The work in the department crystallography is devoted to the basic understanding of structure-property relations of materials for energy conversion. For structural investigations phase sensitive complementary diffraction methods using neutrons, synchrotron X-rays and conventional X-rays will be applied allowing a non-destructive analysis of the atomic structure from the sample surface up to deep within the sample volume in a unique way. The range of materials studied will cover synthetic as well as natural compounds (geomaterials).