Distinguished Professor - Emeritus Education: A.B., Hamilton College (1960); Ph.D., University of Connecticut (1963); Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Stockholm (1963-4). Awards: Delaware section American Chemical Society Award, 1978 Honor Roll Award of Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Chemists, 1988 Gold Medal Award from the National Association for Science, Technology and Society, 1994 American Chemical Society Award for Chemistry of Materials, 1997 Email: arthur.sleight@oregonstate.edu Office: Weniger 339 Phone: (541) 737-6749 Fax: (541) 737-2062 Research group web site: http://www.chemistry.oregonstate.edu/personalhomepages/sleight.htm

Professor Sleight's interests are mainly in the synthesis of new inorganic solids and in the elucidation of structure-property relationships of inorganic solids, especially oxides. Currently, oxides which contract on heating are under intensive study. Such compounds have potential applications in electronics, optics, and dental restorations. An example of a compound found to show strong negative thermal expansion is ZrW₂O₈.Thermally activated rocking motions of the ZrO₆ octahedra (green) and WO₄ tetrahedra (red) cause the thermal contraction without any decrease in Zr-O or W-O bond lengths. The cause of the unusual thermal expansion is illustrated in the movie on this page.

Exploratory synthesis efforts have led to the discovery of a new family of compounds with the formula BiA2MO6 (A = Mg, Ca, Cd, or Cu; M = V, As, or P). The structures of these compounds are similar but differ in details. Ferroelectric behavior has been established for BiCa₂VO₆.

Representative Publications

• Strong Negative Thermal Expansion along the O-Cu-O Linkage in CuScO₂, Chem. Mater., 2002, 14 (6), 2602-2606.
• ACu₃Ti₄O₁₂ and ACu₃Ru₄O₁₂ perovskites: High dielectric constants and valence degeneracy, Solid State Sciences, 2002, 4 (3), 347-351.
• Structure of NaBi₃V₂O₁₀ and Implications for Ionic Conductivity, Chem. Mater., 2001, 13 (11), 3825-3826.
• Colossal Magnetoresistance without Mn³⁺/Mn⁴⁺ Double Exchange in the Stoichiometric Pyrochlore Tl₂Mn₂O₇, Science, 1996, 273, 81-84.
• Negative Thermal Expansion from 0.3 K to 1050 K in ZrW₂O₈, Science, 1996, 272, 90-92.
• Room Temperature Superconductors, Acc. Chem. Res., 1995, 28, 103-108.