Honeycomb-Layered Oxides With Silver Atom Bilayers and Emergence of Non-Abelian SU(2) Interactions.

Honeycomb-layered oxides with monovalent or divalent, monolayered cationic lattices generally exhibit myriad crystalline features encompassing rich electrochemistry, geometries, and disorders, which particularly places them as attractive material candidates for next-generation energy storage applications. Herein, global honeycomb-layered oxide compositions, Ag2 M2 TeO6 ( M = Ni , Mg , etc $M = \rm Ni, Mg, etc$ .) exhibiting Ag $\rm Ag$ atom bilayers with sub-valent states within Ag-rich crystalline domains of Ag6 M2 TeO6 and Ag $\rm Ag$ -deficient domains of Ag 2 - x Ni 2 TeO 6 ${\rm Ag}_{2 - x}\rm Ni_2TeO_6$ ( 0 < x < 2 $0 < x < 2$ ). The Ag $\rm Ag$ -rich material characterized by aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy reveals local atomic structural disorders characterized by aperiodic stacking and incoherency in the bilayer arrangement of Ag $\rm Ag$ atoms. Meanwhile, the global material not only displays high ionic conductivity but also manifests oxygen-hole electrochemistry during silver-ion extraction. Within the Ag $\rm Ag$ -rich domains, the bilayered structure, argentophilic interactions therein and the expected Ag $\rm Ag$ sub-valent states ( 1 / 2 + , 2 / 3 + $1/2+, 2/3+$ , etc.) are theoretically understood via spontaneous symmetry breaking of SU(2)× U(1) gauge symmetry interactions amongst 3 degenerate mass-less chiral fermion states, justified by electron occupancy of silver 4 d z 2 $4d_{z^2}$ and 5s orbitals on a bifurcated honeycomb lattice. This implies that bilayered frameworks have research applications that go beyond the confines of energy storage.

Mixed alkali-ion transport and storage in atomic-disordered honeycomb layered NaKNi2TeO6.

Honeycomb layered oxides constitute an emerging class of materials that show interesting physicochemical and electrochemical properties. However, the development of these materials is still limited. Here, we report the combined use of alkali atoms (Na and K) to produce a mixed-alkali honeycomb layered oxide material, namely, NaKNi2TeO6. Via transmission electron microscopy measurements, we reveal the local atomic structural disorders characterised by aperiodic stacking and incoherency in the alternating arrangement of Na and K atoms. We also investigate the possibility of mixed electrochemical transport and storage of Na+ and K+ ions in NaKNi2TeO6. In particular, we report an average discharge cell voltage of about 4 V and a specific capacity of around 80 mAh g-1 at low specific currents (i.e., < 10 mA g-1) when a NaKNi2TeO6-based positive electrode is combined with a room-temperature NaK liquid alloy negative electrode using an ionic liquid-based electrolyte solution. These results represent a step towards the use of tailored cathode active materials for "dendrite-free" electrochemical energy storage systems exploiting room-temperature liquid alkali metal alloy materials.

Voltammetric study of the boric acid-salicylaldehyde-H-acid ternary system and its application to the voltammetric determination of boron.

The ternary system of boric acid, salicylaldehyde (SA) and H-acid (HA) was voltammetrically studied from kinetic and equilibrium points of view. The effect of the SA substituents was also studied by using two analogs, 5-fluorosalicylaldehyde (F-SA) and 5-methylsalicylaldehyde (Me-SA). The three cathodic peaks of Azomethine H (AzH), Azomethine H-boric acid complex (AzB), and free SA were observed in the solution containing boric acid, SA and HA. The peak potentials of AzH and SA were shifted to negative potentials with increasing pH, while the peak potential of AzB was pH-independent. This difference indicates that a proton participates in the charge-transfer steps of the AzH and SA reductions, but not in that of the AzB reduction. The formation constants for the AzB complexation were similar among all the examined analogs. In the kinetic study, the reaction rate was higher in an acidic condition for the AzH formation, but in a neutral condition for the AzB formation. The rate constants for the AzB complexes were in the order of F-SA > SA ≈ Me-SA, indicating that the fluoro group accelerates the F-AzB complexation. The AzB complexation mechanism is considered to consist of more than three steps, i.e., the pre-equilibrium of the salicylaldehyde-boric acid complex (SA-B) formation, the nucleophilic attack of HA on SA-B, and the remaining some steps to form AzB. Based on these results, the voltammetric determination method of boron using F-SA was optimized, which allowed the boron concentration to be determined within only 5 min with a 0.03 mg B dm(-3) detection limit.

Bottom-up nanostructured bulk silicon: a practical high-efficiency thermoelectric material.

The effectiveness of thermoelectric (TE) materials is quantified by the dimensionless figure of merit (zT). An ideal way to enhance zT is by scattering phonons without scattering electrons. Here we show that, using a simple bottom-up method, we can prepare bulk nanostructured Si that exhibits an exceptionally high zT of 0.6 at 1050 K, at least three times higher than that of the optimized bulk Si. The nanoscale precipitates in this material connected coherently or semi-coherently with the Si matrix, effectively scattering heat-carrying phonons without significantly influencing the material's electron transport properties, leading to the high zT.

Thermodynamics of complexation reactions of borate and phenylboronate with diol, triol and tetritol.

In order to fully elucidate the structures and stabilities of borate and phenylboronate complexes with polyols, the complexations with 1,2-ethanediol, 1,3-propanediol, 1,2,3-propanetriol, erythritol and threitol were investigated by NMR spectroscopy and DFT calculations. For the borate, 1 : 1 complexes binding with a ligand in a monodentate manner and 1 : 2 complexes binding with one ligand in an α,ß- or α,γ-bidentate manner and the other in a monodentate manner were identified for the first time besides the well-known 1 : 1 and 1 : 2 complexes with five- and/or six-membered chelate rings. In addition, the formations of 1 : 1 α,ß,δ-tridentate complexes with tetritol were confirmed. For the phenylboronate, the bidentate and tridentate complexes with 1 : 1 stoichiometries were identified. These complexations were enthalpy-driven processes accompanied by a negative entropic contribution. Linear enthalpy-entropy compensation relationships were observed for the stepwise complexations of borate and phenylboronate to form a five- or six-membered chelate ring. The TΔS° vs. ΔH° plots gave three different straight lines in parallel with one another depending on the number of OH groups outside the chelate ring. For the second intramolecular chelation to form the α,ß,δ-tridentate complex from the α,ß- or α,γ-bidentate complex with tetritol, the TΔS° vs. ΔH° plots gave different straight lines for the borate and phenylboronate, being more favorable in enthalpy for the phenylboronate.

Protonation and ion exchange equilibria of weak base anion-exchange resins.

Protonation and ion exchange equilibria of weak base anion-exchange resins, in which tertiary amine moieties were introduced as a functional group, were investigated by applying NMR spectroscopy to species adsorbed into the resins. (31)P NMR signals of the phosphinate ion in the resin phases shifted to a lower field due to the influence of protonation of the tertiary amine groups of the resins in the pH range of 4-10. Protonation constants of the tertiary amine groups in styrene-divinylbenzene (DVB)-based resins were estimated to be K(H)=10(6.4) for Amberlite IRA96 and 10(6.5) for DIAION WA30 by the (31)P NMR method using the phosphinate ion as a probe species. In addition to the low field shift caused by the protonation of the tertiary amine moieties, another low field shift was observed for the phosphinate ion in acrylic acid-DVB-based resins at a rather high pH. This shift should be due to an unexpected deprotonation in the acrylic resin: a tautomerism accompanying the proton release from the amide form to the imide one in the functional group, thus, the resin could exhibit a cation exchange property at the high pH. Protonation constants of the tertiary amine moieties in the acrylic resins were estimated to be 10(8.8) for DIAION WA10, 10(9.0) for Amberlite IRA67 and 10(9.3) for Bio-Rad AG 4-X4 on the basis of the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation using the resin phase pH estimated by the (133)Cs and (1)H NMR signal intensities.

Ion exchange and protonation equilibria of an amphoteric ion-exchange resin in the presence of simple salt.

The influence of simple salts on the ion exchange and protonation equilibria of an amphoteric ion-exchange resin, which has strong base and weak acid moieties in a single functional group fixed onto the styrene-DVB matrix, has been investigated. Concentrations of ionic species in the amphoteric ion-exchange resin in equilibrium with various sodium salt solutions were estimated by (23)Na NMR spectroscopy. For the NaClO(4) system, the ratio of sodium ion concentration in the resin phase to that in the equilibrium solution was greater than 1 and increased with a decrease in the salt concentration. In contrast to an ordinary cation-exchange resin, the ion exchange behavior of Mg(2+) and Ca(2+) on the amphoteric ion-exchange resin showed a marked dependence on the kinds of salts: the distribution coefficients for the NaCl system were independent of the salt concentration, while the log D vs. log[Na(+)] plots for the NaClO(4) system showed linear relationships with slopes being neither -2 nor 0. Apparent protonation constants of the carboxylate in the functional group of the resin in equilibrium with NaClO(4) solutions were greater than those with NaCl solutions. The ion exchange and protonation properties of the amphoteric ion-exchange resin were elucidated on the basis of the information about the salt concentrations in the resin phase estimated by the NMR method.

Anion exchanger as a reaction/separation medium-absorptiometric determination of trace amounts of boron in waters by on-line complexation with chromotropic acid presorbed on the anion-exchange column.

A novel method of on-line absorptiometric determination for trace amounts of boron was developed based on the complexation with chromotropic acid presorbed on an anion-exchange column. On-line reaction and separation were achieved by controlling pH conditions in solutions to accelerate the 1:2 complex formation in the concentration process at pH 3 and to stabilize the complex in the separation process at pH 8. About 75% of the boron introduced into the stream was kinetically collected as the 1:2 complex on the column under the experimental conditions. The 1:2 complex was satisfactorily separated from excess reagent and matrix components by changing the concentration of NaClO4 in the eluent and its peak height on the chromatogram monitored at 350 nm was used for calibration. The sensitivity could be enhanced by increasing the sample amount introduced and the detection limits (3sigma) were 162 ng dm(-3) and 45 ng dm(-3) of boron, when 5.0 cm3 and 13.4 cm3 of the samples were used, respectively. The method has been successfully applied to the determination of boron in samples of river water, tap water and ion-exchanged water.