This study reveals that materials which appear uniform at first glance can hide complex internal structures that strongly affect their magnetic behaviour. By carefully examining a manganese-substituted cobalt oxide, the work shows that small chemical variations can lead to unexpected phase separation and suppressed magnetic coupling at low temperatures. These findings highlight why advanced imaging and characterization techniques are essential for designing reliable magnetic materials used in sensors, electronics, and energy technologies.

Sharma, S., Jain, P., Schundelmier, B., Wang, C.-W., Yadav, P., Szucs, A. M., Wei, K., Lalla, N. P., & Siegrist, T. (2025). Structural inhomogeneities and suppressed magnetostructural coupling in Mn-substituted GeCo₂O₄. Chemistry of Materials, 37(15), 5995–6003. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.5c01331

When rocks are blasted off Mars by meteorite impacts, parts of them melt into glass, raising the question of whether this molten material traps Martian surface soil during formation. This study investigated the chemical makeup of impact-formed glass in the Martian meteorite EET A79001 to test that idea. By analysing elemental signatures that would indicate surface contamination, the work shows that this sample did not incorporate Martian soil, meaning the glass preserves a clean record of the original rock rather than surface dust. This helps scientists better understand how Martian meteorites form and how reliably they record the planet’s geological history.

Yang, S., Szucs, A. M., Humayun, M., & Righter, K. (2025). The composition of EET A79001 lithology C shows no evidence of Martian soil incorporation. 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC), Abstract 2706. Read more here

This study examines organic molecules [9,10-bis(phenylethynyl)anthracene (BPEA)] and shows that very small chemical changes can strongly affect their behaviour. While these molecules act similarly in solution, they behave very differently once processed into solids and combined with perovskite materials. In solid devices, this difference controls how efficiently absorbed light is transferred and converted into visible light that solar panels and light sensors can use more efficiently. The results explain why some materials succeed in real devices while others do not, and they provide practical guidance for designing better energy and optoelectronic technologies.

Sullivan, C. M., Szucs, A. M., Cantrell, A. P., Shulenberger, K. E., Siegrist, T., & Nienhaus, L. (2025). Which flavor of 9,10-bis(phenylethynyl)anthracene is best for perovskite-sensitized triplet–triplet annihilation? Advanced Energy Materials, 15, 2404130. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202404130

When organic molecules are packed together into thin films, they don’t all behave the same way — instead, they can form different kinds of “groups” that each produce light in their own way. In this study, one molecule creates a whole alphabet soup of behaviours (H-, I-, and J-type groupings), depending on how closely and orderly the molecules stack together. Each arrangement changes the colour and efficiency of the emitted light, showing how subtle differences in molecular crowding can strongly influence technologies used in solar energy and light-sensing applications.

Sullivan, C. M., Szucs, A. M., Siegrist, T., & Nienhaus, L. (2024). Naphtho[2,3-a]pyrene thin films—H, I, or J? Aggregate alphabet soup served over triplet pair states. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 128(45), 19248–19259. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.4c05675

Magnetic materials are central to technologies such as data storage, sensors, and emerging quantum devices. This study shows that in a kagome metal, applying pressure does more than simply strengthen or weaken magnetism, it can fundamentally change how magnetic states behave near critical transition points. Around a key temperature, pressure increases the range of magnetic configurations the material can access and reveals a special tricritical point where the nature of the magnetic transition itself changes. Together with applied magnetic fields, this provides a powerful and flexible way to tune magnetic behaviour, offering new routes for designing materials with controllable and responsive magnetic properties.

Samatham, S. S., Casey, J., Szucs, A. M., Yenugonda, V., Burgio, C., Siegrist, T., & Pathak, A. K. (2024). Perturbation-tuned triple spiral metamagnetism and tricritical point in kagome metal ErMn₆Sn₆. Communications Materials, 5, 113. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-024-00552-x