Dr James Cumby

Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry

Research summary

Solid state materials chemistry; functional electronic and ionic properties; crystallographic data science

Research overview

We are interested in studying materials with functional properties including magnetism, electronic and ionic conductivity, and structural changes (such as negative thermal expansion). A particular area of interest is to synthesis materials combining multiple anions (such as oxide and fluoride) to tune physical properties.

 

Our research uses a combination of experimental synthesis and characterisation with computational methods. Structural analysis is a key theme to our work, using single crystal and powder diffraction of X-rays and neutrons to determine atomic structure, including total scattering analysis to study local structure. These data are collected in-house and at international facilities. Computational methods used include data-mining of crystallographic databases, and electronic structure modelling using density functional theory (DFT).

 

For an up-to-date list of publications, see https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pnMf3AsAAAAJ&hl=en. 

Recent examples:

  1. Eliza K. Dempsey and James Cumby, Mixed anion control of negative thermal expansion in a niobium oxyfluoride, Chemical Communications, 2024, Advance Article
  2. R.-Z..Zhang, S. Seth and J. Cumby, Grouped representation of interatomic distances as a similarity measure for crystal structures, Digital Discovery, 2, 2023, 81-90.
  3. E. K. Dempsey and J. Cumby, Metallic to half-metallic transition driven by pressure and anion composition in niobium oxyfluoride, Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 11, 2023, 1791-1797.
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