Synergistic Effects of Surface Coating and Bulk Doping in Ni-Rich Lithium Nickel Cobalt Manganese Oxide Cathode Materials for High-Energy Lithium Ion Batteries.

Ni-rich layered oxide cathodes are promising candidates to satisfy the increasing energy demand of lithium-ion batteries for automotive applications. Thermal and cycling stability issues originating from increasing Ni contents are addressed by mitigation strategies such as elemental bulk substitution ("doping") and surface coating. Although both approaches separately benefit the cycling stability, there are only few reports investigating the combination of two of such approaches. Herein, the combination of Zr as common dopant in commercial materials with effective Li2 WO4 and WO3 coatings was investigated with special focus on the impact of different material processing conditions on struct…

Gram-scale selective synthesis of WO3−x nanorods and (NH4)xWO3 ammonium tungsten bronzes with tunable plasmonic properties

Localized surface plasmon resonance properties in unconventional materials like metal oxides or chalcogenide semiconductors have been studied for use in signal detection and analysis in biomedicine and photocatalysis. We devised a selective synthesis of the tungsten oxides WO3-x and (NH4)xWO3 with tunable plasmonic properties. We selectively synthesized WO3-x nanorods with different aspect ratios and hexagonal tungsten bronzes (NH4)xWO3 as truncated nanocubes starting from ammonium metatungstate (NH4)6H2W12O40·xH2O. Both particles form from the same nuclei at temperatures >200 °C; monomer concentration and surfactant ratio are essential variables for phase selection. (NH4)xWO3 was the prefe…

A Generalized Method for High‐Speed Fluorination of Metal Oxides by Spark Plasma Sintering Yields Ta 3 O 7 F and TaO 2 F with High Photocatalytic Activity for Oxygen Evolution from Water

A general method to carry out the fluorination of metal oxides with poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE, Teflon) waste by spark plasma sintering (SPS) on a minute scale with Teflon is reported. The potential of this new approach is highlighted by the following results. i) The tantalum oxyfluorides Ta3 O7 F and TaO2 F are obtained from plastic scrap without using toxic or caustic chemicals for fluorination. ii) Short reaction times (minutes rather than days) reduce the process time the energy costs by almost three orders of magnitude. iii) The oxyfluorides Ta3 O7 F and TaO2 F are produced in gram amounts of nanoparticles. Their synthesis can be upscaled to the kg range with industrial sintering …

Influence of Iron Sulfide Nanoparticle Sizes in Solid‐State Batteries**

Abstract Given the inherent performance limitations of intercalation‐based lithium‐ion batteries, solid‐state conversion batteries are promising systems for future energy storage. A high specific capacity and natural abundancy make iron disulfide (FeS2) a promising cathode‐active material. In this work, FeS2 nanoparticles were prepared solvothermally. By adjusting the synthesis conditions, samples with average particle diameters between 10 nm and 35 nm were synthesized. The electrochemical performance was evaluated in solid‐state cells with a Li‐argyrodite solid electrolyte. While the reduction of FeS2 was found to be irreversible in the initial discharge, a stable cycling of the reduced sp…

Rational Design of Thermoresponsive Microgel Templates with Polydopamine Surface Coating for Microtissue Applications.

Functional microgels provide a versatile basis for synthetic in vitro platforms as alternatives to animal experiments. The tuning of the physical, chemical, and biological properties of synthetic microgels can be achieved by blending suitable polymers and formulating them such to reflect the heterogenous and complex nature of biological tissues. Based on this premise, this paper introduces the development of volume-switchable core-shell microgels as 3D templates to enable cell growth for microtissue applications, using a systematic approach to tune the microgel properties based on a deep conceptual and practical understanding. Microscopic microgel design, such as the tailoring of the microg…

Solid State Fluorination on the Minute Scale: Synthesis of WO 3− x F x with Photocatalytic Activity

High-speed solid state fluorination of Nb2O5 yields NbO2F and Nb3O7F with photocatalytic activity for oxygen evolution from water

Solid state reactions are slow because the diffusion of atoms or ions through the reactant, intermediate and crystalline product phases is the rate-limiting step. This requires days or even weeks of high temperature treatment, and consumption of large amounts of energy. We employed spark-plasma sintering, an engineering technique that is used for high-speed consolidation of powders with a pulsed electric current passing through the sample to carry out the fluorination of niobium oxide in minute intervals. The approach saves time and large amounts of waste energy. Moreover, it allows the preparation of fluorinated niobium oxides on a gram scale using poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (®Teflon) scrap…