scholarly journals Cross-Investigation on Copper Nitroprusside: Combining XRD and XAS for In-Depth Structural Insights

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Angelo Mullaliu ◽  
Giuliana Aquilanti ◽  
Jasper Rikkert Plaisier ◽  
Marco Giorgetti

The emerging energy demand and need to develop sustainable energy storage systems have drawn extensive attention to fundamental and applied research. Anion redox processes were proposed in cathodic materials in addition to traditional transition metal redox to boost the specific capacity and the electrochemical performance. Alternatively, copper nitroprusside (CuNP) features an electroactive nitrosyl ligand alongside the two structural metals (Fe, Cu), representing an alternative to anion redox in layered oxides. Here, a deep structural investigation is carried out on CuNP by complementing the long-range order sensitivity of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the local atomic probe of X-ray absorption (XAS). Two different CuNP materials are studied, the hydrated and dehydrated forms. A new phase for hydrated CuNP not reported in the literature is solved, and Rietveld refined. The XAS spectra of the two materials at the Cu and Fe K-edges show a similar yet different atomic environment. The extended XAS spectra (EXAFS) analysis is accomplished by considering three- and four-body terms due to the high collinearity of the atomic chains and gives accurate insight into the first-, second-, and third-shell interatomic distances. Both materials are mounted in Li-ion and Na-ion cells to explore the link between structure and electrochemical performance. As revealed by the charge/discharge cycles, the cyclability in Na-ion cells is negatively affected by interstitial water. The similarity in the local environment and the electrochemical differences suggest a long-range structural dependence on the electrochemical performance.

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (19) ◽  
pp. 4032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Zuniga ◽  
Gabriel Gonzalez ◽  
Roberto Orrostieta Chavez ◽  
Jason C. Myers ◽  
Timothy P. Lodge ◽  
...  

We report results on the electrochemical performance of flexible and binder-free α-Fe2O3/TiO2/carbon composite fiber anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The composite fibers were produced via centrifugal spinning and subsequent thermal processing. The fibers were prepared from a precursor solution containing PVP/iron (III) acetylacetonate/titanium (IV) butoxide/ethanol/acetic acid followed by oxidation at 200 °C in air and then carbonization at 550 °C under flowing argon. The morphology and structure of the composite fibers were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). These ternary composite fiber anodes showed an improved electrochemical performance compared to the pristine TiO2/C and α-Fe2O3/C composite fiber electrodes. The α-Fe2O3/TiO2/C composite fibers also showed a superior cycling performance with a specific capacity of 340 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles at a current density of 100 mA g−1, compared to 61 mAh g−1 and 121 mAh g−1 for TiO2/C and α-Fe2O3/C composite electrodes, respectively. The improved electrochemical performance and the simple processing of these metal oxide/carbon composite fibers make them promising candidates for the next generation and cost-effective flexible binder-free anodes for LIBs.


Author(s):  
Ju Guo ◽  
Fuyong Wu

Abstract First, nano-spherical iron phosphate was prepared using the hydrothermal method. Then, the carbothermal reduction method was applied to synthesize the LiFePO4/C composite material capable of good carbon coating effect with the prepared nano-spherical iron phosphate as a precursor. By means of scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, Zeta potentiometer, inductively coupled plasma spectrometer, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, electrochemical testing, and other methods, the material was characterized and tested for its morphology, particle size, composition, structure, and electrochemical performance. According to the test results, when the initial mass concentration of Fe3+ in the reaction solution is 2%, the amount of N and S impurity is merely 19 and 27 ppm, respectively. In the meantime, particle size is small, with a range of roughly 50–100 nm, and a spherical morphology is shown. The synthesized LiFePO4/C retains its nano-spherical morphology, which leads to a desirable carbon coating effect and an excellent electrochemical performance. The first charge–discharge specific capacity at 0.1 C rate reached 163.7 and 161.4 mAh/g, the charge–discharge efficiency was 98.6%, and the capacity retention rate at 50 charge–discharge cycles at 1 C rate reached 98.52%.


NANO ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (05) ◽  
pp. 2050058
Author(s):  
Yuhua Huang ◽  
Weiwei Li ◽  
Bingchu Mei ◽  
Yu Yang ◽  
Zuodong Liu

In this paper, the effects of etching temperature and concentrations of hydrochloric acid (HCl) on the exfoliating process and the electrochemical performance of LIBs were systematically explored. The transformation from Ti3AlC2 to Ti3C2 was analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectra. The suitable conditions of preparing Ti3C2 MXene though HCl and lithium fluoride (LiF) were obtained. Besides, the in-situ oxidation conditions of Ti3C2 during the etching process were studied. The TiO2/Ti3C2 was beneficial to improve the specific capacity from 125[Formula: see text]mAh[Formula: see text]g[Formula: see text] to 150[Formula: see text]mAh[Formula: see text]g[Formula: see text] at 1 C.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Cabello ◽  
Gregorio Ortiz ◽  
Pedro Lavela ◽  
José Tirado

Magnesium batteries are a promising technology for a new generation of energy storage for portable devices. Attention should be paid to electrolyte and electrode material development in order to develop rechargeable Mg batteries. In this study, we report the use of the spinel lithium titanate or Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) as an active electrode for Mg2+-ion batteries. The theoretical capacity of LTO is 175 mA h g−1, which is equivalent to an insertion reaction with 1.5 Mg2+ ions. The ability to enhance the specific capacity of LTO is of practical importance. We have observed that it is possible to increase the capacity up to 290 mA h g−1 in first discharge, which corresponds to the reaction with 2.5 Mg2+ ions. The addition of MgCl2·6H2O to the electrolyte solutions significantly improves their electrochemical performance and enables reversible Mg deposition. Ex-situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns reveal little structural changes, while X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS) (XPS) measurements suggest Mg reacts with LTO. The Ti3+/Ti4+ ratio increases with the amount of inserted magnesium. The impedance spectra show the presence of a semicircle at medium-low frequencies, ascribable to Mg2+ ion diffusion between the surface film and LTO. Further experimental improvements with exhaustive control of electrodes and electrolytes are necessary to develop the Mg battery with practical application.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikhail V. Gorbunov ◽  
Salvatore Carocci ◽  
Ignacio G. Gonzalez Martinez ◽  
Volodymyr Baran ◽  
Daria Mikhailova

Cubic Li2Fe0.9M0.1SO antiperovskites with M–Co2+, or Mn2+ were successfully synthesized by a solid-state technique, and studied as cathode materials in Li-batteries. The influence of the Co, and Mn cation substitution of Fe in Li2FeSO on the resulting electrochemical performance was evaluated by galvanostatic cycling, while the reaction mechanism was explored by applying operando X-ray absorption and X-ray diffraction techniques using synchrotron radiation facilities. Even 10% Fe-substitution by these metals completely changes the structural behavior of the material upon Li-removal and insertion, in comparison to Li2FeSO. The Co-substitution significantly improves cyclability of the material at high current densities in comparison to the non-substituted material, reaching a specific capacity of 250 mAh/g at 1C current density. In contrast, the Mn-substitution leads to deterioration of the electrochemical performance because of the impeded kinetics, which may be caused by the appearance of a second isostructural phase due to formation of Jahn-Teller Mn3+ cations upon delithiation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 500 (1) ◽  
pp. 310-318
Author(s):  
Roberto De Propris ◽  
Michael J West ◽  
Felipe Andrade-Santos ◽  
Cinthia Ragone-Figueroa ◽  
Elena Rasia ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We explore the persistence of the alignment of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) with their local environment. We find that a significant fraction of BCGs do not coincide with the centroid of the X-ray gas distribution and/or show peculiar velocities (they are not at rest with respect to the cluster mean). Despite this, we find that BCGs are generally aligned with the cluster mass distribution even when they have significant offsets from the X-ray centre and significant peculiar velocities. The large offsets are not consistent with simple theoretical models. To account for these observations BCGs must undergo mergers preferentially along their major axis, the main infall direction. Such BCGs may be oscillating within the cluster potential after having been displaced by mergers or collisions, or the dark matter halo itself may not yet be relaxed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 210-220
Author(s):  
Fangfang Wang ◽  
Ruoyu Hong ◽  
Xuesong Lu ◽  
Huiyong Liu ◽  
Yuan Zhu ◽  
...  

Abstract The high-nickel cathode material of LiNi0.8Co0.15Al0.05O2 (LNCA) has a prospective application for lithium-ion batteries due to the high capacity and low cost. However, the side reaction between the electrolyte and the electrode seriously affects the cycling stability of lithium-ion batteries. In this work, Ni2+ preoxidation and the optimization of calcination temperature were carried out to reduce the cation mixing of LNCA, and solid-phase Al-doping improved the uniformity of element distribution and the orderliness of the layered structure. In addition, the surface of LNCA was homogeneously modified with ZnO coating by a facile wet-chemical route. Compared to the pristine LNCA, the optimized ZnO-coated LNCA showed excellent electrochemical performance with the first discharge-specific capacity of 187.5 mA h g−1, and the capacity retention of 91.3% at 0.2C after 100 cycles. The experiment demonstrated that the improved electrochemical performance of ZnO-coated LNCA is assigned to the surface coating of ZnO which protects LNCA from being corroded by the electrolyte during cycling.


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