Formation and Healing of Defects in Atomically Thin GaSe and InSe.

Two dimensional III-VI metal monochalcogenide materials, such as GaSe and InSe, are attracting considerable attention due to their promising electronic and optoelectronic properties. Here, an investigation of point and extended atomic defects formed in mono-, bi-, and few-layer GaSe and InSe crystals is presented. Using state-of-the-art scanning transmission electron microscopy, it is observed that these materials can form both metal and selenium vacancies under the action of the electron beam. Selenium vacancies are observed to be healable: recovering the perfect lattice structure in the presence of selenium or enabling incorporation of dopant atoms in the presence of impurities. Under prolonged imaging, multiple point defects are observed to coalesce to form extended defect structures, with GaSe generally developing trigonal defects and InSe primarily forming line defects. These insights into atomic behavior could be harnessed to synthesize and tune the properties of 2D post-transition-metal monochalcogenide materials for optoelectronic applications.

Synthesis of poly(ethylene oxide) approaching monodispersity.

Polydispersity in polymers hinders fundamental understanding of their structure-property relationships and prevents them from being used in fields like medicine, where polydispersity affects biological activity. The polydispersity of relatively short-chain poly(ethylene oxide) [(CH2CH2O2)n; PEO] affects its biological activity, for example, the toxicity and efficacy of PEOylated drugs. As a result, there have been intensive efforts to reduce the dispersity as much as possible (truly monodispersed materials are not possible). Here we report a synthetic procedure that leads to an unprecedented low level of dispersity. We also show for the first time that it is possible to discriminate between PEOs differing in only 1 ethylene oxide (EO) unit, essential in order to verify the exceptionally low levels of dispersity achieved here. It is anticipated that the synthesis of poly(ethylene oxide) approaching monodispersity will be of value in many fields where the applications are sensitive to the distribution of molar mass.

The shape of TiO2-B nanoparticles.

The shape of nanoparticles can be important in defining their properties. Establishing the exact shape of particles is a challenging task when the particles tend to agglomerate and their size is just a few nanometers. Here we report a structure refinement procedure for establishing the shape of nanoparticles using powder diffraction data. The method utilizes the fundamental formula of Debye coupled with a Monte Carlo-based optimization and has been successfully applied to TiO2-B nanoparticles. Atomistic modeling and molecular dynamics simulations of ensembles of all the ions in the nanoparticle reveal surface hydroxylation as the underlying reason for the established shape and structural features.

Alkali metal crystalline polymer electrolytes.

Polymer electrolytes have been studied extensively because uniquely they combine ionic conductivity with solid yet flexible mechanical properties, rendering them important for all-solid-state devices including batteries, electrochromic displays and smart windows. For some 30 years, ionic conductivity in polymers was considered to occur only in the amorphous state above Tg. Crystalline polymers were believed to be insulators. This changed with the discovery of Li(+) conductivity in crystalline poly(ethylene oxide)(6):LiAsF(6). However, new crystalline polymer electrolytes have proved elusive, questioning whether the 6:1 complex has particular structural features making it a unique exception to the rule that only amorphous polymers conduct. Here, we demonstrate that ionic conductivity in crystalline polymers is not unique to the 6:1 complex by reporting several new crystalline polymer electrolytes containing different alkali metal salts (Na(+), K(+) and Rb(+)), including the best conductor poly(ethylene oxide)(8):NaAsF(6) discovered so far, with a conductivity 1.5 orders of magnitude higher than poly(ethylene oxide)(6):LiAsF(6). These are the first crystalline polymer electrolytes with a different composition and structures to that of the 6:1 Li(+) complex.

Demonstrating structural deformation in an inorganic nanotube.

There is much current interest in nanostructured materials (nanotubes, nanobelts, nanospheres, etc.). Their crystal structures can differ from those of the equivalent bulk materials. Determining these differences is important in understanding how the properties of nanomaterials differ from those of the bulk. Established methods of X-ray structure determination become increasingly difficult or impossible to apply on reducing the dimensions to a few nanometers. Here we show that, by combining the Debye equation for X-ray scattering (which relates an ensemble of atoms to their diffraction pattern without recourse to symmetry) with a model of the crystal structure, generated by folding the ideal crystal structure into a nanotube, the severely broadened/distored powder diffraction pattern may be described. This procedure reveals the significant structural deformations necessary to accommodate the nanotube shape. The importance of knowing the (deformed) crystal structure is discussed.

Factors influencing the conductivity of crystalline polymer electrolytes.

Crystalline polymer electrolytes conduct, in contrast to the established view for 30 years. The crystalline polymer poly(ethylene oxide)6:LiXF6, X = P, As, Sb is composed of tunnels formed from pairs of (CH2-CH2-O)n chains, within which the Li+ ions reside and along which they may migrate. The anions are located outside the tunnels. PEO6:LiXF6 formed from PEO of average molecular weight 1000 Da has an average chain length of 40 A compared with a typical crystallite size of 2500 angstroms, hence low molecular weight materials have many chain ends within a crystallite. More chain ends increase conductivity. Materials composed of polydispersed PEO (chains of different lengths) of average molecular weight 1000 Da exhibit a conductivity one order of magnitude greater than monodispersed materials of the same molecular weight. Replacing the -OCH3 groups on the chain ends with -OC2H5 increases the conductivity by a further order of magnitude. Conductivity may also be increased by isovalent or aliovalent doping of the 6:1 complexes in which XF6- is replaced by N(SO2CF3)2- or SiF6(2-), respectively.

Ionic conductivity in crystalline PEO6:Li(AsF6)1-x(SbF6)x.

The ionic conductivity of PEO6:LiXF6 (X = As, Sb) complexes may be raised by over an order of magnitude by forming solid solutions of PEO6:Li(AsF6)1-x(SbF6)x.

Raising the conductivity of crystalline polymer electrolytes by aliovalent doping.

Polymer electrolytes, salts dissolved in solid polymers, hold the key to realizing all solid-state devices such as rechargeable lithium batteries, electrochromic displays, or SMART windows. For 25 years conductivity was believed to be confined to amorphous polymer electrolytes, all crystalline polymer electrolytes were thought to be insulators. However, recent results have demonstrated conductivity in crystalline polymer electrolytes, although the levels at room temperature are too low for application. Here we show, for the first time, that it is possible to raise significantly the level of ionic conductivity by aliovalent doping. The conductivity may be raised by 1.5 orders of magnitude if the SbF6- ion in the crystalline conductor poly(ethylene oxide)6:LiSbF6 is replaced by less than 5 mol % SiF6(2-), thus introducing additional, mobile, Li+ ions into the structure to maintain electroneutrality.

Acceptable composition-ratio variations of a mixed crystal for nonlinear laser device applications.

A theory is developed to predict some crucial parameters that optimize the performance of mixed nonlinear crystals in nonlinear devices. These include acceptable variations of the composition ratio of the parent crystals and the optimal as well as acceptable interaction lengths for any interaction. The theory is successfully applied to make necessary predictions for the newly developed LiIn(Se(x)S(1-x))2 crystal for second-harmonic and optical parametric generation.

Structure and conductivity of the crystalline polymer electrolyte beta-PEO6:LiAsF6.

beta-PEO6:LiAsF6 polymer electrolyte has a distinctly different crystal structure from the alpha-phase of the same material. The change in the structure from alpha to beta lowers the conductivity by 1 order of magnitude.

Increasing the conductivity of crystalline polymer electrolytes.

Polymer electrolytes consist of salts dissolved in polymers (for example, polyethylene oxide, PEO), and represent a unique class of solid coordination compounds. They have potential applications in a diverse range of all-solid-state devices, such as rechargeable lithium batteries, flexible electrochromic displays and smart windows. For 30 years, attention was focused on amorphous polymer electrolytes in the belief that crystalline polymer:salt complexes were insulators. This view has been overturned recently by demonstrating ionic conductivity in the crystalline complexes PEO6:LiXF6 (X = P, As, Sb); however, the conductivities were relatively low. Here we demonstrate an increase of 1.5 orders of magnitude in the conductivity of these materials by replacing a small proportion of the XF6- anions in the crystal structure with isovalent N(SO2CF3)2- ions. We suggest that the larger and more irregularly shaped anions disrupt the potential around the Li+ ions, thus enhancing the ionic conductivity in a manner somewhat analogous to the AgBr(1-x)I(x) ionic conductors. The demonstration that doping strategies can enhance the conductivity of crystalline polymer electrolytes represents a significant advance towards the technological exploitation of such materials.

The structure of poly(ethylene oxide)8: NaBPh4 from a single crystal oligomer and polycrystalline polymer.

We show that the structure of a polymer electrolyte may be solved by growing single crystals of an oligomeric (short chain) complex which provided an adequate starting model for refinement of the equivalent polymeric structure using powder diffraction: the efficacy of this method has been demonstrated by determining for the first time the structure of an 8 : 1 complex, poly(ethylene oxide)(8) : NaBPh(4).

Ionic conductivity in the crystalline polymer electrolytes PEO6:LiXF6, X = P, As, Sb.

Ionically conducting polymers (salts dissolved in a polymer matrix) are of great interest because they uniquely exhibit ionic conductivity in a soft but solid membrane. As such, they are critical to the development of devices such as all-solid-state lithium batteries. The established view of ionic conductivity in polymer electrolytes is that this occurs in amorphous materials above their glass transition temperature and that crystalline polymer electrolytes are insulators. In contrast, we show that three crystalline polymer electrolytes, poly(ethylene oxide)(6):LiXF(6), X = P, As, Sb, not only conduct but do so better than the analogous amorphous phases! It is also shown that the conductivities of all three 6:1 complexes are similar, consistent with the dimension of the bottlenecks to conduction derived from their crystal structures. An increase in ionic conductivity with reduction of molecular weight of the crystalline polymer electrolyte (from 2000 to 1000) is reported and shown to relate to the increase in crystallite size on reducing molecular weight.