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Porträt PD Dr. habil. Schmidt, Moritz; FWOF

PD Dr. habil. Moritz Schmidt

Head Chemistry of the f-elements
moritz.schmidthzdr.de
Phone: +49 351 260 3156
+49 351 260 2536

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Department of Chemistry of the f-elements

We study the chemistry of the actinides and their lanthanide homologues in solid state as well as in solution. Modern analytical tools combined with quantum chemical computations, provide atomic scale information which can be used to characterize the physico-chemical properties of the actinides in molecules.

Übersicht FWOF ©Copyright: PD Dr. habil. Schmidt, Moritz

Our main focus is on the coordination chemistry of f-elements with inorganic and organic ligands, mostly biological and bio-inspired ligand systems. These studies use single-crystal X-ray diffraction to study structures in the solid state, and spectroscopic techniques, such as NMR, XANES, and TRLFS, to characterize structures in solution. All studies are complemented by quantum-theoretical calculations, which rely heavily on the in-house development of theoretical methods for 5f systems (i.e. actinides).

The fundamental understanding of actinide chemistry is applied to investigate actinide reactivity at the water/mineral interface, where atomic force microscopy, TRLFS, and surface X-ray diffraction are used as surface sensitive speciation techniques.

A full list of experimental equipment and capacities can be found here.

Our group is open for interested Bachelor's and Master's students, as well as research internships. Get in touch with us!

Latest Publication

Unraveling pH-dependent changes in adsorption structure of uranyl on alumina (012)

Neumann, J.; Carr, A. J.; Lessing, J.; Soderholm, L.; Catalano, J. G.; Fenter, P.; Lee, S. S.

Mitigating the transport of uranium in groundwater is imperative for ensuring access to clean water across the globe. Here, in-situ resonant anomalous X-ray reflectivity is used to investigate adsorption of uranyl on alumina (012) in acidic aqueous solutions ([UVI] = 0.01–1 mM, pH 2–5), representing typical compositions of highly-contaminated water near U mining sites. Significant UVI uptake (0.18–0.27 μmol/m2) is observed even though the surface has a net positive charge at these conditions. The analyses reveal that adsorbed U is distributed at two distinct heights of 2.4–3.2 Å and 5–5.3 Å, respectively, from the terminal surface oxygens. The former species is interpreted as the mixture of inner-sphere and outer-sphere complexes that adsorb closest to the surface. The latter species is interpreted as an outer-sphere complex that shares one equatorial H2O molecule with the terminal surface oxygen. With increasing pH, we observe increasing prevalence of these outer-sphere complexes, indicating the enhanced role of the hydrogen bond that stabilizes adsorbed uranyl species at the interface. The presented work provides an improved molecular-scale understanding of the sorption of uranyl on alumina that has implications for geochemistry and materials science.

Keywords: sorption; uranyl; X-ray reflectivity; autoradiography; corundum; actinide; sapphire

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 15(2024)13, 3493-3501
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.4c00498

Downloads

Fulltext from doi.org
Secondary publication expected from 22.03.2025

Projects

Current

Bioinspired polyhydroxamic sequestering agents for the in vivo decorporation of actinides
(ActiDecorp, ANR/DFG, 04/2024-03/2027)
Actinide-metal-bonding at the atomic level
(Am-BALL, BMUV, 05/2023-04/2026)
Investigation of the interactions of f-elements with biologically-relevant structural motives: Determination of structure-effect principles for a mobilization in the environment
(FENABIUM-II, BMBF, 04/2023-03/2026)
Competition and Reversibility of sorption processes
(KuRSiV, BMUV, 01/2023-06/2026)
Spectroscopic characterization of f-Element complexes with soft donor ligands
(f-Char, BMBF, 10/2020 - 03/2024)

Expired

Structure effect relations between f-elements and organic ligands with natural-analogue binding modes in regards to a possible mobilization in the environment
(FENABIUM, BMBF, 10/2016 – 05/2021)
Smart-Kd applications for the long term safety assessment of nuclear waste disposal sites
(SMILE, BMWi, 09/2018 – 02/2022)

Team

Name	Bld./Office	+49 351 260	Email
Head
PD Dr. habil. Moritz Schmidt	801/P249	3156 2536	moritz.schmidthzdr.de
Employees
Name	Bld./Office	+49 351 260	Email
Johannes Balas			j.balashzdr.de
Dr. Robert Gericke	801/P205	2011	r.gerickehzdr.de
Dennis Grödler	801/P205	2438	d.groedlerhzdr.de
Dr. Peter Kaden	801/P217	2261	p.kadenhzdr.de
Aliaksandra Khokh	801/P219	3194	a.khokhhzdr.de
Jessica Lessing	801/P352	3154	j.lessinghzdr.de
Adrian Näder	801/P352	3154	a.naederhzdr.de
Dr. Michael Patzschke	801/P356	2989	m.patzschkehzdr.de
Till Erik Sawallisch	801/P350	2035	t.sawallischhzdr.de
Actinid chemistry of metall organics
Name	Bld./Office	+49 351 260	Email
Dr. Juliane März	801/P217	3209 2506	j.maerzhzdr.de
Boseok Hong	801/P205	2438	b.honghzdr.de