Dense Sphene-type Solid Electrolyte Through Rapid Sintering for Solid-state Lithium Metal Battery

The sphene-type solid electrolyte with high ionic conductivity has been designed for solid-state lithium metal battery. However, the practical applications of solid electrolytes are still suffered by the low relative density and long sintering time of tens of hours with large energy consumption. Here, we introduced the spark plasma sintering technology for fabricating the sphene-type Li_1.125Ta_0.875Zr_0.125SiO₅ solid electrolyte. The dense electrolyte pellet with high relative density of ca. 97.4% and ionic conductivity of ca. 1.44×10^-5 S/cm at 30℃ can be obtained by spark plasma sintering process within the extremely short time of only ca. 0.1 h. Also the solid electrolyte provides stable electrochemical window of ca. 6.0 V(vs. Li⁺/Li) and high electrochemical interface stability toward Li metal anode. With the enhanced interfacial contacts between electrodes and electrolyte pellet by the in-situ formed polymer electrolyte, the solid-state lithium metal battery with LiFePO₄ cathode can deliver the initial discharge capacity of ca. 154 mA·h/g at 0.1 C and the reversible capacity of ca. 132 mA·h/g after 70 cycles with high Coulombic efficiency of 99.5% at 55℃. Therefore, this study demonstrates a rapid and energy efficient sintering strategy for fabricating the solid electrolyte with dense structure and high ionic conductivity that can be practically applied in solid-state lithium metal batteries with high energy densities and safeties.     

Development of a miniature simultaneous MPT spectrometer

An unique miniature simultaneous microwave plasma torch (MPT) atomic emission spectrometer employing linear UV intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) array detector has been developed and studied preliminarily. The detection limits and precisions of the spectrometer for Ag, Al, Ba, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Sr and V by using different CCD exposure times have been determined. An analysis of a practical sample has been carried out. The preliminary results demonstrate that such simultaneous spectrometer has advantages of saving sample and time, especially suitable for use as detector for chromatography and in combination with flow injection systems. Taking analytical figures of merit and portability into accounts, the miniature simultaneous MPT system will have extended application areas and greater competition potential as compared with commercialized scanning MPT spectrometers.     

Electric conductivity in a fibrous porous medium with thin but polarized double layers

The electric conduction in the fibrous medium constructed by a homogeneous array of parallel, identical, charged, circular cylinders having an arbitrary zeta potential filled with the solution of a symmetrically charged electrolyte is analytically examined. The thickness of the electric double layers surrounding the dielectric cylinders is assumed to be small relative to the radius of each cylinder and to the gap width between two neighboring cylinders, but the polarization of the mobile ions in the diffuse layers is allowed. The effect of interactions among individual cylinders is taken into explicit account by employing a unit cell model. The appropriate equations of conservation of electrochemical potential energies of ionic species are solved for each cell, in which a cylinder is envisaged to be surrounded by a coaxial cylindrical shell of the fluid solution. Analytical expressions for the effective electric conductivity are obtained in closed forms as functions of the porosity of the fiber matrix and other characteristics of the porous system. Comparisons of the results of the cell model with different conditions at the outer boundary of the cell are made. Under an otherwise identical condition, the electric conductivity in a porous medium composed of an array of parallel cylinders in the transverse direction is smaller than that of a suspension of spheres. The effect of interactions among the cylinders or spheres on the effective conductivity can be quite significant under appropriate conditions.     

Particle interactions in electrophoresis: I. Motion of two spheres along their line of centers

The electrophoretic motion of two charged colloidal spheres with very thin electrical double layers in a constant applied electric field along their line of centers is considered. The particles may differ in radius and in zeta potential at the surface. The electrostatic and hydrodynamic governing equations are solved in the quasi-steady situation using bipolar coordinates and the electrophoretic velocities of particles are calculated for various cases. The interaction effect between particles can be very significant when the distance between particle surfaces gets close to zero. The particle with smaller zeta potential is speeded up by the motion of the other, which is retarded at the same time by the motion of the former one, if the two spheres have unequal zeta potentials of the same electrical sign. For two particles of different signs in zeta potential, motions of both are hindered by each other. The influence of the interaction between particles in general is stronger on the smaller one than on the larger one. For the special case of two electrophoretic spheres with identical zeta potentials, there is no particle interaction for all particle sizes and separations.     

Electrochemical Study of Indium in a Water‐Stable 1‐Ethyl‐3‐Methylimidazolium Chloride/Tetrafluoroborate Room Temperature Ionic Liquid

The electrochemistry of indium species was investigated at glassy carbon, tungsten and nickel electrodes in a basic 1‐ethyl‐3‐methylimidazolium chloride/tetrafluoroborate ionic liquid. Amperometric titration experiments suggest that In(III) chloride is complexed as [InCl₅]^2? in this ionic liquid. The electrochemical reduction of [InCl₅]^2? to indium metal is preceded by overpotential driven nucleations. The effective anodic dissolution of indium to indium(III) requires, however, the presence of sufficient chloride ions at the electrode surface. The electrodeposition of indium at glassy carbon and tungsten electrodes proceeds via three‐dimensional instantaneous nucleation with diffusion‐controlled growth of the nuclei. At the nickel electrode, the deposition proceeds via three‐dimensional progressive nucleation with diffusion‐controlled growth of the nuclei. Raising the deposition temperature decreases the average radius of the individual nuclei, r. Scanning electron microscopic and x‐ray diffraction data indicated that bulk crystalline indium electrodeposits could be prepared on nickel substrates within a temperature range between 30 and 120 °C.     

Synthesis of poly(<Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-methylolacrylamide)/polymethylacrylamide hybrids via frontal free-radical polymerization

In this study, poly(N-methylolacrylamide)/polymethylacrylamide (PNMA/PMAA) hybrids were produced successfully by frontal free-radical polymerization at ambient pressure. In a typical run, the appropriate amounts of reactants (N-methylolacrylamide, NMA; methylacrylamide, MAA) and initiator (ammonium persulfate) were dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide at ambient temperature. Frontal polymerization (FP) was initiated by heating the wall of the tube with a soldering iron, and the resultant hot fronts were allowed to self-propagate throughout the reaction vessel. Once initiated, no further energy was required for polymerization to occur. The dependences of the front velocity and front temperature on the initiator concentration, reactant dilution, and NMA/MAA components were thoroughly investigated. The front temperatures were between 69 and 116 °C, depending on the persulfate concentration. We have also investigated the FP of PNMA/PMAA hybrids with N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone as solvent. Results show that FP can be exploited as a means for the preparation of PNMA/PMAA hybrids with the potential advantage of higher throughput compared to the traditional mode.     

The first examples of a meta-benzannulation from the reaction of Fischer carbene complexes with alkynes

The intramolecular benzannulations of carbene complexes with alkynes are examined where the alkyne is tethered to the alpha-carbon of the vinyl carbene complex. These reactions are sensitive to the length of the tether and to the nature of the solvent. With a tether length of 16 methylenes, the reaction occurs in the same fashion as the intermolecular reactions to give a p-cyclophane. With intermediate tether lengths (n = 10, 13), the reaction gives an additional p-cyclophane in which the two oxygen substituents are meta on the arene ring. This type of product is unprecedented from the reaction of carbene complexes and alkynes and is quite surprising because the formation of this product requires that the carbon-carbon bond between the alpha- and beta-carbons of the vinyl carbene complex is broken. A mechanism is proposed to account for this process which involves the crossed intramolecular [2 + 2] cycloaddition of the alkene and a ketene in a conjugated dienyl ketene to give a benzvalenone paddalane intermediate.     

Investigations on Preparation,Crystal Structure and Thermal Stability of Bis(O-ethylcarbonodithiolato-S,S′)(1,10-phenanthroline-N~1,N~(10))cobalt(II) Complex:[Co(Et-XA)_2·phen]·H_2O (XA=xanthate)

IntroductionTheincreasingcommercialvalueoftransitionmetalcomplexesofxanthateshasarousedconsiderableinterestintheirchemistry .Whiletheiranalyticalapplicationsarewellknown ,1theyarenowfindingextensiveuseinvulcan izationofrubber ,frothfloatationprocessforconcentrationofsulphideores ,asantioxidants ,lubricants ,2 ,3andhavebeenfoundtopossessfungicidalandinsecticidalactivi ties .4 Recently ,molecularrecognitionbetweenhostandguestmolecules ,inclusionphenomenaandnoncovalentmolecularinteractionarefunda…     

Transient electrophoresis of a charged porous particle

The starting electrophoretic motion of a porous, uniformly charged, spherical particle, which models a solvent-permeable and ion-penetrable polyelectrolyte coil or floc of nanoparticles, in an arbitrary electrolyte solution due to the sudden application of an electric field is studied for the first time. The unsteady Stokes/Brinkman equations with the electric force term governing the fluid velocity fields are solved by means of the Laplace transform. An analytical formula for the electrophoretic mobility of the porous sphere is obtained as a function of the dimensionless parameters , , , and , where a is the radius of the particle, κ is the Debye screening parameter, λ is the reciprocal of the square root of the fluid permeability in the particle, ρ_p and ρ are the mass densities of the particle and fluid, respectively, ν is the kinematic viscosity of the fluid, and t is the time. The electrophoretic mobility normalized by its steady-state value increases monotonically with increases in and , but decreases monotonically with an increase in , keeping the other parameters unchanged. In general, a porous particle with a high fluid permeability trails behind an identical porous particle with a lower permeability and a corresponding hard particle in the growth of the normalized electrophoretic mobility The normalized electrophoretic acceleration of the porous sphere decreases monotonically with an increase in the time and increases with an increase in from zero at .     

Sequential C–O decarboxylative vinylation/C–H arylation of cyclic oxalates via a nickel-catalyzed multicomponent radical cascade

A selective, sequential C–O decarboxylative vinylation/C–H arylation of cyclic alcohol derivatives enabled by visible-light photoredox/nickel dual catalysis is described. This protocol utilizes a multicomponent radical cascade process, i.e. decarboxylative vinylation/1,5-HAT/aryl cross-coupling, to achieve efficient, site-selective dual-functionalization of saturated cyclic hydrocarbons in one single operation. This synergistic protocol provides straightforward access to sp³-enriched scaffolds and an alternative retrosynthetic disconnection to diversely functionalized saturated ring systems from the simple starting materials.

A selective, sequential C–O decarboxylative vinylation/C–H arylation of cyclic alcohol derivatives enabled by visible-light photoredox/nickel dual catalysis has been described.