Lithium intercalation chemistry, microstructure and superconductivity in zirconium and hafnium nitride halides

Abstract Lithium intercalation in β-MNX (M=Zr, Hf; X=Cl, Br) leads to superconducting compounds with critical temperatures between 12 and 24 K. The lithium uptakes after treatment of the host materials with n-butyllithium/hexane solutions are ca. 0.2 atoms per formula for β-ZrNCl and β-ZrNBr, and between 0.07 and 0.67 for β-HfNCl. Electrochemical lithiation experiments agree with the results obtained with chemical methods, as samples with larger capacity on discharge are also those having larger lithium contents after chemical lithiation. Variations exist in the electrochemical profiles of different batches for the three compounds indicating differences in the intercalation reaction pathway…