Related papers: Structure-selective operando x-ray spectroscopy
Phosphorus is one of the most promising anodes for sodium ion batteries (SIBs). Little is known about the structural mechanism of Na/P cycling due to the fact that only one of the structures involved (Na3P) is crystalline. Using operando…
Electroactive polymer thin films undergo repeated reversible structural change during operation in electrochemical applications. While synchrotron X-ray scattering is powerful for the characterization of stand-alone and ex-situ organic thin…
Understanding the role of metal and oxygen in the redox process of layered 3d transition metal oxides is crucial to build high density and stable next generation Li-ion batteries. We combine hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and…
Sodium layered oxides often undergo phase transformations involving ordering or disordering of Na+ upon desodiation, i.e., when cycled as a battery electrode. Accurately characterizing these phases is crucial for understanding functional…
Non-equilibrium defects often dictate macroscopic functional properties of materials. In intercalation hosts, widely used in rechargeable batteries, high-dimensional defects largely define reversibility and kinetics1,2,3,4. However,…
Furthering the understanding of the catalytic mechanisms in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is critical to advancing and enabling fuel cell technology. In this work, we use multimodal operando synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) and…
Single-crystal neutron diffraction has been used to determine the incommensurate magnetic structure of NaCu2O2, a compound built up of chains of edge-sharing CuO4 plaquettes. Magnetic structures compatible with the lattice symmetry were…
Li$_xTM$O$_2$ (TM={Ni, Co, Mn}) are promising cathodes for Li-ion batteries, whose electrochemical cycling performance is strongly governed by crystal structure and phase stability as a function of Li content at the atomistic scale. Here,…
This study reports on advancements in operando characterization of volume changes in lithium-ion battery (LIB) electrode materials during electrochemical cycling. Volume changes are crucial for LIB operation because they are related to the…
Motivated by recently reported experimental phase diagrams, we study the effects of CoO6 distortion on the electronic structure in NaxCoO2.yH2O. We construct the multiband tight-binding model by employing the LDA result. Analyzing this…
The determination by powder neutron diffraction of the ambient temperature crystal structures of compounds in the NaxCoO2 family, for 0.3 < x <= 1.0, is reported. The structures consist of triangular CoO2 layers with Na ions distributed in…
Linking electrode microstructure to electrochemical performance is essential for optimizing Li-ion batteries. However, this requires mechanistic 4D observations at ultimate spatio-temporal scales, which remains elusive. Here we demonstrate…
Using real-time spectroscopic ellipsometry, we directly observed a reversible lattice and electronic structure evolution in SrCoOx (x = 2.5 - 3) epitaxial thin films. Drastically different electronic ground states, which are extremely…
The $\alpha$ polymorph of V$_2$O$_5$ is one of the few known cathodes capable of reversibly intercalating multivalent ions such as Mg, Ca, Zn and Al, but suffers from sluggish diffusion kinetics. The role of H$_2$O within the electrolyte…
Battery function is determined by the efficiency and reversibility of the electrochemical phase transformations at solid electrodes. The microscopic tools available to study the chemical states of matter with the required spatial resolution…
The epitaxial growth of complex oxide thin films provide three avenues to generate unique properties: the ability to influence the 3-dimensional structure of the film, the presence of a surface, and the generation of an interface. In all…
The charge state of a molecule governs its physicochemical properties, such as conformation, reactivity and aromaticity, with implications for on-surface synthesis, catalysis, photo conversion and applications in molecular electronics. On…
Describing Li-ion battery positive electrodes in terms of distinct transition metal or oxygen redox regimes can lead to confusion in understanding metal-ligand hybridisation, oxygen dimerisation, and degradation. There is a pressing need to…
Charge-transfer excitations are of paramount importance for understanding the electronic structure of copper-oxide based high-temperature superconductors. In this study, we investigate the response of a Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{\mathrm{8}+…
Characterizing electrochemical energy conversion devices during operation is an important strategy for correlating device performance with the properties of cell materials under real operating conditions. While operando characterization has…