Templating Charge and Spin with Modular Materials

Abstract: The chemistry of materials dictates many of their physical properties, including those involving the collective behavior of their electrons. In this talk, I will describe how the judicious selection and design of building blocks imparts desirable electronic and magnetic properties to molecular and extended inorganic lattices. The first part will focus on using intermolecular interactions and directional metal–ligand bonding to template metal–organic frameworks that are both intrinsically porous and electrically conductive, an uncommon combination. The second part will detail the chemical principles underlying chiral spin textures and noncollinear magnetism in intercalated transition metal dichalcogenides. I will discuss the relationships among local coordination environment, lattice symmetry, electronic structure, and long-range magnetic order, as revealed by a comprehensive suite of physical characterization techniques. I will conclude with future avenues for exploring complex magnetism in these and related materials.

Bio: Lilia Xie is currently an Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley in Kwabena Bediako's group. She received a PhD in Chemistry in 2020 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was advised by Mircea Dinca. She received her A.B. in Chemistry with Certificates in Materials Science and Engineering and Musical Performance in 2014 from Princeton University, where she was advised by Robert Cava.