Crystallography in Romania

This Special Report was published in the IUCr Newsletter, Vol. 19, No. 3 (2011).

An overview of the Romanian groups dedicated to crystallography reveals a variety of interests, from small molecule structure determination to materials science. The X-ray laboratories equipped with the necessary instruments are associated with universities and research institutes.

Left: National R&D Institute for Nonferrous and Rare Metals (IMNR), Bucharest. Right: X-ray Powder Diffraction Group, Analysis Laboratory.

The National R&D Institute for Nonferrous and Rare Metals (IMNR) founded in Bucharest in 1965 to conduct research in the field of nonferrous metallurgy, is currently focused on nanostructured materials, novel technologies and materials, ecotechnologies and environment protection.

The X-Ray Powder Diffraction Group has two researchers and several students. X-ray diffraction equipment consists of a Bruker D8 ADVANCE diffractometer in Bragg-Brentano geometry, using DIFFRACplus BASIC software and the ICDD PDF-2 Release 2006 database. Powder diffraction techniques are used for qualitative and quantitative crystalline phase identification in ores, industrial waste, alloys and inorganic substances, for microstrain and crystallite size determination of nanobiomaterials, ceramic matrix composites, and powders with core/shell structure. The X-Ray Powder Diffraction Group offers young students the opportunity to use its facilities under guidance of the laboratory specialists, in order to develop experimental projects.

(left) Researchers and (right) equipment at the National Centre for X-Ray Diffraction, Laboratory for Molecular Structure Determination, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca.

The National Centre for X-Ray Diffraction, Laboratory for Molecular Structure Determination, Babes-Bolyai U., Cluj-Napoca was established in 2000 as a multi-user center. The laboratory has a Bruker SMART APEX CCD diffractometer for single crystal structure determination, a KRIOFLEX low temperature system, NIKON SMZ1000 microscope and access to Cambridge Structural Database. The Center provides molecular structure determinations of inorganic, organic and organometallic compounds. User services include: unit cell determination, data collection and refinement, molecular structure determination, and supplementary refinement of molecular structures measured elsewhere. The group has four permanent members ([email protected], [email protected]; chem.ubbcluj.ro/~richy/).

The National Institute for R&D of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, Cluj-Napoca.

The National Institute for R&D of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, Cluj-Napoca crystallographic group has three researchers and several graduate students. A Bruker D8 powder diffractometer and a SuperNova single crystal diffractometer are used to determine structures of small molecules and for microstructural characterization of inorganic compounds using X-ray profile Fourier analysis, EXAFS and XANES absorption spectroscopy small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and structural study of amorphous materials. Materials investigated include: pharmaceutical compounds and their polymorphs, intermetallic compounds, metal supported catalysts, semiconductors, and inorganic oxides (contact: [email protected]).

Left: West University of Timişoara. Right: Crystallography research at West University of Timişoara.

The Solid State Structure Characterization Lab at the West University of Timişoara, Timişoara was established in the early 70s, by the late O. Birau. A Bruker D8 diffractometer with a horizontal goniometer and an open Eulerian cradle are used for phase stress and texture analysis, and grazing incidence studies of powder samples and thin films. The research team of two permanent members and several students pursue interdisciplinary research studies of bulk, thin films or powder of semiconductors, oxides, zeolites, pharmaceuticals, and nanotubes. (contact: Paul Barvinschi; [email protected], quasar.physics.uvt.ro/physics/ldccs/).

Left: National R&D Institute for Electrochemistry and Condensed Matter, Timişoara (NIRDECM). Right: Equipment at NIRDECM.

The X-Ray Diffraction Laboratory at the National R&D Institute for Electrochemistry and Condensed Matter, Timişoara (NIRDECM) (founded in 2008) possessing an X'Pert PRO MPD diffractometer with PixCEL detector. Activities of the laboratory includes single-crystal XRD, phase identification powder XRD at variable temperatures (−193°C to 1400°C) (mainly oxidic materials), and sensitive pharmaceutical samples in glass capillaries. The newly established laboratory has equipment for the study of texture, stress, reflectivity, thin films, transmission measurements, SAXS, and work under oxidizing/inert/vacuum atmosphere up to 900°C (reactor chamber). The laboratory has two researcher scientists and four PhD students, contacts with national and international education and research institutions and is pursuing certification, training personnel, developing partnerships and providing services (contact: Alexandra Bucur, [email protected], www.icmct.ro).

Crystallography at National Institute of Research and Development for Technical Physics, Iaşi.

The research group from the Department of Magnetic Materials and Devices at the National Institute of Research and Development for Technical Physics, Iaşi is designing and developing novel magnetic materials. The primary focus is on disordered, nanocrystalline nanocomposites and nanomaterials, and their applications in sensors, actuators or transducers. Using powder diffractometer from room temperature to 1400 K, the X-ray diffractometer at NIRDTP Iaşi allows the measurements in either Bragg-Brentano or Goebel mirrors configuration. There are facilities for X-ray reflectometry (XRR measurements on multilayered structures and estimation of the layer thickness. The department has twenty researchers, six engineers, five technicians, and several PhD students and postdocs (contact: [email protected]; [email protected]).

The Materials Science Laboratory (MSL) at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca established in 1995 explores superconducting, dielectric and magnetic thin films and heterostructures grown both by physical and chemical methods. The laboratory is equipped with a modular high-resolution four circle diffractometer, high-resolution X-ray diffraction, reciprocal space mapping, X-ray reflectometry and grazing incidence diffraction characterization of epitaxial and polycrystalline thin films and multilayers. The group consists of five researchers, one post-doctoral fellow and five PhD students (contact: [email protected]).

Other X-ray laboratories are in Bucharest (National Institute for R&D in Electrical Engineering ICPE-CA (www.icpe-ca.ro/); The National Institute of Materials Physics (www.infim.ro); U. of Bucharest, Faculty of Physics (www.fizica.unibuc.ro/fizica/Main.asp); U. of Bucharest, Faculty of Chemistry (contact: Marius Andruh, [email protected]); Horia Hulubei National Inst. of Physics and Nuclear Engineering - IFIN HH (www.nipne.ro/index.php), Brasov (Transilvania U., www.unitbv.ro/), Cluj-Napoca (Babes-Bolyai U., Faculty of Physics, phys.ubbcluj.ro/index_eng.htm) and Iaşi ('Petru Poni' Inst. of Macromolecular Chemistry, www.icmpp.ro/index.html).

Richard A. Varga ([email protected])