Contact details and affiliations
Institute of Physical Chemistry, TU Bergakademie Freiberg (Research Associate)
Address: Lessingstraße 45, 09599 Freiberg, Germany
Email address: konrad-joerg [dot] burkmann [at] chemie [dot] tu-freiberg [dot] de (konrad-joerg[dot]burkmann[at]chemie[dot]tu-freiberg[dot]de)
Telephone: +49 3731 39-2398
Navrotsky Eyring Centre for Materials of the Universe, School of Molecular Science, Arizona State University (Associate Lecturer)
Address: 551 E University Drive, Tempe, AZ 85281, United States
Email address: konrad [dot] burkmann [at] asu [dot] edu (konrad[dot]burkmann[at]asu[dot]edu)
Personal website: here
Research group website: here
Key areas of research
This group’s work focuses primarily on the thermodynamics of rare-earth compounds, which are of significance to the geosciences, materials sciences and engineering, but also on other compounds. The most important measured parameters include the heat capacity, the enthalpy of formation and the absolute entropy of the compounds. Other parameters of interest are thermal expansion, equilibrium constants, electromotive force and phase transition increments. The development of thermoanalytical instruments also plays a role in this context. Further information can be found here.
List of publications
You can find an overview of my publications on the following three websites:
A detailed list can be found here.
Topics for student assistants and final-year dissertations
We always have exciting topics available for student assistants and for final-year projects (Bachelor’s, Master’s, Diploma). You can find a selection here:
- Synthesis and characterisation of reactive mixtures based on alkaline earth and rare-earth borohydrides
- Synthesis and characterisation of rare-earth oxyphosphates
Further topics are available on request at any time.
Curriculum Vitae
- October 2015–September 2020: Studied Chemistry at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg
- Received a degree in Chemistry (Dipl.-Chem.)
- 10/2020–12/2024: PhD student at the Institute of Physical Chemistry under Prof. Dr Florian Mertens at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg
- Awarded a Dr. rer. nat. (summa cum laude) for a thesis entitled ‘Systematic investigations into the thermodynamics and stability of selected metal borohydrides from the 1st to the 5th groups of the periodic table of elements”
- 01/2025–03/2025: Postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Physical Chemistry under Prof. Dr Florian Mertens at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg
- 04/2025–06/2026: Postdoctoral researcher at the Navrotsky Eyring Centre for Materials of the Universe under Prof. Dr Alexandra Navrotsky at Arizona State University, USA
- from 07/2025: Adjunct Faculty at the Navrotsky Eyring Centre for Materials of the Universe under Prof. Dr Alexandra Navrotsky at Arizona State University, USA
- from 08/2026: Postdoctoral researcher with a view to habilitation at the Institute of Physical Chemistry under Prof. Dr Florian Mertens at TU Bergakademie Freiberg
Awards
- 06/2017–01/2018: Deutschland-Scholarship for academic excellence and outstanding social commitment during my studies
- 02/2018–09/2020: Scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation
- 10/2020–09/2023: State postgraduate scholarship from the Free State of Saxony to support postgraduate studies during my PhD studies at the Institute of Physical Chemistry at TU Bergakademie Freiberg
- 10/2021: Awarded the Ferdinand Reich Prize by the Faculty of Chemistry, Physics and Biosciences at TU Bergakademie Freiberg in recognition of outstanding academic achievement
- 09/2025: Navrotsky Award for Experimental Thermodynamics of Solids in recognition of the paper “Structural and thermodynamic investigations of Zr(BH4)4 and Hf(BH4)4 between 280 K and their decomposition temperatures"
