Photo of Martin Magnuson

Martin Magnuson

Senior Associate Professor

Materials Science Research using X-ray Spectroscopy with Synchrotron Radiation and Computations

Electronic Structure and Chemical Bonding in Materials

Presentation

This research area focuses on detailed studies of the electronic structure and chemical bonding in materials, and how these determine their physical and functional properties. By combining suitable elements into different compounds and alloys, properties such as hardness, elasticity, conductivity, band gap, and superconductivity can be tailored.

The work represents application-oriented basic research conducted at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM). It includes synthesis processes, material selection, and temperature-dependent phenomena such as spinodal decomposition and superconductivity, which are also of industrial relevance. Experimental investigations using advanced X-ray spectroscopic techniques with synchrotron radiation are combined with corresponding computational methods.

Research Focus

The research explores how electronic structure and chemical bonding govern the functional properties of advanced materials – ranging from two-dimensional (2D) MAX and MXene systems to amorphous nanocomposites, nitrides,and minerals.

Using synchrotron-based X-ray spectroscopy together with quantum-mechanical calculations, the relationships between orbital hybridization, charge transfer, and local bonding environments are analysed, as well as their influence on electrical, magnetic, and mechanical properties.

Methods and Applications

The research combines materials synthesis with experimental characterisation using synchrotron-based X-ray absorption (XAS), X-ray emission (XES), resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS), and photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). These are complemented by first-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT), as well as multiplet and charge-transfer models.

The aim is to achieve a deeper understanding of the relationship between structure and function, and to contribute to the development of sustainable, high-performance materials for energy, electronics, and mining technologyapplications.

Current Research Topics

  • Electronic structure in MAX- and MXene-based 2D materials
  • Metallenes – atomically thin metallic layers such as goldene
  • Amorphous carbide, hydride, boride, and nitride films and their local bonding environments
  • Complex nitride and oxide systems with directional electronic anisotropy
  • Gold-bearing minerals and environmentally friendly separation strategies
  • Current material studies include MAX phases, MXenes, amorphous carbides, and nitrides.

Learn More

More information about this research can be found on the personal research webpage.

Highlights

Cover of publication ''
Yuchen Shi, Shun Kashiwaya, Jun Lu, Martin Dahlqvist, Davide Giuseppe Sangiovanni, Vladyslav Rogoz, Martin Magnuson, Grzegorz Greczynski, Mike Andersson, Johanna Rosén, Lars Hultman (2025)

Science Advances , Vol.11 Continue to DOI

Cover of publication ''
Martin Magnuson, Per Eklund, Craig Polley (2025)

Physical Review Letters , Vol.134 Continue to DOI

Cover of publication ''
Lars-Åke Näslund, Esko Kokkonen, Martin Magnuson (2025)

Applied Surface Science , Vol.684 Continue to DOI

Cover of publication ''
Shun Kashiwaya, Yuchen Shi, Jun Lu, Davide Giuseppe Sangiovanni, Grzegorz Greczynski, Martin Magnuson, Mike Andersson, Johanna Rosén, Lars Hultman (2024)

Nature Synthesis , Vol.3 , s.744-751 Continue to DOI

Cover of publication ''
Lars-Åke Näslund, Mikko-Heikki Mikkelä, Esko Kokkonen, Martin Magnuson (2021)

2D Materials , Vol.8 Continue to DOI

Earlier projects

CV

Short CV 

Present employment
University Lecturer (Associate Prof.) at the Thin Film Physics Group, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University from 2008-03-01.

Docent competence
Docent in Physics with Specialization in Atomic, Molecular and Condensed Matter Physics , Uppsala University, 2005-09-16.

Post Doc position
Two year Post Doc/Guest Scientist at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI), Laboratoire de Chimie Physique - Matiere et Rayonnement, CNRS, Paris, France, from 1999-09-01 to 2001-08-31. Funded by a grant from STINT.

Doctorate Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Physics
, Ph.D. (Tekn. Dr.), Uppsala University, 1999-05-14. Thesis title: Electronic Structure Studies Using Resonant X-ray and Photoemission Spectroscopy. Supervisor: Joseph Nordgren

Master degree
Master of Business Administration (MBA) in International Business at the School of Economics and Commercial Law, 1 year education, 40p, Gothenburg University and Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, 2002-2003.

Master degree

Master of Science in Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering
, (M.Sc.), 4.5 year education, 180p Linköping University, 1987-1992.

Referee and supervision 

Referee of papers submitted to high-level scientific journals
Referee of numerous papers in Phys. Rev. (PRL and PRB), Europhys. Lett, The Eur. Phys. J, Eur. J. Inorg. Chem., Thin Solid Films and many other scientific journals. 

Supervision of PhD-students
• At Uppsala University: Financed and co-supervised PhD student Egil Andersson who started in 2005 with my VR grant (PhD 2010-05-29).
• Informal supervisor for undergraduate students and PhD students, at Linköping Univ., Uppsala Univ. as well as Guest Researchers, and Post Docs. 

Teaching experience

Lecturer, course leader, developer and organizer of the Synchrotron Radiation and
Nanoscience courses at Linköping University and Uppsala University.
Synchrotron Radiation at Linköping University 2010 (7.5 hp).
Synchrotron Radiation at Linköping University 2008 (7.5 hp).
•Synchrotron Radiation at Uppsala University 2007 (10 hp) and 2005 (7.5 hp).
•Nanoscience, Ångström at Uppsala University 2006 (7.5 hp) and 2004 (7.5 hp).
•Surface and Interface Physics at Uppsala University 2002 (7.5 hp).

Commission of trust and examination committees

• Member of the Board of the Materials and Nanoscience section; Swedish Physical Society (2011-).
• Member of the National Reference Group of MAX IV (2009/10/11).
• Organizer of Länsstudiedagen for gymnasielärare at LiU (2011-).
• Session Chair of New Materials in the American Ceramic Society (2011).
• PhD board of Ola Wessely; Theory of X-ray Abs. Spectra and Spin Tr. Torque (2006-04-28).

News about my research

First Users at Balder Beamline Seek to Illuminate MXenes

First users are investigating MXenes, a class of nano-crystalline 2D-layered transition metal carbides, carbonitrides and nitrides. Researchers aim to learn more about their characteristics and how to exploit their properties for new technologies.


First Users at Balder Beamline Seek to Illuminate MXenes

Local Bonding Environment in 2D Transition Metal Carbides Investigated by Balder Users

Chemical bonding in 2-dimensional (2D) MXene material Ti3C2Tx and its precursor Ti3AlC2 was studied at beamline Balder. A team from LiU performed the first experiment at Balder in 2019, and the results are now published in Physical Review Research.


Local Bonding Environment in 2D Transition Metal Carbides Investigated by Balder Users
Spirit logo

Spirit Dialogmöte 2023

Linköpings universitet, IMA och SPIRIT bjuder in till ett möte för dialog mellan akademi, industri och organisationer i regionen för att ha en dialog om hur samhällsnyttan av ESS och MAX IV kan maximeras.

Publications

2025

Susmita Chowdhury, Hector Guerra Yanez, Sanath Kumar Honnali, Grzegorz Greczynski, Per O A Persson, Arnaud Le Febvrier, Martin Magnuson, Per Eklund (2025) Structural and electronic properties of Sc1-xWxNy thin films on MgO(001) Applied Materials Today, Vol. 44, Article 102730 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Yuchen Shi, Shun Kashiwaya, Jun Lu, Martin Dahlqvist, Davide Giuseppe Sangiovanni, Vladyslav Rogoz, Martin Magnuson, Grzegorz Greczynski, Mike Andersson, Johanna Rosén, Lars Hultman (2025) Synthesis of Ti4Au3C3 and its derivative trilayer goldene through chemical exfoliation Science Advances, Vol. 11 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Martin Magnuson, Per Eklund, Craig Polley (2025) Fermiology and Band Structure of Oxygen-Terminated Ti3⁢C2⁢Tx MXene Physical Review Letters, Vol. 134, Article 106201 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Lars-Åke Näslund, Esko Kokkonen, Martin Magnuson (2025) Interaction and kinetics of H2, CO2, and H2O on Ti3C2Tx MXene probed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy Applied Surface Science, Vol. 684, Article 161926 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2024

Gabriel Kofi Nzulu, Lina Rogström, Jun Lu, Hans Högberg, Per Eklund, Lars Hultman, Martin Magnuson (2024) Physico-thermal and geochemical behavior and alteration of the Au indicator gangue hydrothermal quartz at the Kubi Gold ore deposits Journal of African Earth Sciences, Vol. 220, Article 105439 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Susmita Chowdhury, Niraj Kumar Singh, Sanath Kumar Honnali, Grzegorz Greczynski, Per Eklund, Arnaud le Febvrier, Martin Magnuson (2024) Electronic structure and thermoelectric properties of epitaxial Sc1−xVxNy thin films grown on MgO(001) Physical Review B, Vol. 110, Article 115139 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Shun Kashiwaya, Yuchen Shi, Jun Lu, Davide Giuseppe Sangiovanni, Grzegorz Greczynski, Martin Magnuson, Mike Andersson, Johanna Rosén, Lars Hultman (2024) Synthesis of goldene comprising single-atom layer gold Nature Synthesis, Vol. 3, p. 744-751 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Gabriel Kofi Nzulu, Hans Högberg, Per Eklund, Lars Hultman, Prosper M. Nude, Abu Yaya, Martin Magnuson (2024) Correction: Chemical Reactivity and Alteration of Pyrite Mineral in the Kubi Gold Concession in Ghana (27 Feb, 10.1007/s42461-024-00932-4, 2024) MINING METALLURGY & EXPLORATION, Vol. 41, p. 1533-1533 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Gabriel Kofi Nzulu, Hans Högberg, Per Eklund, Lars Hultman, Prosper M. Nude, Abu Yaya, Martin Magnuson (2024) Chemical Reactivity and Alteration of Pyrite Mineral in the Kubi Gold Concession in Ghana Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, Vol. 41, p. 1013-1023 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Fuxiang Ji, Johan Klarbring, Bin Zhang, Feng Wang, Linqin Wang, Xiaohe Miao, Weihua Ning, Muyi Zhang, Xinyi Cai, Babak Bakhit, Martin Magnuson, Xiaoming Ren, Licheng Sun, Mats Fahlman, Irina A Buyanova, Weimin Chen, Sergei I Simak, Igor A. Abrikosov, Feng Gao (2024) Remarkable Thermochromism in the Double Perovskite Cs2NaFeCl6 Advanced Optical Materials, Vol. 12, Article 2301102 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Rui Shu, Xiaofu Zhang, Ferenc Tasnadi, Weine Olovsson, Smita Gangaprasad Rao, Grzegorz Greczynski, Arnaud Le Febvrier, Martin Magnuson, Per Eklund (2024) Stoichiometry Effects on the Chemical Ordering and Superconducting Properties in TiZrTaNbNx Refractory High Entropy Nitrides Annalen der Physik, Vol. 534, Article 2300470 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Elena Naumovska, Gabriel Kofi Nzulu, Laura Mazzei, Arnaud Le Febvrier, Kristina Komander, Martin Magnuson, Max Wolff, Per Eklund, Maths Karlsson (2024) Local structure of hydrated nanocrystalline films of the proton conductor BaZr1-Sc O3-/2 studied by infrared spectroscopy Vibrational Spectroscopy, Vol. 130, Article 103622 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2023

Susmita Chowdhury, Victor Hjort, Rui Shu, Grzegorz Greczynski, Arnaud Le Febvrier, Per Eklund, Martin Magnuson (2023) Thermoelectric properties and electronic structure of Cr(Mo,V)Nx thin films studied by synchrotron and lab-based x-ray spectroscopy Physical Review B, Vol. 108, Article 205134 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Lars-Åke Näslund, Martin Magnuson (2023) The Origin of Ti 1s XANES Main Edge Shifts and EXAFS Oscillations in the Energy Storage Materials Ti2CTx and Ti3C2T x MXenes 2D Materials, Vol. 10, Article 035024 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Lina Rogström, Maiara Moreno, J. M. Andersson, M. P. Johansson-Jöesaar, Magnus Odén, K. Klementiev, Lars-Åke Näslund, Martin Magnuson (2023) Structural changes in Ti1-xAlxN coatings during turning: A XANES and EXAFS study of worn tools Applied Surface Science, Vol. 612, Article 155907 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Gabriel Kofi Nzulu, Hans Högberg, Per Eklund, Lars Hultman, Prosper M. Nude, Abu Yaya, Martin Magnuson (2023) Pathfinder elements and indicator minerals of Au from the Kubi Gold ore deposits in Ghana Environmental Earth Sciences, Vol. 82, Article 386 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Gabriel Kofi Nzulu, Elena Naumovska, Maths Karlsson, Per Eklund, Martin Magnuson, Arnaud le Febvrier (2023) Growth and thermal stability of Sc-doped BaZrO3 thin films deposited on single crystal substrates Thin Solid Films, Vol. 772, Article 139803 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Andrej Furlan, Jun Lu, Lars Hultman, Ulf Jansson, Martin Magnuson (2023) Correction: Crystallization characteristics and chemical bonding properties of nickel carbide thin film nanocomposites (vol 26, 415501,2014) Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 35, Article 139501 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2022

Weine Olovsson, Martin Magnuson (2022) Rhombohedral and Turbostratic Boron Nitride Polytypes Investigated by X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 126, p. 21101-21108 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Martin Magnuson, Lars Hultman, Hans Högberg (2022) Review of Transition-Metal Diboride Thin Films Vacuum, Vol. 196, Article 110567 (Article, review/survey) Continue to DOI

2021

Rui Shu, Daniel Lundin, Binbin Xin, Mauricio A. Sortica, Daniel Primetzhofer, Martin Magnuson, Arnaud Le Febvrier, Per Eklund (2021) Influence of Metal Substitution and Ion Energy on Microstructure Evolution of High-Entropy Nitride (TiZrTaMe)N1-x (Me = Hf, Nb, Mo, or Cr) Films ACS Applied Electronic Materials, Vol. 3, p. 2748-2756 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Lars-Åke Näslund, Mikko-Heikki Mikkelä, Esko Kokkonen, Martin Magnuson (2021) Chemical Bonding of Termination Species in 2D Carbides Investigated through Valence Band UPS/XPS of Ti3C2Tx MXene 2D Materials, Vol. 8, Article 045026 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2020

Martin Magnuson, Lars-Åke Näslund (2020) Local chemical bonding and structural properties in Ti3AlC2 MAX phase and Ti3C2Tx MXene probed by Ti 1s x-ray absorption spectroscopy Physical Review Research, Vol. 2, p. 033516-1-033516-10, Article 033516 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Martin Magnuson, Weine Olovsson, Naureen Ghafoor, Magnus Odén, Lars Hultman (2020) Interface bonding of Zr1−xAlxN nanocomposites investigated by x-ray spectroscopies and first principles calculations Physical Review Research, Vol. 2 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Martin Magnuson, Maurizio Mattesini (2020) Magnetic anisotropy in Cr2GeC investigated by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism and ab initio calculations Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, Vol. 501, Article 166470 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2019

Martin Magnuson, Lina Tengdelius, Fredrik Eriksson, Mattias Samuelsson, Esteban Broitman, Grzegorz Greczynski, Lars Hultman, Hans Högberg (2019) Reactive magnetron sputtering of tungsten target in krypton/trimethylboron atmosphere Thin Solid Films, Vol. 688, Article 137384 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Weine Olovsson, Teruyasu Mizoguchi, Martin Magnuson, Stefan Kontur, Olle Hellman, Isao Tanaka, Claudia Draxl (2019) Vibrational Effects in X-ray Absorption Spectra of Two-Dimensional Layered Materials The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 123, p. 9688-9692 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Martin Magnuson, Lina Tengdelius, Grzegorz Greczynski, Fredrik Eriksson, Jens Jensen, Jun Lu, Mattias Samuelsson, Per Eklund, Lars Hultman, Hans Högberg (2019) Compositional dependence of epitaxial Tin+1SiCn MAX-phase thin films grown from a Ti3SiC2 compound target Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology. A. Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Vol. 37, Article 021506 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Martin Magnuson, Grzegorz Greczynski, Fredrik Eriksson, Lars Hultman, Hans Högberg (2019) Electronic Structure of ß-Ta Films from X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and First-principles Calculations Applied Surface Science, Vol. 470, p. 607-612 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2018

Martin Magnuson, Thorsten Schmitt, Laurent Duda (2018) Polarization-dependent resonant inelastic X-ray scattering study atthe Cu L and O K-edges of YBa2Cu3O7-x Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena, Vol. 224, p. 38-44 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Martin Magnuson, Joseph Halim, Lars-Åke Näslund (2018) Chemical bonding in carbide MXene nanosheets Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena, Vol. 224, p. 27-32 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Martin Magnuson, Lina Tengdelius, Grzegorz Greczynski, Lars Hultman, Hans Högberg (2018) ­Chemical Bonding in Epitaxial ZrB2 Studied by X-ray Spectroscopy Thin Solid Films, Vol. 649, p. 89-96 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2017

Martin Magnuson, Fredrik Eriksson, Lars Hultman, Hans Högberg (2017) Bonding Structures of ZrHx Thin Films by X-ray Spectroscopy The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 121, p. 25750-25758 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Martin Magnuson, Susann Schmidt, Lars Hultman, Hans Högberg (2017) Electronic properties and bonding in ZrHx thin films investigated by valence-bandx-ray photoelectron spectroscopy Physical Review B Condensed Matter, Vol. 96, Article 195103 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Martin Magnuson, Maurizio Mattesini (2017) Chemical bonding and electronic-structure in MAX phases as viewed by X-ray spectroscopy and density functional theory Thin Solid Films, Vol. 621, p. 108-130 (Article, review/survey) Continue to DOI
Martin Magnuson (2017) Induced magnetism at the interfaces of a Fe/V superlattice investigated by resonant magnetic x-ray scattering Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, Vol. 422, p. 362-366 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2016

Weine Olovsson, Björn Alling, Martin Magnuson (2016) Structure and Bonding in Amorphous Cr1−xCx Nanocomposite Thin Films: X‐ray Absorption Spectra and First-Principles Calculations The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 120, p. 12890-12899 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2015

Martin Magnuson, Maurizio Mattesini, Mattieu Bugnet, Per Eklund (2015) The origin of anisotropy and high density of states in the electronic structure of Cr2GeC by means of polarized soft X-ray spectroscopy and ab initio calculations Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 27, p. 415501-415509 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Andrej Furlan, Ulf Jansson, Jun Lu, Lars Hultman, Martin Magnuson (2015) Structure and bonding in amorphous iron carbide thin films Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 27, p. 045002- (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2014

Joseph Halim, Kevin M. Cook, Lars-Åke Näslund, Martin Magnuson, Lars Hultman, Yury Gogotsi, Per Eklund, Johanna Rosén, Michel W. Barsoum (2014) X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy Characterization of Two-Dimensional Titanium Metal Carbides (MXenes)
Andrew Ritchie, Shaylin Eger, Chelsey Wright, Saniel Chelladurai, Cuyler Borrowman, Weine Olovsson, Martin Magnuson, Jai Verma, Debdeep Jena, Huili Grace Xing, Christian Duboc, Stephen Urquhart (2014) Strain sensitivity in the nitrogen 1s NEXAFS spectra of gallium nitride Applied Surface Science, Vol. 316, p. 232-236 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Martin Magnuson, Thorsten Schmitt, Vladimir Strocov, Justina Schlappa, Alex Kalabukhov, Laurent Duda (2014) Self-doping processes between planes and chains in the metal-to-superconductor transition of YBa2Cu3O6.9 Scientific Reports, Vol. 4 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Andrej Furlan, Jun Lu, Lars Hultman, Ulf Jansson, Martin Magnuson (2014) Crystallization characteristics and chemical bonding properties of nickel carbide thin film nanocomposites Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 26, p. 415501-415512 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2012

Maurizio Mattesini, Martin Magnuson (2012) Electronic correlation effects in the Cr2GeC Mn+1AXn phase Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 25, p. 035601- (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Martin Magnuson, Maurizio Mattesini, Ngo Van Nong, Per Eklund, Lars Hultman (2012) Electronic-structure origin of the anisotropic thermopower of nanolaminated Ti3SiC2 determinedby polarized x-ray spectroscopy and Seebeck measurements Physical Review B Condensed Matter, Vol. 85, p. 195134- (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Martin Magnuson, Matilda Andersson, Jun Lu, Lars Hultman, Ulf Jansson (2012) Electronic Structure and Chemical Bonding of AmorphousChromium Carbide Thin Films Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 24, p. 225004- (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2011

Arturo Mendoza-Galvan, M Rybka, Kenneth Järrendahl, Hans Arwin, Martin Magnuson, Lars Hultman, Michel Barsoum (2011) Spectroscopic ellipsometry study on the dielectric function of bulk Ti2AlN,Ti2AlC, Nb2AlC, (Ti0.5,Nb0.5)2AlC, and Ti3GeC2 MAX-phases Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 109, p. 013530- (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Maria Hahlin, M Odelius, Martin Magnuson, Erik Johansson, S Plogmaker, D Hagberg, L Sun, H Siegbahn, H Rensmo (2011) Mapping the frontier electronic structures of triphenylamine basedorganic dyes at TiO2 interfaces Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP, Vol. 13, p. 3534-3546 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2010

Martin Magnuson, Maurizio Mattesini, Carina Höglund, Jens Birch, Lars Hultman (2010) Electronic structure of GaN and Ga investigated by soft x-ray spectroscopy and first-principles methods Physical Review B. Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 81, p. 085125- (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2009

Arturo Mendoza-Galvan, Marcin Rybka, Kenneth Järrendahl, Hans Arwin, Martin Magnuson, Lars Hultman, Michel Barsoum (2009) Spectroscopic Ellipsometry of Bulk MAX-phases Proceedings of the AVS 56th International Symposium & Exhibition, 2009 (Conference paper)