08/01/2025: It was a great pleasure to attend the 2025 North American Solid State Chemistry Conference in Ames, IA, with my students Thimira Kandabadage Don and Md Rashed Alam, catch up with old friends, and meet new ones. Excellent science and plenty of new ideas! Thimira and Rashed presented posters! Good job promoting material science and solid-state chemistry research!
07/22/25: Congratulations to Spencer and Gayomi! They both received poster awards at the 2025 American Crystallographic Association Meeting in Lombard, IL, proudly representing our research group with their outstanding work!
07/03/2025: Congratulations to the team on the paper published in ZAAC. Ishtiyak, Spencer, Olha, and Thimira discovered a series of novel compounds: Zintl Phases Eu21M4As18 (M = Mn, Zn) and As/Sb solid solutions, and showed that this subfamily of materials exhibits previously unreported disorder. Check more using the link: https://doi.org/10.1002/zaac.202500070
06/09/2025: Congratulations to Gayomi on her paper published in Molbank. Gayomi discovered and solved [Pd@Bi10][AlCl4]4 cluster compound and provided insights into its electronic structure. Check more using the link: https://doi.org/10.3390/M2020
05/24/2025: Sviatoslav and Spencer attended the Solid State and Materials Chemistry Collaboration Incubator (SSMC-CI) hosted at UW-Madison. Highly collaborative event with new insights into using computational chemistry to advance materials science.
05/20/2025: Andrea Thompson, a rising senior at Auburn University, majoring in Biomedical Sciences, joins the Lab for a summer internship! Andrea will work with Gayomi on novel thermochromic cluster materials. Welcome aboard!
05/20/2025: High school student Darren Weng from Episcopal High School joins the Lab for ESTAAR Summer program! Darren will work with Thimira and Ella on developing novel chalcohalide semiconductors. Welcome aboard!
05/15/2025: Congratulations to Tabitha Lawrence, who graduated with a dual BSc degree in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Best wishes for your future endeavors.
05/09/2025: Congratulations to Ella! She was awarded the Analytical Chemistry Undergraduate Award sponsored by the Analytical Division of the ACS. She also received the Dr. Linda Allen Excellence in Academics and Research Award. The award recognizes her outstanding achievements and was announced during the Choppin Honors Convocation.
05/09/2025: Sviatoslav received the College of Science Non-Tenured Faculty Research Award during the Choppin Honors Convocation.
05/06/2025: Another year, new picture! Meet the great team of the Baranets Lab!
4/25/2025: Once again, we hosted the team of nearly 20 talented young scientists for the Baton Rouge Local Section Exam. 8 best students from 5 high schools were selected to compete in the 2025 US National Chemistry Olympiad Exam. Thank you, Gayomi, Spencer, Thimira, Olia, and Rashed, for your help.
04/11/2025.Rashed was selected to attend the 2025 ACA Summer course in Chemical Crystallography. This on-site summer school will take place at Northwestern University in June. Great background for the future crystallographic discoveries.
03/28/2025: Graduate students, Gayomi and Olia, gave oral talks at the 99th annual meeting of the Louisiana Academy of Sciences. Good job promoting synthetic chemistry and solid-state sciences.
02/01/2025: Undergraduate Jacko Xiao presented his work at the 54th American Chemical Society Southeastern Undergraduate Research Conference. Good job promoting material science and solid-state chemistry research!
01/09/2025: Undergraduate Jacko Xiao participated in the 2025 MateriALZ Winter School hosted by ASU. As part of the event, he gave a poster presentation where he discussed his work on novel Zintl phases.
01/2025: Undergraduate students, Ella Madura and Tabitha Lawrence, join the Lab! Welcome aboard!
12/23/2024: Welcome to Md. Rashed Alam (University of Dhaka)--a new graduate student in our lab!
12/11/2024: Amazing ending of the semester! I am excited to be honored with the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award. We are thankful to the NSF Division of Materials Research - Solid State and Materials Chemistry program for funding our project: "Heteroanionicity by Design: Developing Complex Narrow-Bandgap Oxypnictide Semiconducting Materials for Thermoelectric Applications".
12/10/2024: Spencer has been awarded a 1-year stipend through the Louisiana Space Grant Consortium (LaSPACE) Graduate Student Research Fellowship (GSRF) program! Congratulations, Spencer, on this great achievement!
12/01-10/2024: Sviatoslav visited the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility to perform single-crystal diffraction experiments under high pressures. It was a great opportunity to advance exciting science, meet with new friends, and catch up with old ones.
11/26/2024: Congratulations to Thimira for successfully passing her General Exam and becoming a PhD candidate!
11/20/2024: Congratulations to Thimira and Beau on their paper published in Acta Cryst E. This study presents a comprehensive crystallographic analysis of the lanthanide(III) chloride hydrates [RECl3·xH2O (RE = La-Nd, Sm-Lu; x = 6, 7)], offering new structural data for the series. The research highlights the influence of hydration levels and lanthanide contraction on the crystal structures, while identifying missing data for specific hydrates in existing structural databases. Check more using the link: https://doi.org/10.1107/S2056989024011319
11/11/2024: Congratulations to Spencer for successfully passing her General Exam and becoming a PhD candidate!
11/5/2024: Undergraduate student Logan Schilling joins the Lab! Welcome aboard!
10/28/2024: High school student Aiden Fee from The Dunham School joins the Lab! Aident will work with Thimira to study novel rare-earth chalcohalide compounds. Welcome aboard!
10/25/2024: Congratulations to Spencer and Larissa on their paper published in Crystals. In collaboration with Prof. Bobev's group from UD, we present a new complex non-centrosymmetric polymorph--β-Yb2CdSb2. Check more using the link: https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst14110920
The group was well represented at the 2024 ACS SWRM Meeting in Waco, TX. Sviatoslav gave two invited talks, Olha, Spencer, and Thimira gave oral talks, and Gayomi presented a poster!
Congratulations to Gayomi for successfully passing her General Exam and becoming a PhD candidate!
Jacko and Sviatoslav attended the 2024 Annual Louisiana Space Grant Consortium / NASA EPSCoR Meeting in Hammond, LA. Jacko presented a poster with his research.
7/31/2024: Congratulations to Thimira on his first paper published in Chemistry of Materials: "Quaternary Zintl Phases Ba2InSnP3 and Ba2InSnAs3 with Complex Structures and n-Type Semiconducting Behavior". This was a collaborative work with the LSU Department of Physics and Astronomy, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Delaware, and ORNL.
07/2024: Sviatoslav attended the 2024 Solid-State Chemistry Gordon Research Conference.
7/15/2024: Jacko Xiao, a chemical engineering sophomore, has been awarded a 1-year stipend through the Louisiana Space Grant Consortium (LaSPACE) Undergraduate Research Assistantship (LURA) program! Congratulations, Jacko, on this great achievement!
6/21/2024: Congratulations to Ishtiyak and Spencer on their paper published in Inorganic Chemistry: "Advancing Heteroanionicity in Zintl Phases: Crystal Structures, Thermoelectric and Magnetic Properties of Two Quaternary Semiconducting Arsenide Oxides, Eu8Zn2As6O and Eu14Zn5As12O" They did a great job studying two novel complex oxyarsenides! Check more using the link: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.4c01580
6/20/2024: Congratulations to Spencer and Lindsey on their paper published in Crystals. They did a great job discovering three novel unreported barium arsenides: Ba3As4, Ba5As4, and Ba16As11! Sometimes, even in 2024, we can still discover binary compounds, showcasing the brilliance of synthetic solid-state chemistry!
6/4/2024: High school student Beau Legnon from Episcopal High School joins the Lab for ESTAAR Summer program! Beau will work with Thimira on studying coordination complexes of rare-earth metals! Welcome aboard!
5/21/2024: Sviatoslav received a 2024 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award through the Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU). We are going to squeeze Zintl phases of diverse dimensionalities and explore their structures under high pressures.
5/15/2024: The Baranets Research Group received funding from the Louisiana Board of Regents Research Competitiveness Subprogram (RCS). We will focus on understanding the factors influencing the formation and design of novel heteroanionic narrow-gap salt-like semiconductors, performing comprehensive characterization, and thoroughly evaluating their suitability for thermoelectric applications. Thank you to the Louisiana Board of Regents!
5/2/2024: Our group grows! We almost doubled since spring 2024. Meet the great team of the Baranets Lab!
4/25/2024: Undergraduate students Larissa Najera and Jacko Xiao join the Lab! Welcome aboard!
4/19/2024: Once again, we hosted the team of 20 talented young scientists for the Baton Rouge Local Section Exam. 8 best students from 5 high schools were selected to compete in the 2024 US National Chemisty Olympiad Exam. Thank you, Gayomi, Spencer, Thimira, Olia, and Connor for help.
4/1/2024: Alyssa Greenwade received a Supervised Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Award! The award is sponsored by the NSF and the Louisiana Board of Regents and provides a one-year scholarship. Congratulations, Alyssa, on this great achievement.
3/17/2024: Strong representation of the group at the Spring 2024 ACS Meeting in New Orleans. Spencer, Thimira, and Gayomi are presenting posters, while Ishtiyak and Sviatoslav have oral talks.
3/8/2024: Congratulations to Gayomi, who won a national travel award from the Division of Inorganic Chemistry of the American Chemical Society for the 2024 ACS Spring meeting in New Orleans!
3/6/2024: Our paper "M. Ishtiyak, S.M.G.K. Samarakoon, T. Kandabadage Don, S.R. Watts, S. Baranets. Novel Ternary Zintl Phosphide Halides Ba3P5X (X = Cl, Br) with 1D Helical Phosphorus Chains: Synthesis, Crystal and Electronic Structure" is published in Nanoscale. Paper is featured on the inside front cove and is part of the special issue "Nanoscale 2024 Emerging Investigators". Congratulations to the team!
1/22/2024: Gayomi and Spencer attended the 7th Fundamentals of Quantum Materials Winter School, held at the University of Maryland on January 15-19, 2024. It was focused on High Pressure Synthesis and Measurement, and included a combination of fundamental materials synthesis instruction as well as lectures on experimental techniques and practices from an impressive list of invited speakers.
12/20/2023: Our paper (collaborated with Prof. Bobev @UD) on novel 5-8 Zintl antimonide was published in Inorganics. Congratulations Gayomi with the first first-authored paper at LSU. Once again, it was featured on the journal cover.
01/2024: Undergraduate students Mykyta Skyba and Amiracle McMillian join the Lab! Welcome to the lab!
12/15/2023: Congratulations to Lindsey Wingate, who graduated with a B.Sc. degree in Chemistry. Lindsey contributed to the synthesis and characterization of the novel Ztinl pnictides and oxypnictides. She will join the Chemistry department at Oregon State University. Good luck in grad school!
12/13/2023: Welcome to the second cohort of graduate students: Connor Donnelly (Unversity of Delaware) and Olha Pokhvata (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine).
11/16/2023: Sviatoslav attended the 2023 Southwestern Regional Meeting and gave an oral presentation.
10/28/2023: Our group showcased the magic of solid-state and materials chemistry, spreading our love for science and engaging with the community.
8/15/2023: Undergraduate student Alyssa Greenwade joins the Lab! She will work alongside Thimira. Welcome aboard!
7/27/2023: Our paper on the discovery and characterization of the novel Zintl barium antimonides is published in ZAAC. It is also featured on the cover of the journal.
7/11/2023: Sviatoslav visited Oak Ridge National Lab.
5/23/2023: Sviatoslav attended the NSF Early Career Workshop
5/19/2023: Congratulations to Alex, who graduated with a B.Sc. degree in Chemistry. Good luck in your future endeavors!
Mohd Ishtiyak joins the Baranets Lab
4/24/2023: Sviatoslav received the Summer Stipend Award from the LSU Office of Research and Development. The award is a part of LSU Provost's Fund for Innovation in Research.
4/22/2023: It was a great pleasure to host the team of talented young chemists. 6 students from four high schools in Baton Rouge completed the 2023 US National Chemisty Olympiad Exam. Thank you Gayomi, Spencer, and Thimira for helping with organization of the event!
04/04/2023: Our first Group photo!
12/2022: Undergraduate students Alexandra Fields and Lindsey Wingate join the Lab! Welcome to the lab!
12/20/2022: Welcome to the first cohort of graduate students: Thimira Kandabadage Don (B.Sc. Institute of Chemistry Ceylon), Gayomi Samarakoon (B.Sc. University of Kelaniya), and Spencer Watts (B.Sc. Clemson University).
10/27/2022: Our paper (collaborated with Prof. Bobev @UD) on thermoelectric properties of rare-earth metal substituted 9-4-9 Zintl phases was published.
10/17/2022: Our paper (collaborated with Prof. Bobev @UD) on novel 3-1-3 Zintl phase was published.
8/17/2022: Our paper (collaborated with Prof. Bobev @UD) on novel 10-6-12 Zintl phases was published.
07/2022: Sviatoslav attended the 2022 Solid-State Chemistry Gordon Research Conference.
7/18/2022: Let's begin our journey!