Maarit Karppinen

Portrait of ACerS Spring Meeting Plenary Speaker, woman in a checkered blazer.

Maarit Karppinen received her chemistry PhD from Helsinki University of Technology (now Aalto University, Finland). In 1995 she joined the Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan), first as a visiting and then regular associate professor to conduct research on novel functional oxide materials ranging from high-Tc superconductors and thermoelectrics to exotic magnetic materials. In 2006 she returned back to Finland to her Alma Mater as a full professor. Currently she is renowned for her pioneering research on ALD/MLD (atomic/molecular layer deposition) fabricated metal-organic thin films and layer-engineered inorganic-organic coatings, funded by several prestigious European Research Council (ERC) grants. Her group’s research scope covers the design and synthesis of new materials as well as their characterization e.g. for various frontier energy applications. She was nominated as Aalto Distinguished Professor in 2017, and invited to join the Scientific Council of ERC in 2025.

Novel thin-film materials through ALD/MLD as enablers of next-generation energy applications

By combining the two state-of-the-art gas-phase thin-film techniques, ALD (atomic layer deposition) for atomic-level controlled inorganic layers and MLD (molecular layer deposition) for molecular-level controlled organic layers, it is possible to fabricate novel hybrid materials not readily accessible through any other fabrication route. These new ALD/MLD-enabled thin-film materials include exciting in-situ crystalline metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as well as inorganic-organic superlattice structures in which ultra-thin organic layers are introduced periodically between nm-scale metal oxide layers to e.g. enhance mechanical flexibility, provide electrical doping, block phonon conduction, or bring photoactivity. In this presentation, I will highlight exciting examples of the this new hybrid material library. My examples cover (i) lithium-organic thin films for electroactive Li-ion battery components and interface barrier layers in batteries, (ii) luminescent and upconverting lanthanide-organic layers for efficient UV-to-vis and IR-to-vis light converters relevant e.g. for solar-cell application, (iii) ZnO:organic superlattice structures with ultralow thermal conductivity and enhanced mechanical flexibility for wearable thermoelectrics,10 and (iv) ε-Fe2O3:azobenzene superlattice films for photo-responsive magnets.