Staff profile

Emma McCabe’s research group focuses on structure – composition – property relationships in functional materials. We design and synthesis new functional materials and investigate their structure and properties. We’re interested in oxides (including perovskite-related materials), oxysulfides and oxyselenides, and oxyfluorides. These materials have useful magnetic, electronic and optical properties. 

I joined Durham Physics as Assistant Professor in Condensed Matter Physics in January 2021. My interest in materials physics/solid state chemistry began during my undergraduate studies and postgraduate research at University of Birmingham with Professor Colin Greaves. I then carried out postdoctoral research with Professor Tony West (Sheffield) and Professor John S. O. Evans (Durham Chemistry). I was appointed as lecturer and then senior lecturer in chemistry at University of Kent, before moving back to Durham. I’m really grateful to Max Alexander for use of the photo above, taken as part of the Illuminating Atoms exhibition (http://www.maxalexander.com/galleries/illuminating-atoms-portraits/) for the International Year of Crystallography. 

Chapter in book

• McCabe, Emma E. (2022). Designing new polar materials. In Reference Module in Chemistry, Molecular Sciences and Chemical Engineering. Elsevier.

Journal Article

• Al Bacha, Sandy, Saitzek, Sébastien, McCabe, Emma E. & Kabbour, Houria (2022). Photocatalytic and Photocurrent Responses to Visible Light of the Lone-Pair-Based Oxysulfide Sr6Cd2Sb6S10O7. Inorganic Chemistry 61(46): 18611-18261.
• Scott, Euan A.S., Mitoudi Vagourdei, Eleni Johnsson, Mats, Cascos, Vanessa John, Filbin Pickup, Dave, Chadwick, Alan V., Djani, Hania, Bousquet, Eric, Djani, Hania, Zhang, Weiguo, Halasyamani, P. Shiv & McCabe, Emma (2022). Bi2CoO2F4 – a polar, ferrimagnetic Aurivillius oxide-fluoride. Chemistry of Materials 34(21): 9775.
• Frank, Corey E., McCabe, Emma E., Orlandi, Fabio, Manuel, Pascal, Tan, Xiaoyan, Deng, Zheng, Jin, Changqing, Croft, Mark Emge, Thomas, Yu, Shukai, Wang, Huaiyu, Gopalan, Venkatraman, Lapidus, Saul, Wu, MeiXia, Li, Man-Rong, Gross, Juliane, Burger, Paul, Mielewczyk-Gryń, Aleksandra, Klimczuk, Tomasz, Xie, Weiwei, Walker, David & Greenblatt, Martha (2022). Fe3-xInSnxO6 (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5): A family of corundum derivatives with Sn-induced polarization and above room temperature antiferromagnetic ordering. Chemistry of Materials 34(11): 5020-5029.
• Orr, Melissa, Hebberd, Glen R., McCabe, Emma E. & Macaluso, Robin T. (2022). Structural Diversity of Rare-Earth Oxychalcogenides. ACS Omega 7(10): 8209-8218.
• Tula, T, Möller, G, Quintanilla, J, Giblin, S R, Hillier, A D, McCabe, E E, Ramos, S, Barker, D S & Gibson, S (2022). Joint machine learning analysis of muon spectroscopy data from different materials. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2164( ): 012018.
• Tustain, Katherine, McCabe, Emma E., Arevalo-Lopez, Angel M., Gibbs, Aledandra S., Thompson, Stephen P., Murray, Claire A., Ritter, Clemens & Clark, Lucy (2021). Disorder-Induced Structural Complexity in the Barlowite Family of S = 1/2 Kagomé Magnets. Chemistry of Materials 33(24): 9638-9651.
• Giddings, Andrew T., Scott, Euan A. S., Stennett, Martin C., Apperley, David C., Greaves, Colin, Hyatt, Neil C. & McCabe, Emma E. (2021). Symmetry and the Role of the Anion Sublattice in Aurivillius Oxyfluoride Bi2TiO4F2. Inorganic Chemistry 60(18): 14105-14115.
• Feng, Hai, Kang, Chang-Jong, Manuel, Pascal, Orlandi, Fabio, Su, Yu, Chen, Jie, Tsujimoto, Yoshihiro, Hadermann, Joke, Kotliar, Gabriel, Yamaura, Kazunari, McCabe, Emma & Greenblatt, Martha (2021). Antiferromagnetic order breaks inversion symmetry in metallic double perovskite, Pb2NiOsO6. Chemistry of Materials 33(11): 4188-4195.
• Tula, Tymoteusz, Möller, Gunnar, Quintanilla, Jorge, Giblin, Sean, Hillier, A, McCabe, Emma, Ramos, Silvia, Barker, Dylan & Gibson, Stuart (2021). Machine learning approach to muon spectroscopy analysis. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 33(19): 194002.
• Cascos, Vanessa A., Roberts-Watts, Jennifer, Skingle, Chloe, Levin, Igor, Zhang, Weiguo, Halasyamani, P. Shiv, Stennett, Martin C., Hyatt, Neil C., Bousquet, Eric & McCabe, Emma E. (2020). Tuning between Proper and Hybrid-Improper Mechanisms for Polar Behavior in CsLn2Ti2NbO10 Dion-Jacobson Phases. Chemistry of Materials 32(19): 8700-8712.
• Chen, Kan, Di Paola, Cono, Laricchia, Savio, Reece, Michael J., Weber, Cedric, McCabe, Emma, Abrahams, Isaac & Bonini, Nicola (2020). Structural and electronic evolution in the Cu3SbS4–Cu3SnS4 solid solution. Journal of Materials Chemistry C 8(33): 11508.
• Djani, Hania, McCabe, Emma E., Zhang, W., Halasyamani, P. S., Feteira, A., Bieder, Jordan, Bousquet, Eric & Ghosez, Philippe (2020). Bi2W2O9 : A potentially antiferroelectric Aurivillius phase. Physical Review B 101(13).
• Vera Stimpson, Laura J., McNulty, Jason A., Morrison, Finlay D., Mahajan, Amit, McCabe, Emma E., Gibbs, Alexandra S., Stenning, Gavin B.G., Jura, Marek & Arnold, Donna C. (2020). A comprehensive variable temperature study of the layered oxide, Ca2Mn3O8. Journal of Alloys and Compounds 843: 155633.
• Skiadopoulou, Stella, Retuerto, Maria, Borodavka, Fedir, Kadlec, Christelle, Kadlec, Filip, Míšek, Martin, Prokleška, Jan, Deng, Zheng, Tan, Xiaoyan, Frank, Corey, Alonso, Jose A., Fernandez-Diaz, Maria Tereza, Croft, Mark, Orlandi, Fabio, Manuel, Pascal, McCabe, Emma, Legut, Dominik, Greenblatt, Martha & Kamba, Stanislav (2020). Structural, magnetic, and spin dynamical properties of the polar antiferromagnets Ni3−xCoxTeO6(x=1,2). Physical Review B 101(1).
• Coles, B. D., Hillier, A. D., Coomer, F. C., Bristowe, N. C., Ramos, S. & McCabe, E. E. (2019). Spin interactions and magnetic order in the iron oxychalcogenides BaFe(2)Q(2)O (Q = S and Se). PHYSICAL REVIEW B 100(2): 024427.
• Beqiri, Dashnor, Cascos, Vanessa, Roberts-Watts, Jennie, Clark, Ewan R., Bousquet, Eric, Bristowe, Nicholas C. & McCabe, Emma E. (2019). Tuning octahedral tilts and the polar nature of A-site deficient perovskites Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS 55(18): 2609-2612.
• Frank, Corey E., McCabe, Emma E., Orlandi, Fabio, Manuel, Pascal, Tan, Xiaoyan, Deng, Zheng, Croft, Mark, Cascos, Vanessa, Emge, Thomas, Feng, Hai L., Lapidus, Saul, Jin, Changqing, Wu, MeiXia, Li, Man Rong, Ehrlich, Steven, Khalid, Syed, Quackenbush, Nicholas, Yu, Shuang, Walker, David & Greenblatt, Martha (2019). Mn2CoReO6: a robust multisublattice antiferromagnetic perovskite with small A-site cations. Chemical Communications 55(23): 3331.
• Tan, Xiaoyan, McCabe, Emma E., Orlandi, Fabio, Manuel, Pascal, Batuk, Maria, Hadermann, Joke, Deng, Zheng, Jin, Changqing, Nowik, Israel, Herber, Rolfe, Segre, Carlo U., Liu, Sizhan, Croft, Mark, Kang, Chang-Jong, Lapidus, Saul, Frank, Corey E., Padmanabhan, Haricharan, Gopalan, Venkatraman, Wu, Meixia, Li, Man-Rong, Kotliar, Gabriel, Walker, David & Greenblatt, Martha (2019). MnFe0.5Ru0.5O3: an above-room-temperature antiferromagnetic semiconductor. Journal of Materials Chemistry C 7(3): 509.
• Oogarah, Reeya K., Suard, Emmanuelle & McCabe, Emma E. (2018). Magnetic order and phase transition in the iron oxysulfide La 2 O 2 Fe 2 OS 2. Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 446: 101.
• Li, Man-Rong, McCabe, Emma E., Stephens, Peter W., Croft, Mark, Collins, Liam, Kalinin, Sergei V., Deng, Zheng, Retuerto, Maria, Sen Gupta, Arnab, Padmanabhan, Haricharan, Gopalan, Venkatraman, Grams, Christoph P., Hemberger, Joachim, Orlandi, Fabio, Manuel, Pascal, Li, Wen-Min, Jin, Chang-Qing, Walker, David & Greenblatt, Martha (2017). Magnetostriction-polarization coupling in multiferroic Mn2MnWO6. Nature Communications 8(1): 2037.
• Oogarah, R. K., Stockdale, C. P. J., Stock, C., Evans, J. S. O., Wills, A. S., Taylor, J. W. & McCabe, E. E. (2017). Crystal field excitations and magnons: Their roles in oxyselenides Pr2O2M2OSe2 (M = Mn, Fe). Physical Review B 95(17): 174441.
• Ainsworth, Chris M., Wang, Chun-Hai, Johnston, Hannah E., McCabe, Emma E., Tucker, Matthew G., Brand, Helen E. A. & Evans, John S. O. (2015). Infinitely Adaptive Transition-Metal Ordering in Ln2O2MSe2-Type Oxychalcogenides. Inorganic Chemistry 54(15): 7230-7238.
• Wang, Chun-Hai, Ainsworth, Chris M., Gui, Dong-Yun, McCabe, Emma E., Tucker, Matthew G., Evans, Ivana R. & Evans, John S. O. (2015). Infinitely Adaptive Transition Metal Oxychalcogenides: The Modulated Structures of Ce2O2MnSe2 and (Ce0.78La0.22)2O2MnSe2. Chemistry of Materials 27(8): 3121-3134.
• McCabe, Emma E., Bousquet, Eric, Stockdale, Christopher P. J., Deacon, Charles A., Tran, T. Thao, Halasyamani, P. Shiv, Stennett, Martin C. & Hyatt, Neil C. (2015). Proper Ferroelectricity in the Dion–Jacobson Material CsBi2Ti2NbO10: Experiment and Theory. Chemistry of Materials 27(24): 8298.
• McCabe, E. E., Stock, C., Bettis Jr., J. L. Whangbo, M. H. & Evans, J. S. O. (2014). Magnetism of the Fe2+ and Ce3+ sublattices in Ce2O2FeSe2: A combined neutron powder diffraction, inelastic neutron scattering, and density functional study. Physical Review B: condensed matter and materials physics 90(23): 235115.
• McCabe, E. E., Wills, A. S., Chapon, L., Manuel, P. & Evans, J. S. O. (2014). Structural and magnetic characterization of iron oxyselenides Ce2O2Fe2OSe2 and Nd2O2Fe2OSe2. Physical Review B: condensed matter and materials physics 90(16): 165111.
• McCabe, E. E., Stock, C., Rodriguez, E. E., Wills, A. S., Taylor, J. W. & Evans, J. S. O. (2014). Weak spin interactions in Mott insulating La2O2Fe2OSe2. Physical Review B 89(10): 100402(R).
• Tuxworth, Andrew J., McCabe, Emma E., Free, David G., Clark, Stewart J. & Evans, John S. O. (2013). Structural Characterization and Physical Properties of the New Transition Metal Oxyselenide La2O2ZnSe2. Inorganic Chemistry 52(4): 2078-2085.
• Giddings, A.T., Stennett, M.C., Reid, D.P., McCabe, E.E., Greaves, C. & Hyatt, N.C. (2011). Synthesis, structure and characterisation of the n=4 Aurivillius phase Bi5Ti3CrO15. Journal of Solid State Chemistry 184(2): 252.
• McCabe, Emma E., Free, David G. & Evans, John S. O. (2011). A new iron oxyselenide Ce2O2FeSe2: synthesis and characterisation. Chemical Communications 47(4): 1261-1263.
• EE McCabe, DG Free, BG Mendis, JS Higgins & JSO Evans (2010). Preparation, Characterization, and Structural Phase Transitions in a New Family of Semiconducting Transition Metal Oxychalcogenides beta-La(2)O(2)MSe(2) (M = Mn, Fe). Chemistry of Materials 22(22): 6171-6182.
• McCabe, Emma E. & West, Anthony R. (2010). New high permittivity tetragonal tungsten bronze dielectrics Ba2LaMNb4O15: M=Mn, Fe. Journal of Solid State Chemistry 183(3): 624.
• Wu, Y., Pasero, D., McCabe, E. E., Matsushima, Y. & West, A. R. (2009). Formation of disordered and partially ordered LixCo1−xO. Journal of Materials Chemistry 19(10): 1443.
• Rawal, Ritesh, McQueen, Andrew J., Gillie, Lisa J., Hyatt, Neil C., McCabe, Emma E., Samara, Kumaravinothan, Alford, Neil McN., Feteira, Antonio, Reaney, Ian M. & Sinclair, Derek C. (2009). Influence of octahedral tilting on the microwave dielectric properties of A3LaNb3O12 hexagonal perovskites (A=Ba, Sr). Applied Physics Letters 94(19): 192904.
• Liu, Yang, McCabe, Emma E., Sinclair, Derek C. & West, Anthony R. (2009). Synthesis, structure and properties of the hexagonal perovskite, h-BaTi1−xHoxO3−x/2. Journal of Materials Chemistry 19(29): 5201.
• Wu, Y., Pasero, D., McCabe, E.E., Matsushima, Y. & West, A.R. (2009). Partial cation-order and early-stage, phase separation in phase W, Li x Co 1− x O: 0.075≤ x ≤0.24−0.31. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 465(2106): 1829.
• McCabe, E.E. & Greaves, C. (2008). Structural and magnetic characterisation of Aurivillius material Bi2Sr2Nb2.5Fe0.5O12. Journal of Solid State Chemistry 181(11): 3051.
• McCabe, Emma E. & Greaves, Colin (2007). Fluorine insertion reactions into pre-formed metal oxides. Journal of Fluorine Chemistry 128(4): 448.
• McCabe, E. E., Jones, I. P., Zhang, D., Hyatt, N. C. & Greaves, C. (2007). Crystal structure and electrical characterisation of Bi2NbO5F: an Aurivillius oxide fluoride. Journal of Materials Chemistry 17(12): 1193.
• McCabe, E. E. & Greaves, C. (2006). Synthesis and Structural and Magnetic Characterization of Mixed Manganese−Coppern= 1 Ruddlesden−Popper Phases. Chemistry of Materials 18(24): 5774.
• McCabe, E. E. & Greaves, C. (2005). Structural and magnetic characterisation of Bi2Sr1.4La0.6Nb2MnO12and its relationship to “Bi2Sr2Nb2MnO12”. J. Mater. Chem 15(1): 177.
• Cheung, Eugene Y., McCabe, Emma E., Harris, Kenneth D. M., Johnston, Roy L., Tedesco, Emilio, Raja, K. Muruga Poopathi & Balaram, Padmanabhan (2002). C−H⋅⋅⋅O Hydrogen Bond Mediated Chain Reversal in a Peptide Containing aγ-Amino Acid Residue, Determined Directly from Powder X-ray Diffraction Data. Angewandte Chemie 114(3): 512.