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Sung-Geun Lee

Seoul National University · Materials Science

About the Lab

Professor Sung-Geun Lee's research lab specializes in the atomic-scale structure and disorder in amorphous and disordered oxides, with a focus on silicate and aluminosilicate materials under extreme conditions. The lab employs advanced solid-state NMR techniques—particularly 27Al and 17O triple-quantum MAS NMR—to probe short-range order, coordination environments, and structural disorder in glasses, thin films, and melts relevant to geosciences and materials chemistry. Key research directions include the structural evolution of silicate melts and glasses under high pressure and temperature, the nature of amorphous alumina as a model system, and the role of cationic effects in diffusion and melt behavior. The lab bridges fundamental materials science with geodynamic processes, particularly those relevant to Earth's interior and early planetary differentiation.

amorphous oxidessolid-state NMRsilicate meltsstructural disorderhigh-pressure glass

Research Overview

Papers
207
Total Citations
5,680
Papers (5y)
41
Primary Field
Materials Science

Research Output Trend

Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.

Publications per year (5y)
41total
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
Citations per year (5y)
264total
20212022202320242025

Selected Papers

15
1
Article|311 citations·1999
The degree of aluminum avoidance in aluminosilicate glasses
Sung Keun Lee, Jonathan F. Stebbins
SJR Q1American MineralogistOA

Synthetic epidotes were produced using a Tuttle type hydrothermal vessel in the temperature range from 500 to 700 ℃ and at 4.5 to 5.0 kbars pressure. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction structure refinements yielded intracrystalline cation distributions for two crystals grown at 600 ℃ (0.68 and 0.73 Fe apfu) and five crystals grown at 700 ℃ (0.88 to 1.08 Fe apfu). The resulting Fe occupancies were compared with those calculated according to a thermodynamic model: The samples formed at 700 ℃ display

Ceramics and CompositesMaterials Science
2
Article|200 citations·2000
Al–O–Al and Si–O–Si sites in framework aluminosilicate glasses with Si/Al=1: quantification of framework disorder
Sung Keun Lee, Jonathan F. Stebbins
SJR Q2Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids
Ceramics and CompositesMaterials Science
3
Article|197 citations·2000
The Structure of Aluminosilicate Glasses: High-Resolution 17O and 27Al MAS and 3QMAS NMR Study
Sung Keun Lee, Jonathan F. Stebbins
SJR Q1The Journal of Physical Chemistry B

We investigate short-range order and local atomic configuration in charge-balanced aluminosilicate glasses as functions of composition, using 17 O and 27 Al MAS and triple-quantum magic angle spinning (3QMAS) NMR spectroscopy. Enhanced resolution in 17 O and 27 Al 3QMAS spectra, compared to MAS NMR, allows the quantification of the spectra and the extent of disorder using a semiempirical function relating 3QMAS efficiency to a quadrupolar coupling constant ( C q ). The variations with the Si/Al

Ceramics and CompositesMaterials Science
4
Article|188 citations·2005
Probing of bonding changes in B2O3 glasses at high pressure with inelastic X-ray scattering
Sung Keun Lee, Peter J. Eng, Ho‐kwang Mao, Yue Meng, M. Newville, Michael Y. Hu, Jinfu Shu
SJR Q1Nature Materials
Ceramics and CompositesMaterials Science
5
Article|181 citations·2009
Structure of Amorphous Aluminum Oxide
Sung Keun Lee, Sung Bo Lee, Sun Young Park, Yoo Soo Yi, Chi Won Ahn
SJR Q1Physical Review Letters

Whereas prototypical Al(2)O(3) is not a glass former, amorphous Al(2)O(3) can be formed as thin films through vapor deposition and can serve as a structural model for the Al(2)O(3) glass. The first two-dimensional solid-state NMR experiments for amorphous Al(2)O(3) thin film reveal that four- and five-coordinated species are predominant (95%), while six-coordinated species are minor. Such a species distribution is remarkably similar to what has been predicted theoretically for Al(2)O(3) melts. U

SpectroscopyChemistry
6
Article|157 citations·2003
The distribution of sodium ions in aluminosilicate glasses: a high-field Na-23 MAS and 3Q MAS NMR study
Sung Keun Lee, Jonathan F. Stebbins
SJR Q1Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Ceramics and CompositesMaterials Science
7
Article|151 citations·2003
Nature of Cation Mixing and Ordering in Na-Ca Silicate Glasses and Melts
Sung Keun Lee, Jonathan F. Stebbins
SJR Q1The Journal of Physical Chemistry B

Soda-lime silicate glass is the fundamental base glass for many technologically important oxide glasses, and it has been used as window glass since the Roman Empire. Mixed-cation silicates also are useful models of the structure and dynamics of basaltic magmas and mantle melts. The diffusivity of Na + in silicate melts and its variation with composition play key roles in melting behavior. This property also depends strongly on the composition and framework structures of glasses and melts and on

Ceramics and CompositesMaterials Science
8
Article|147 citations·2004
Nature of polymerization and properties of silicate melts and glasses at high pressure
Sung Keun Lee, George D. Cody, Yingwei Fei, Bjørn O. Mysen
SJR Q1Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Ceramics and CompositesMaterials Science
9
Article|130 citations·2008
X-ray Raman scattering study of MgSiO 3 glass at high pressure: Implication for triclustered MgSiO 3 melt in Earth's mantle
Sung Keun Lee, Jung‐Fu Lin, Yong Q. Cai, Nozomu Hiraoka, Peter J. Eng, Takuo Okuchi, Ho‐kwang Mao, Yue Meng, Michael Y. Hu, Paul Chow, Jinfu Shu, Baosheng Li
SJR Q1Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesOA

Silicate melts at the top of the transition zone and the core-mantle boundary have significant influences on the dynamics and properties of Earth's interior. MgSiO3-rich silicate melts were among the primary components of the magma ocean and thus played essential roles in the chemical differentiation of the early Earth. Diverse macroscopic properties of silicate melts in Earth's interior, such as density, viscosity, and crystal-melt partitioning, depend on their electronic and short-range local

GeophysicsEarth and Planetary Sciences
10
Article|120 citations·2006
Disorder and the extent of polymerization in calcium silicate and aluminosilicate glasses: O-17 NMR results and quantum chemical molecular orbital calculations
Sung Keun Lee, Jonathan F. Stebbins
SJR Q1Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Ceramics and CompositesMaterials Science
11
Article|119 citations·2010
Structure and Disorder in Amorphous Alumina Thin Films: Insights from High-Resolution Solid-State NMR
Sung Keun Lee, Sun Young Park, Yoo Soo Yi, Jaehyun Moon
SJR Q1The Journal of Physical Chemistry C

Revealing the extent of disorder in amorphous oxides is one of the remaining puzzles in physical chemistry, glass sciences, and geochemistry. Here, we report the 27 Al NMR results for amorphous Al 2 O 3 thin films obtained from two different deposition methods (i.e., physical vapor-deposition and atomic layer-deposition), revealing two distinct amorphous states defined by a fraction of five-coordinated Al ( [5] Al). The fractions of [4] Al and [5] Al are dominant (∼92−95%) in both films. While t

SpectroscopyChemistry
12
Article|112 citations·2004
Structure of Silicate Glasses and Melts at High Pressure: Quantum Chemical Calculations and Solid-State NMR
Sung Keun Lee
SJR Q1The Journal of Physical Chemistry B

Despite their strong implications for magmatic processes in the earth's interior and pressure-induced structural changes in other amorphous, covalent oxide materials, little is known, beyond the coordination numbers of the framework cations, about the structures of silicate melts and glasses at high pressure. Here, we use multinuclear (27Al and 17O) solid-state NMR and quantum chemical calculations to study the structures of silicate glasses quenched from melts at pressures up to 10 GPa in a mul

SpectroscopyChemistry
13
Article|96 citations·2005
Structure ofB2O3Glass at High Pressure: AB11Solid-State NMR Study
Sung Keun Lee, Kenji Mibe, Yingwei Fei, George D. Cody, Bjørn O. Mysen
SJR Q1Physical Review Letters

We report spectroscopic evidence for the pressure-induced structural changes in B2O3 glass quenched from melts at pressures up to 6 GPa using solid-state NMR. While all borons are tri-coordinated at 1 atm, the fraction of tetra-coordinated boron increases with pressure, being about 5% and 27% in the B2O3 glass quenched from melts at 2 and 6 GPa, respectively. The fraction of boroxol ring species increases with pressure up to 2 GPa and apparently decreases with further compression up to 6 GPa. Tw

SpectroscopyChemistry
14
Article|89 citations·2010
Effect of pressure on structure of oxide glasses at high pressure: Insights from solid-state NMR of quadrupolar nuclides
Sung Keun Lee
SJR Q1Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
SpectroscopyChemistry
15
Article|88 citations·2015
Extent of Disorder in Magnesium Aluminosilicate Glasses: Insights from 27Al and 17O NMR
Sung Keun Lee, Hyo‐Im Kim, Eun Jeong Kim, Kwan Young Mun, Saebom Ryu
SJR Q1The Journal of Physical Chemistry C

The quantification of the intrinsic disorder in archetypal noncrystalline magnesium aluminosilicates remains unsolved. This lack of knowledge is because of the increased structural perturbation caused by Mg 2+, a high field strength cation, resulting in substantial broadening in both spectral and scattering responses. Most progress regarding amorphous aluminosilicate has thus been made with relatively low field strength cations (e.g., Na + and Ca 2+ ). Here, we quantified the nature of structura

Ceramics and CompositesMaterials Science

Research Areas

Ceramics and CompositesGeophysicsSpectroscopyElectrical and Electronic EngineeringMechanical EngineeringSurgery

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