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Article
| Open Access
A medium-entropy transition metal oxide cathode for high-capacity lithium metal batteries
Structural instability is a major drawback of high-capacity lithium-based battery cathodes. Here, the authors report a cathode active material with a medium-entropy state created by partial cation disordering capable of restraining the structural evolution in the high-capacity operated spinel phase.
- Yi Pei
- , Qing Chen
- & Cheng-Yan Xu
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Article
| Open Access
Changing the game of time resolved X-ray diffraction on the mechanochemistry playground by downsizing
Time-resolved in situ (TRIS) X-ray powder diffraction promises great potential to study mechanochemical processes. Here, the authors develop a strategy to enhance the resolution of TRIS experiments to allow deeper interpretation of mechanochemical transformations; the method is applied to a variety of model systems including inorganic, metal-organic, and organic mechanosyntheses.
- Giulio I. Lampronti
- , Adam A. L. Michalchuk
- & Franziska Emmerling
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Article
| Open Access
Non-equilibrium metal oxides via reconversion chemistry in lithium-ion batteries
The charging of Fe and Mn oxide anodes in lithium-ion batteries are believed to form rocksalt phases via reconstructive conversion reactions. Here, the authors show that MxOy (M = Fe, Mn) transform into non-native body-centred cubic FeO and zincblende MnO via topotactic displacement-like pathways.
- Xiao Hua
- , Phoebe K. Allan
- & Andrew L. Goodwin
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Article
| Open Access
A deep-learning technique for phase identification in multiphase inorganic compounds using synthetic XRD powder patterns
Identifying the composition of multiphase inorganic compounds from XRD patterns is challenging. Here the authors use a convolutional neural network to identify phases in unknown multiphase mixed inorganic powder samples with an accuracy of nearly 90%.
- Jin-Woong Lee
- , Woon Bae Park
- & Kee-Sun Sohn
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Article
| Open Access
Hydrogen-bonded frameworks for molecular structure determination
Single crystal X-ray diffraction is an invaluable tool for molecular structure determination, but growing single crystals is often an arduous process. Here the authors find that the structures of a wide array of molecules can be determined by SCXRD when included in hydrogen-bonded guanidinium organosulfonate host frameworks in a single-step crystallization.
- Yuantao Li
- , Sishuang Tang
- & Michael D. Ward
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Article
| Open Access
Layer specific observation of slow thermal equilibration in ultrathin metallic nanostructures by femtosecond X-ray diffraction
Heat transport in ultrathin metal layers is important for potential applications in optical‐magnetic switching, but difficult to access experimentally. Here, the authors use ultrafast X‐ray diffraction to directly probe and explain unexpected time‐dependent transport behavior in Au–Ni nanolayers.
- J. Pudell
- , A. A. Maznev
- & M. Bargheer
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Article
| Open Access
Naked d-orbital in a centrochiral Ni(II) complex as a catalyst for asymmetric [3+2] cycloaddition
Understanding the interplay between electronic structure and performance and how it relates to mechanism is important for catalysis. Here the authors report an asymmetric [3+2] cycloaddition and show the Ni(II) catalyst possesses a weakly bound acetate ligand, leaving thedz2orbital partially vacant.
- Yoshihiro Sohtome
- , Genta Nakamura
- & Mikiko Sodeoka
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Article
| Open Access
The microscopic structure of charge density waves in underdoped YBa2Cu3O6.54 revealed by X-ray diffraction
Near to the superconducting state, cuprates display spatially-periodic charge density variations. Here, the authors use x-ray diffraction to determine the microscopic structure, showing how charge density waves in underdoped YBa2Cu3O6.54break the symmetry of the superconducting layers.
- E. M. Forgan
- , E. Blackburn
- & S. M. Hayden
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Article
| Open Access
In situ X-ray diffraction and the evolution of polarization during the growth of ferroelectric superlattices
X-ray diffraction provides valuable information on the crystalline order of materials, such as the spacing of atomic layers. Here, the authors demonstrate rapid in situX-ray diffraction measurements of strained ferroelectric oxide thin film superlattices during their layer-by-layer deposition.
- Benjamin Bein
- , Hsiang-Chun Hsing
- & Matthew Dawber
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Article
| Open Access
Combined operando X-ray diffraction–electrochemical impedance spectroscopy detecting solid solution reactions of LiFePO4 in batteries
A clear understanding of the phase behaviour of lithium-ion electrode materials is essential for the development of the field. Here, the authors report a combined X-ray diffraction–electrochemical impedance spectroscopy method to detect solid solution reactions of LiFePO4.
- Michael Hess
- , Tsuyoshi Sasaki
- & Petr Novák
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Article
| Open Access
Ultrafast visualization of crystallization and grain growth in shock-compressed SiO2
Pressure- and temperature-induced phase transitions have long been studied, but little is known about the processes by which the atoms rearrange. Here, the authors presentin situmeasurements on shock compressed fused silica, revealing an amorphous to crystalline high pressure stishovite phase transition.
- A. E. Gleason
- , C. A. Bolme
- & W. L. Mao
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In situ X-ray diffraction monitoring of a mechanochemical reaction reveals a unique topology metal-organic framework
Ball milling chemical reactions are of interest due to their environmental credentials and potential to achieve new reactions and materials. Here, the authors isolate a metastable material with a previously unknown net topology by in situmonitoring of the mechanosynthesis of a metal organic framework.
- Athanassios D. Katsenis
- , Andreas Puškarić
- & Tomislav Friščić
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Taking snapshots of photosynthetic water oxidation using femtosecond X-ray diffraction and spectroscopy
Photosystem II is the biosynthetic machinery that allows the conversion of water to oxygen using light. Here, the authors combine X-ray emission and diffraction data to probe the structural changes that take place during photosystem II catalysis.
- Jan Kern
- , Rosalie Tran
- & Vittal K. Yachandra
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X-ray observation of a helium atom and placing a nitrogen atom inside He@C60 and He@C70
Helium has not, to date, been observed crystallographically. Here, the authors report the first crystallographic observation of a helium atom, encapsulated in a fullerene, and show that it exerts a small but detectable influence on the electronic structure of a coencapsulated nitrogen atom.
- Yuta Morinaka
- , Satoru Sato
- & Yasujiro Murata
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Single-particle structure determination by correlations of snapshot X-ray diffraction patterns
Free-electron lasers enable diffractive imaging of single nanostructures, but algorithms, such as correlation analyses, are needed to determine their diffraction volume from accumulated data. Starodub et al.present such a method for X-ray diffractive imaging of nanometre-scale polystyrene dimers.
- D. Starodub
- , A. Aquila
- & M.J. Bogan
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Nanosecond white-light Laue diffraction measurements of dislocation microstructure in shock-compressed single-crystal copper
Intense lasers enable scientists to study the behaviour of matter under extreme pressures, but obtaining information about its atomic structure is challenging. In this work, Suggit et al. demonstrate the use of white-light X-ray diffraction to probe the structure of laser-shocked copper on nanosecond timescales.
- Matthew J. Suggit
- , Andrew Higginbotham
- & Justin S. Wark
Investigating microstructure evolution of lithium metal during plating and stripping via operando X-ray tomographic microscopy