Dr Nicola Kelly

My research interests are the crystal structures and magnetic behaviours of ceramic materials, investigated using powder X-ray and neutron diffraction and physical property measurements. My PhD thesis work, carried out at the Cavendish under the supervision of Prof. Siân Dutton, included studies of three structural families of lanthanide-containing oxides and borates. I then spent two years as a PDRA in the Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, where I investigated the soft-chemical modifications of layered multi-anion materials in Prof. Simon Clarke’s laboratory. 

Current Work:

During my Research Fellowship I have published results from some previous projects on Ba3Tb(BO3)3 and LixV2Te2O and continued to collaborate with the Saxena group on M-TbTaO4.

I wrote a review of anti-cuprate square lattice compounds such as KV2Se2O, which are generating interest in the area of altermagnetism.

I spent some time at NIMS, Japan doing high-pressure synthesis of M-YbTaO4 and its Nb-doped analogues.

We used neutron diffraction to investigate the square lattice compounds M'-LnTaO4, including magnetic structure solution of the Tb compound.

I supervised a Part III project in 2024-25 on 1D lanthanide borates - read the student's journal article here!