2026
15/04/26 – New publication available!
‘Making movies with ultra-fast pair distribution functions’ available in Nature Reviews Chemistry.
13/04/26 – Recent prize news!
Physical Crystallography Prize 2026, awarded by the British Crystallographic Association, shared by Gonville & Caius College (University of Cambridge) and Balliol College (University of Oxford).
09/04/26 – New preprint available!
‘Studying formation of single-phase Cr-Mn-Fe-Co-Ni spinel high-entropy oxide with simultaneous in situ X-ray scattering and absorption’ available on ChemRxiv.
08/04/26 – New publication available!
‘Direct synthesis of amorphous metal–organic frameworks from nanoclusters’ available in Nature Communications.
01/04/26 – British Crystallographic Association Prize!
Physical Crystallography Prize 2026 awarded at the Spring BCA meeting for contributions to the field of amorphous metal–organic frameworks and the development of advanced total scattering methods. Invited lecture at the BCA Spring Meeting entitled ‘Disordered, Dynamics & DNA’.
27/03/26 – Invited symposium presentation!
Talk entitled ‘Ultrafast pair distribution function methods’ at the Complex Order 2026 meeting in Oxford, in celebration of the scientific contributions of Prof. David Keen.
25/03/26 – New publication available!
‘Trapping a metastable node in an amorphous metal–organic framework’ available in Angewandte Chemie.
16/03/26 – New pre-print available!
‘Hindering crystallisation: Effect of iron doping on the formation and structure of amorphous cobalt tungstates’ available on ChemRxiv.
13/03/26 – ESRF Higlight!
‘Interplay of redox non-innocence and hidden symmetry breaking in a 4d coordination framework’ featured in the ESRF Spotlight on Science.
19/02/26 – New pre-print available!
‘Tackling real-world crystal structure prediction from powder X-ray diffraction data’ available on ChemRxiv.
17/02/26 – New publication available!
‘Interplay of redox non-innocence and hidden symmetry breaking in a 4d coordination framework’ available in JACS.
29/01/26 – New pre-print available!
‘Disentangling phase separation and crystallization in polymer blend semiconductors and multilayers’ available on ChemRxiv.
2025
25/11/25 – New pre-print available!
‘Trapping a metastable node in an amorphous metal–organic framework’ available on ChemRxiv.
03/11/25 – New pre-print available!
‘Interplay of redox non-innocence and hidden symmetry breaking in a 4d coordination framework’ available on ChemRxiv.
28/08/25 – Conference presentation!
Talk entitled ‘Structure of a DNA-stabilised silver nanocluster in solution’ at the European Crystallography Meeting (ECM35) in Poland.
26/08/25 – Conference chair!
Co-chair of the ‘Total scattering and pair distribution function analysis’ micro symposium for the European Crystallography Meeting (ECM35) in Poland.
20/08/25 – New publication available!
‘Oxygen vacancy-induced phase transformations of iron-doped titanium oxide nanostructures’ available in ACS Nano.
24/07/25 – IUCr Journals Showcase!
‘High-quality ultra-fast total scattering and pair distribution function data using an X-ray free electron laser’ was selected for the IUCr Journals Showcase.
22/07/25 – New publication available!
‘High-quality ultra-fast total scattering and pair distribution function data using an X-ray free electron laser’ available in IUCrJ.
25/06/25– Invited conference presentation!
Talk entitled ‘Structure of atomically precise nanoclusters’ at the Swiss MatChem Symposium in Fribourg.
23/06/25– Invited workshop!
Lecture on DiffPy-CMI for the ‘Swiss Summer School on Materials Chemistry: Materials characterisation through X-ray total scattering’ in Fribourg.
26/05/25– Poster presentation!
DanScatt Annual Meeting and XFEL Workshop 2025 in Odense.
19/05/25 – New pre-print available!
‘Oxygen vacancy-induced phase transformations of iron-doped titanium oxide nanostructures’ available on ChemRxiv.
01/05/25 – New pre-print available!
‘High-quality ultra-fast total scattering and pair distribution function data using an X-ray free electron laser’ available on arXiv.
02/04/25– Synchrotron beamtime!
One day using DanMAX at MAX IV to study DNA-stabilised nanoclusters.
01/04/25 – Angewandte Chemie Hot Paper!
‘Structure of a DNA-Stabilized Ag16Cl2 Nanocluster in Solution’ selected by the editors for the ‘Hot Paper’ collection.
24/03/25 – New publication available!
‘Structure of a DNA-Stabilised Ag16Cl2 Nanocluster in Solution’ available in Angewandte Chemie.
14/03/25 – Fourth XFEL beamtime!
Four days using MID at European XFEL in Germany.
27/02/25 – New pre-print available!
‘Direct synthesis of amorphous metal–organic frameworks from nanoclusters’ available on ChemRxiv.
26/02/25 – New publication available!
‘Toward reversible crystalline-to-amorphous guest-induced transitions in manganese(III) carboxylate metal–organic frameworks’ available in Inorganic Chemistry.
24/02/25 – Masters thesis defence!
Congratulations Julian for passing the defence of his MSc thesis titled ‘Towards ab initio structure determination of DNA-stabilised Ag nanoclusters’.
23/01/25 – New publication available!
‘Tracking the formation of high entropy solid solutions and high entropy intermetallics by in situ X-ray diffraction and spectroscopy’ available in Chemistry of Materials.
2024
18/12/24 – New publication available!
‘(RPh3P)[Mn(dca)3]: A Family of Glass-Forming Hybrid Organic–Inorganic Materials’ available in Inorganic Chemistry.
01/12/24 – Two years in Copenhagen!
XFEL, BSc and MSc students, workshops and pre-prints – another great year!
22/11/24 – Masters thesis defence!
Congratulations Nanna for passing the defence of her MSc thesis titled ‘Synthesis and characterisation of amorphous metal–organic frameworks’.
14/11/24 – Third XFEL beamtime!
Two days using HED at European XFEL in Germany.
13/11/24 – Invited workshop!
Lecture on small-box modelling for the ‘Advanced Powder Diffraction Workshop’ at the University of Uppsala.
01/11/24 – Invited workshop!
Lectures on theory, data collection and analysis for the ‘Total Scattering and Pair Distribution Function Analysis Workshop’ at the University of Leeds.
29/08/24 – New pre-print available!
‘Structure of a DNA-stabilised Ag16Cl2 nanocluster in solution’ available on ChemRxiv.
28/10/24 – Visit to Oxford!
Winter Crystallography Meeting (combined PCG/CCG/ISIS User Meeting).
14/10/24 – 1000 citations!
It’s not all about numbers, but this milestone is pretty cool.
30/08/24 – Popular science contribution!
Simulations contributed toward ‘Vi må tænke småt, hvis opskaleringen af Power-to-X skal gå godt’ published in Dansk Kemi.
30/08/24 – EPDIC18!
Poster presentation titled ‘Probing nanoparticle structure with pair distribution function analysis’ at EPDIC18 in Italy.
23/08/24 – New pre-print available!
‘Tracking the Formation of High Entropy Solid Solutions and High Entropy Intermetallics by in situ PXRD/XAS’ available on ChemRxiv.
15/07/24 – MOF2024!
Poster presentation titled ‘Exploiting nanoclusters as synthons for direct synthesis of amorphous MOFs’ at MOF2024 in Singapore.
10/07/24 – Synchrotron beamtime!
One day using P02.1 at DESY in Germany to study clusters in solution.
20/06/24 – Bachelors thesis defence!
Congratulations Line for passing the defence of her BSc thesis titled ‘Structural characterisation of bimetallic nanoparticles with pair distribution function’.
03/06/24 – New publication available!
‘Loading and thermal behaviour of ZIF-8 metal-organic framework-inorganic glass composites’ available in Dalton Transactions.
17/05/24 – Synchrotron beamtime!
One day using CoSAXS at MAX IV in Sweden to study solvation structure.
14/05/24 – Synchrotron beamtime!
One day using DanMAX at MAX IV in Sweden to study solvation structure.
14/04/24 – Invited conference presentation!
Talk entitled ‘Total Scattering and Pair Distribution Function Analysis: Characterising Amorphous Materials’ presented at the PHOSPORE Spring School held in Brussels.
11/04/24 – Seal of Excellence Award!
Recognition received from the European Commission under the Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions call.
04/04/24 – Synchrotron beamtime!
Two days using DanMAX at MAX IV in Sweden.
22/03/24 – First undergraduate lecture!
Guest lecture in the ‘Applied Mathematics for Chemists’ undergraduate course entitled ‘Crystallography: The art of structure refinement’.
20/03/24 – Visit to Køge!
Centre for High Entropy Alloy Catalysis Retreat 2024.
18/03/24 – Conference oral presentation!
Talk entitled ‘Probing Temporal Core-Shell Behaviour with Pair Distribution Function Analysis’ presented at the Synchrotron Electrochemsitry Workshop 2024 (Oxford, UK) organised by Diamond Light Source.
19/02/24 – Nanostructure Group workshop!
Full day workshop on Rietveld Refinement.
13/02/24 – New publication available!
‘Transient intermediate in the formation of an amorphous metal–organic framework’ available in Soft Matter.
24/01/24 – European XFEL Users’ Meeting!
Poster presentation ‘Establishing High-Quality Ultra-Fast Total Scattering & Pair Distribution Function Techniques at the European XFEL’.
22/01/24 – Malvern PANalytical prize seminar!
Invited seminar on PhD thesis entitled ‘Extreme Disorder in Metal–Organic Frameworks’.
2023
18/12/23 – Communications Chemistry editorial!
Editorial article for Communications Chemistry’s ‘Modelling and advanced characterization of framework materials‘ collection now available.
07/12/23 – New pre-print available!
‘Transient intermediate in the formation of an amorphous metal–organic framework’ available on ChemRxiv.
01/12/23 – One year in Copenhagen!
Countries visited = 5
Days of beamtime = 24
Pastries consumed = ∞
17/11/23 – Second XFEL beamtime!
Three days using HED at European XFEL in Germany.
06/11/23 – PhD thesis prize!
Malvern PANalytical thesis prize in Physical Crystallography awarded at the Winter Crystallgraphy Meeting (UK).
24/10/23 – First XFEL beamtime!
Three days using SACLA at SPring-8 in Japan.
11/10/23 – New publication available!
‘Interfacial bonding between a crystalline metal–organic framework and an inorganic glass’ available in Journal of the American Chemical Society.
28/09/23 – 30th Beamtime!
One day using CoSAXS at MAX IV in Sweden investigating the formation of nanoclusters.
22/09/23 – Synchrotron beamtime!
Three days using DanMAX at MAX IV in Sweden investigating the formation of nanoclusters.
12/09/23 – New publication available!
‘Structural insights into hybrid immiscible blends of metal–organic framework and sodium ultraphosphate glasses’ available in Chemical Science.
15/08/23 – Visit to Jørlunde!
Centre for High Entropy Alloy Catalysis Summer School 2023.
21/07/23 – University of Cambridge graduation!
PhD in Materials Science & Metallurgy from Gonville & Caius College.
14/07/23 – Communications Chemistry highlight!
Latest publication highlighted in Communications Chemistry’s ‘Modelling and advanced characterization of framework materials‘ collection.
26/06/23 – Visit to Sandbjerg!
SMART-SOLID-Q-MAT Summer School 2023.
01/06/23 – Visit to Aalborg!
DanScatt Annual Meeting 2023.
12/05/23 – Synchrotron beamtime!
Three days using P21.1 at DESY in Hamburg.
11/05/23 – New publication available!
‘Mapping nanocrystalline disorder within an amorphous metal–organic framework’ available in Communications Chemistry.
09/05/23 – New pre-print available!
‘Synthesis and characterisation of metal–organic framework-inorganic glass hybrid blends’ available on ChemRxiv.
01/05/23 – Synchrotron beamtime!
Five days using BM31 at the ESRF in Grenoble.
25/04/23 – New pre-print available!
‘Interfacial bonding between a crystalline metal–organic framework and an inorganic glass’ available on ChemRxiv.
06/04/23 – Synchrotron beamtime!
Four days using DanMAX at MAX IV in Sweden.
10/02/23 – Synchrotron beamtime!
Three days using DanMAX at MAX IV in Sweden.
11/01/23 – Visit to DTU!
SMART Meeting 2023 at the Technical University of Denmark.
2022
16/12/22 – PhD viva complete!
Many thanks to my examiners Ana and Siân.
01/12/22 – Moved to Denmark!
Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen.
30/11/22 – New pre-print available!
‘Mapping nanocrystalline disorder within an amorphous metal–organic framework’ available on ChemRxiv.
25/11/22 – PhD thesis submitted!
‘Extreme disorder in metal–organic frameworks’.
Adam Sapnik 