Sustainable Energy & Materials Laboratory

The central theme of Dr. Yoon research group is the use of the physicochemical and engineering concepts to answer important fundamental questions in the physical science and environmental issues. One area of research concerns studies on inclusion compounds, with a special interest in practical applications. Inclusion compounds are crystalline complex formed by the physical interactions between host and guest molecules. In these systems the basic question is one of understanding and predicting the relationship between the structured framework and macroscopic properties. It particularly involves the investigation on changes in the framework structure and properties, dynamics of guest molecules, and quantitative analysis for the inclusion of guests. To carry out this study, we have developed novel experimental methods such as the gas-phase synthesis of clathrates, in situ Raman spectroscopy, synchrotron X-ray diffraction, terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy, and solid-state NMR. This allows us to make qualitative and quantitative predictions of the structure-property relation, and thus open up a new approach to develop functional materials with a special cage geometry.