Natural Soft/Rigid Superlattices as Anodes for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries

Volume expansion and poor conductivity are two major obstacles that hinder the pursuit of the lithium-ion batteries with long cycling life and high power density. Herein, we highlight a misfit compound PbNbS₃ with a soft/rigid superlattice structure, confirmed by scanning tunneling microscopy and electrochemical characterization, as a promising anode material for high performance lithium-ion batteries with optimized capacity, stability, and conductivity. The soft PbS sublayers primarily react with lithium, endowing capacity and preventing decomposition of the superlattice structure, while the rigid NbS₂ sublayers support the skeleton and enhance the migration of electrons and lithium ions, as a result leading to a specific capacity of 710 mAh g⁻¹ at 100 mA g⁻¹, which is 1.6 times of NbS₂ and 3.9 times of PbS. Our finding reveals the competitive strategy of soft/rigid structure in lithium-ion batteries and broadens the horizons of single-phase anode material design.     

Metamorphic InAs(Sb)/InGaAs/InAlAs nanoheterostructures grown on GaAs for efficient mid-IR emitters

High-efficiency semiconductor lasers and light-emitting diodes operating in the 3–5?μm mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral range are currently of great demand for a wide variety of applications, in particular, gas sensing, noninvasive medical tests, IR spectroscopy etc. III-V compounds with a lattice constant of about 6.1?Å are traditionally used for this spectral range. The attractive idea to fabricate such emitters on GaAs substrates by using In(Ga,Al)As compounds is restricted by either the minimum operating wavelength of ～8?μm in case of pseudomorphic AlGaAs-based quantum cascade lasers or requires utilization of thick metamorphic In_xAl_1-xAs buffer layers (MBLs) playing a key role in reducing the density of threading dislocations (TDs) in an active region, which otherwise result in a strong decay of the quantum efficiency of such mid-IR emitters. In this review we present the results of careful investigations of employing the convex-graded In_xAl_1-xAs MBLs for fabrication by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs (001) substrates of In(Ga,Al)As heterostructures with a combined type-II/type-I InSb/InAs/InGaAs quantum well (QW) for efficient mid-IR emitters (3–3.6?μm). The issues of strain relaxation, elastic stress balance, efficiency of radiative and non-radiative recombination at T?=?10–300?K are discussed in relation to molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth conditions and designs of the structures. A wide complex of techniques including in-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction, atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning and transmission electron microscopies, X-ray diffractometry, reciprocal space mapping, selective area electron diffraction, as well as photoluminescence (PL) and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy was used to study in detail structural and optical properties of the metamorphic QW structures. Optimization of the growth conditions (the substrate temperature, the As₄/III ratio) and elastic strain profiles governed by variation of an inverse step in the In content profile between the MBL and the InAlAs virtual substrate results in decrease in the TD density (down to 3?×?10⁷ cm^?2), increase of the thickness of the low-TD-density near-surface MBL region to 250–300?nm, the extremely low surface roughness with the RMS value of 1.6–2.4?nm, measured by AFM, as well as rather high 3.5?μm-PL intensity at temperatures up to 300?K in such structures. The obtained results indicate that the metamorphic InSb/In(Ga,Al)As QW heterostructures of proper design, grown under the optimum MBE conditions, are very promising for fabricating the efficient mid-IR emitters on a GaAs platform.     

Dislocation Analysis for Large-sized Sapphire Single Crystal Grown by SAPMAC Method

In this paper,large-sized sapphire (230×210 mm,27.5 kg) was grown by SAPMAC method (sapphire growth technique with micro-pulling and shoulder-expanding at the cooled center). Dislocation peculiarity in large sapphire boule (0001) basal plane was investigated by chemical etching,scanning electron microscopy and X-ray topography method. The triangular dislocation etch pit measured is 7.6×101～8.0×102 cm-2,in which relative high-density dislocations were generated at both initial and final stages of crystal growth. The analysis of single-crystal X-ray topography shows that there are no apparent sub-grain boundaries; the dislocation lines are isolated and straight. Finally,the origins of low-density dislocation in sapphire crystal are discussed by numerical analysis method.     

Mid-infrared InAsSb-based nBn photodetectors with AlGaAsSb barrier layers – Grown on GaAs,using an interfacial misfit array,and on native GaSb

InAsSb-based nBn photodetectors were fabricated on GaAs, using the interfacial misfit (IMF) array growth mode, and on native GaSb. At −0.1 V operating bias, 200 K dark current densities of 1.4 × 10⁻⁵ A cm⁻² (on GaAs) and 4.8 × 10⁻⁶ A cm⁻² (on GaSb) were measured. At the same temperature, specific detectivity (D^*) figures of 1.2 × 10¹⁰ Jones (on GaAs) and 7.2 × 10¹⁰ Jones (on GaSb) were calculated. Arrhenius plots of the dark current densities yielded activation energies of 0.37 eV (on GaAs) and 0.42 eV (on GaSb). These values are close to the 4 K bandgap of the absorption layers (0.32–0.35 eV) indicating diffusion limited dark currents and small valence band offsets. Significantly, these devices could be used for mid-infrared focal plane arrays operating within the temperature range of cost-effective thermoelectric coolers.     

A scenario for the electronic state in the manganese perovskites: the orbital correlated metal

We propose a novel scenario for the electronic state in the manganese perovskites. We argue that, at low temperatures and within the ferromagnetic state, the physics of these colossal magnetoresistance compounds may be characterized by a correlated metallic state near a metal insulator transition where the orbital degrees of freedom play the main role. This follows from the observation that a two-band degenerate Hubbard model under a strong magnetic field can be mapped onto a para-orbital single band model. We solve the model numerically using the quantum Monte-Carlo technique within a dynamical mean field theory which is exact in the limit of large lattice connectivity. We argue that the proposed scenario may allow for the qualitative interpretation of a variety of experiments which were also observed in other (early) transition metal oxides. Received: 3 October 1997 / Revised: 9 December 1997 / Accepted: 12 January 1998     

Nanoindentation and the indentation size effect: Kinetics of deformation and strain gradient plasticity

A study of the indentation size effect (ISE) in aluminum and alpha brass is presented. The study employs rate effects to examine the fundamental mechanisms responsible for the ISE. These rate effects are characterized in terms of the rate sensitivity of the hardness, , where H is the hardness and is an effective strain rate in the plastic volume beneath the indenter. can be measured using indentation creep, load relaxation, or rate change experiments. The activation volume V∗, calculated based on which can traditionally be used to compare rate sensitivity data from a hardness test to conventional uniaxial testing, is calculated. Using materials with different stacking fault energy and specimens with different levels of work hardening, we demonstrate how increasing the dislocation density affects V∗; these effects may be taken as a kinetic signature of dislocation strengthening mechanisms. We noticed both H and exhibit an ISE. The course of V∗ vs. H as a result of the ISE is consistent with the course of testing specimens with different level of work hardening. This result was observed in both materials. This suggests that a dislocation mechanism is responsible for the ISE. When the results are fitted to a strain gradient plasticity model, the data at deep indents (microhardness and large nanoindentation) exhibit a straight-line behavior closely identical to literature data. However, for shallow indents (nanoindentation data), the slope of the line severely changes, decreasing by a factor of 10, resulting in a “bilinear behavior”.     

MULTIAXIAL BEHAVIOR OF NANOPOROUS SINGLE CRYSTAL COPPER： A MOLECULAR DYNAMICS STUDY

The stress-strain behavior and copper are studied by the molecular dynamics incipient yield surface of nanoporous single crystal （MD） method. The problem is modeled by a periodic unit cell subject to multi-axial loading. The loading induced defect evolution is explored. The incipient yield surfaces are found to be tension-compression asymmetric. For a given void volume fraction, apparent size effects in the yield surface are predicted： the smaller behaves stronger. The evolution pattern of defects （i.e., dislocation and stacking faults） is insensitive to the model size and void volume fraction. However, it is loading path dependent. Squared prismatic dislocation loops dominate the incipient yielding under hydrostatic tension while stacking-faults are the primary defects for hydrostatic compression and uniaxial tension/compression.     

Simulation for surface self-nanocrystallization under shot peening

Driven by high frequency and multi-directional shot peens, dislocations of various orientations proliferate into the metal, and accumulate in high density in the surface layer of a shallow depth. Migration, generation and annihilation of dislocations dictate the evolution of mobile dislocation density. Simulation for the experiment of pure iron under repeated shot peen flux of 800 times per square millimeter is carried out, and a dislocation density up to 2.17×10¹¹ mm⁻² is achieved. Dislocations of such density in the surface layer are shown to be capable of forming nano-grains whose size is about 10 nm. Molecular dynamics simulation verifies the formation of nano-grained metals at such dislocation density level. The dislocations are first regrouped to form subcrystallites, then combined to form stable nanocrystallized grains after sufficiently long time of relaxation. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10121202)