - Kinetics KW - Atomistic models KW - Phase transitions KW - Defects PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0117234 SN - 1931-9401 VL - 9 IS - 4 SP - 1 EP - 42 PB - AIP CY - New York, NY AN - OPUS4-56507 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -