Akseli Mansikkamäki from Oulu visits IMC

From left to right: Anssi Peuronen, Akseli Mansikkamäki and Ari Lehtonen.

Today we had the honor of hosting a visit of Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Fellow Akseli Mansikkamäki, who works in the NMR Research Unit of the University of Oulu, giving a talk about “Recent Advances in Organometallic Lanthanide Single-Molecule Magnets“. Akseli’s publishing activities are of a very high quality, and in 2018 he was an author in an article in the Science journal “Magnetic hysteresis up to 80 kelvin in a dysprosium metallocene single-molecule magnet“. Thanks for visiting and see you again, Akseli!

IMC goes into space!

Photo by ESA, modified by Sami Vuori.

Our hackmanite research levels up with a collaboration project with European Space Agency (ESA). The agency expressed interest in the color-changing property of hackmanite for the task of bringing various detector materials into space for examination. Hackmanite passed the initial qualifiers, and now the project can start with full power, meaning that… hackmanite has a chance to go into space!

IMC represents at Optics & Photonics Days 2021

IMC’s PhD students Sobia Rashid, Hannah Byron, Cecilia Agamah, and Sami Vuori went to the Optics & Photonics Days 2021 conference held on 1.–3.12. in Logomo, Turku. It was amazing to meet other photonics enthusiasts, listen to interesting presentations and tell other participants about our research. Next year OPD will be held in Tampere so see you there!

We presented our posters made by Mika Lastusaari, Sobia Rashid, Cecilia Agamah, Sami Vuori, and Hannah Byron.
The conference had interesting speakers from many different optics & photonics fields. Here University of Eastern Finland’s professor Tanja Tarvainen gives her plenary talk about optical tomography.

Pauline Colinet from Lyon visits IMC

We had the pleasure of having PhD student Pauline Colinet from the University of Lyon in France visit us for a couple of days. Pauline will be having her dissertation defense about computational chemistry early next year and wanted to come here to learn how we make hackmanite and do its measurements. For her part, Pauline showed what the sophisticated batch files of computational chemistry look like and how she commands the massive calculation clusters. We have collaborated a lot with her, and hopefully the collaboration will continue in the future! Splendid couple of day with her!

Pasi’s dissertation defense tomorrow

Pasi Salonen will have his doctoral dissertation defense tomorrow 5.11.2021 from 12:00 in lecture hall XXII in Agora. The title of his thesis is “Aminophenolato Complexes of Mo, W and V In Catalytic Alkene Epoxidation and Cathecol Oxidation“. The event can be followed on Zoom. More information here:

https://www.utu.fi/en/news/events/dissertation-defense-chemistry-msc-pasi-salonen

Meet Teemu Taam, our newest member

Meet our newest member, MSc student Teemu Taam from Oulu. We interviewed him with three questions.

1. Why did you choose intelligent materials chemistry?
The world is constantly changing and the circular economy emphasizes low waste. For me, making the most of any potential side streams is extremely important. The chemistry of intelligent materials could be just that. Thus, I am challenging myself by becoming familiar with intelligent materials from a circular economy perspective and meeting the demands of modern society. That’s why I set out to head to the line of organometallic materials, get answers, and maybe bring something new.

2. What interests you particularly in chemistry?
– I am a friend of classical chemistry. Traditional analytical methods of inorganic and organic chemistry as well as demanding syntheses keep the motivation high. Versatile analytical techniques are also inspiring, as the analysis of each synthesis product is like the final culmination of a suspenseful story, which either brings great satisfation or complete disappointment.

3. What do you do in your free time?
– Literature is very important to me. Relaxing reading as well as producing written outputs help maintain a diverse vocabulary. Outdoor activities and nature are my second place to relax. In nature, hiking and berry picking during late summer and fall keeps the mind fresh.

Welcome to the group, Teemu!

Sami & Mika make the back cover of Advanced Optical Materials

Our back cover picture has been published in the Advanced Optical Materials journal! The image depicts hackmanite crystal’s coloration mechanism upon X-ray exposure where electron and hole cascades create a color center. The original idea and graphics, which was accepted by the journal, was made by Adj. Prof. Mika Lastusaari:

PhD student Sami Vuori then refined it a bit with Gimp by creating the final version. The picture is related to our article Detection of X-Ray Doses with Color-Changing Hackmanites: Mechanism and Application, which was published in this journal: https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.202100762