Latest Updates
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Efficient Intermolecular Charge Transport in π-Stacked Pyridinium Dimers Using Cucurbit[8]uril Supramolecular Complexes
In this work, we observe highly efficient intermolecular charge transport between stacked pyridinium dimers inside a synthetic host (cucurbit[8]uril, CB[8]) using single molecule techniques. Read More
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George Crabtree wins 2022 Energy Systems Award
The prestigious award recognizes the importance of transforming energy systems from fossil fuels to carbon-free technologies. Physicist George Crabtree of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has received the 2022 Energy Systems Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics ( … Read More
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Exploring the Synthesis of Alkali Metal Anti-perovskites
This work combines Density functional theory, quasi-harmonic approximation and experiments to explore the synthesizability of several marginally stable antiperovskites (APs) and overall, has obtained good agreement between experiments and computation. Read More
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Untapped Potential: The Need and Opportunity for High-Voltage Aqueous Redox Flow Batteries
Prior studies of the techno-economic design space for aqueous redox flow batteries (AqRFBs) have almost exclusively focused on cell potentials ≤1.5 V, due, at least in part, to the belief that battery operation at higher cell potentials in not feasible due to electrolyte decomposition. However, through careful consideration of electrolyte composition, cell design, and operating practices, AqRFBs with OCVs >1.5 V can operate with minimal and/or manageable side reactions. Read More
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Intercalation of Ca into a Highly Defective Manganese Oxide at Room Temperature
Nanocrystals of layered MnOx containing a high concentration of atomic defects and lattice water are shown to have remarkable electrochemical activity towards Ca2+ , amounting to a capacity of ~130 mAh/g at room temperature. Multimodal characterization revealed the notable degree of intercalation by probing the structural, compositional and redox changes undertaken by the defective MnOx nanocrystals. Read More
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High areal capacity, long cycle life 4 V ceramic all-solid-state Li-ion batteries enabled by chloride solid electrolytes
Long-lasting, high-loading and high-voltage ASSBs with bare LiNi1-x-yCoxMnyO2/LiCoO2 and a new chloro-spinel solid electrolyte Li2In1/3Sc1/3Cl4 are demonstrated. The ultra-low electronic conductivity of Li2In1/3Sc1/3Cl4 drives a very wide “kinetic” electrochemical stability window (up to 4.8 V vs Li+/Li) that lies well above its thermodynamic stability limit (4.3 V vs Li+/Li). Read More
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Methods–A Potential-Dependent Thiele Modulus to Quantify the Effectiveness of Porous Electrocatalysts
A generalizable potential-dependent Thiele modulus accounting for the relationship between electrochemical reaction kinetics and diffusion is presented for the design of porous catalyst materials for use in electrochemical reactors such as redox flow batteries. Read More
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Insight into the nanostructure of “water in salt” solutions: a SAXS/WAXS study on imide-based lithium salts aqueous solutions
We studied the structures of a series of imide-based lithium aqueous solutions: bis(fluoro sulfonyl)imide (FSI), bis(trifluoromethane sulfonyl)imide (TFSI), bis(pentafluoroethane sulfonyl) imide (BETI), and bis(nonafluorobutane sulfonyl)imide (BNTI) at various concentrations through small angle X-ray scattering/wide angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations Read More
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Concentration-Dependent Ion Correlations Impact the Electrochemical Behavior of Calcium Battery Electrolytes
The speciation trends of weakly-coordinating multivalent salts in ethereal solvents were established, providing a generalized understanding of how multivalent ion correlations impact electrolyte transport and stability. Read More
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Fund launched in honor of JCESR collaborator Susan Odom
The University of Kentucky (UK) College of Arts & Sciences has launched a fund to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Susan Odom, a dear friend and JCESR collaborator. Dr. Susan A. Odom (1980-2021) was a talented associate professor of chemistry in … Read More
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Enabling magnesium metal anodes via an electrochemically activated artificial interphase layer
The dynamics and instability of the Mg/electrolyte interface over extended time were revealed and an artificial interfacial layer with fast ion transfer kinetics was developed to suppress side reactions and thus improve electrochemical stability. Read More
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A generalized reduced fluid dynamic model for flow fields and electrodes in redox flow batteries
Depth-averaged fluid dynamics dramatically reduce the computation time involved in screening flow fields and porous electrodes (3D 2D), while retaining accuracy through a correction to the governing equations. Read More
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Batteries: materials principles and characterization methods
This research and reference text provides an introduction to battery fundamentals, exploring some of the state-of-the-art characterization methods currently employed by the energy storage community. Read More
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Li+ hopping mechanism in LiTFSI water-in-salt electrolyte identified by molecular dynamics simulations
The high Li+ apparent transference number in the LiTFSI water-in-salt electrolyte was captured by MD simulations and the dominant Li+ conduction mechanism in the highly concentrated LiTFSI water-in-salt electrolyte was identified to be hopping between water and TFSI- anions. Read More
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High-Efficiency Zinc-Metal Anode Enabled by Liquefied Gas Electrolytes
A liquefied gas electrolyte was developed for the 1st time for a bivalent chemistry. It displays an excellent Zn conductivity (>3.4 mS cm-1) across a broad temperature range (-60 to +20 °C), enables highly reversible Zn cycling with no evidence of shorting behavior at both room temperature and -20 °C for over 200 cycles (>400 h) with a high Coulombic efficiency (CE > 99%) at high utilization (20% Zn per cycle) for Zn plating/stripping at both room temperature and -20°C. Read More
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Limited Accessibility to Surface Area Generated by Thermal Pretreatment of Electrodes Reduces Its Impact on Redox Flow Battery Performance
A systematic study on thermally pretreated electrodes for redox flow batteries (RFBs) leveraging gas adsorption techniques, physicochemical spectroscopy, in situ flow cells, and a convection-reaction model suggests diminishing returns in RFB performance at longer pretreatment times due to hindered active species transport to recessed regions of the electrode. Read More
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First-principles calculations predict Ca cathodes based on layered calcium transition metal oxide materials
First-principles calculations are used to demonstrate that P-type layered CaTM2O4 materials with a range of TM substitutions (TM = Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) have excellent battery-related properties including thermodynamic stability, average voltage, energy density, synthesizability, ionic mobility, and electronic structure. Read More
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Understanding Solvation Behavior of the Saturated Electrolytes with Small/Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering and Raman Spectroscopy
A combined SAXS/WAXS and Raman spectroscopy are employed to study the global and local solvation structure. This work demonstrates a method for detecting the structure of liquids, which will facilitate the study of structure-performance relationships and the screening of new electrolytes. Read More
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Pulsed Field Gradient Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Diffusion Analysis in Battery Research (Review)
A pedagogical overview of Pulsed Field Gradient Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (PFG-NMR) analysis for battery electrolytes provides a guide for new and seasoned practitioners, while demonstrating the many uses of diffusion measurements through a review of selected examples. Read More
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Multiple charging of tripodal catholyte redoxmers
Redox-active oligomer molecules can become more (100x) stable when they are fully charged compared to their partially charged states. This is the first time this effect was observed in chemistry. Read More
