How Concerted Are Ionic Hops in Inorganic Solid-State Electrolytes?

Despite being fundamental to the understanding of solid-state electrolytes (SSEs), little is known on the degree of coordination between mobile ions in diffusive events, thus hindering a detailed comprehension and possible rational design of SSEs. Here, we introduce an unsupervised k-means clustering approach that is able to identify ion-hopping events and correlations between many mobile ions and apply it to a comprehensive ab initio MD database comprising several families of inorganic SSEs and millions of ionic configurations. It is found that despite two-body interactions between mobile ions being the largest, higher-order n-ion (2 < n) correlations are most frequent. Specifically, we prove a general exponential decaying law for the probability density function governing the number of concerted mobile ions. For the particular case of Li-based SSEs, it is shown that the average number of correlated mobile ions amounts to 10 ± 5 and that this result is practically independent of the temperature. Interestingly, our data-driven analysis reveals that fast-ionic diffusion strongly and positively correlates with ample hopping lengths and long hopping spans but not with high hopping frequencies and short interstitial residence times. Finally, it is shown that neglection of many-ion correlations generally leads to a modest overestimation of the hopping frequency that roughly is proportional to the average number of correlated mobile ions.

Fast Organic Cation Exchange in Colloidal Perovskite Quantum Dots toward Functional Optoelectronic Applications.

Colloidal quantum dots with lower surface ligand density are desired for preparing the active layer for photovoltaic, lighting, and other potential optoelectronic applications. In emerging perovskite quantum dots (PQDs), the diffusion of cations is thought to have a high energy barrier, relative to that of halide anions. Herein, we investigate the fast cross cation exchange approach in colloidal lead triiodide PQDs containing methylammonium (MA+) and formamidinium (FA+) organic cations, which exhibits a significantly lower exchange barrier than inorganic cesium (Cs+)-FA+ and Cs+-MA+ systems. First-principles calculations further suggest that the fast internal cation diffusion arises due to a lowering in structural distortions and the consequent decline in attractive cation-cation and cation-anion interactions in the presence of organic cation vacancies in mixed MA+-FA+ PQDs. Combining both experimental and theoretical evidence, we propose a vacancy-assisted exchange model to understand the impact of structural features and intermolecular interaction in PQDs with fewer surface ligands. Finally, for a realistic outcome, the as-prepared mixed-cation PQDs display better photostability and can be directly applied for one-step coated photovoltaic and photodetector devices, achieving a high photovoltaic efficiency of 15.05% using MA0.5FA0.5PbI3 PQDs and more precisely tunable detective spectral response from visible to near-infrared regions.

Giant Photocaloric Effects across a Vast Temperature Range in Ferroelectric Perovskites.

Solid-state cooling presents an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional refrigeration technologies that rely on thermodynamic cycles involving greenhouse gases. However, conventional caloric effects face several challenges that impede their practical application in refrigeration devices. First, operational temperature conditions must align closely with zero-field phase-transition points; otherwise, the required driving fields become excessively large. However, phase transitions occur infrequently near room temperature. Additionally, caloric effects typically exhibit strong temperature dependence and are sizable only within relatively narrow temperature ranges. In this Letter, we employ first-principles simulation methods to demonstrate that light-driven phase transitions in polar oxide perovskites have the potential to overcome such limitations. Specifically, for the prototypical ferroelectric KNbO_{3} we illustrate the existence of giant "photocaloric" effects induced by light absorption (ΔS_{PC}∼100 J K^{-1} kg^{-1} and ΔT_{PC}∼10 K) across a vast temperature range of several hundred Kelvin, encompassing room temperature. These findings are expected to be generalizable to other materials exhibiting similar polar behavior.

Absence of Off-Diagonal Long-Range Order in hcp

The mass transport properties along dislocation cores in hcp ^{4}He are revisited by considering two types of edge dislocations as well as a screw dislocation, using a fully correlated quantum simulation approach. Specifically, we employ the zero-temperature path-integral ground state (PIGS) method together with ergodic sampling of the permutation space to investigate the fundamental dislocation core structures and their off-diagonal long-range order properties. It is found that the Bose-Einstein condensate fraction of such defective ^{4}He systems is practically null (≤10^{-6}), just as in the bulk defect-free crystal. These results provide compelling evidence for the absence of intrinsic superfluidity in dislocation cores in hcp ^{4}He and challenge the superfluid dislocation-network interpretation of the mass-flux-experiment observations, calling for further experimental investigation.

Colossal room-temperature electrocaloric strength aided by hydrostatic pressure in lead-free multiferroic solid solutions.

Solid-state cooling applications based on electrocaloric (EC) effects are particularly promising from a technological point of view due to their downsize scalability and natural implementation in circuitry. However, EC effects typically involve materials that contain toxic substances and require relatively large electric fields (∼100-1000 kV cm-1) that cause fateful leakage current and dielectric loss problems. Here, we propose a possible solution to these practical issues that consists of concertedly applying hydrostatic pressure and electric fields on lead-free multiferroic materials. We theoretically demonstrate this strategy by performing first-principles simulations on supertetragonal BiFe1-xCoxO3 solid solutions (BFCO). It is shown that hydrostatic pressure, besides adjusting the occurrence of EC effects to near room temperature, can reduce enormously the intensity of driving electric fields. For pressurized BFCO, we estimate a colossal room-temperature EC strength, defined as the ratio of the adiabatic EC temperature change by an applied electric field, of ∼1 K cm kV-1, a value that is several orders of magnitude larger than those routinely measured in uncompressed ferroelectrics.

Anomalous Structural Evolution and Glassy Lattice in Mixed-Halide Hybrid Perovskites.

Hybrid halide perovskites have emerged as highly promising photovoltaic materials because of their exceptional optoelectronic properties, which are often optimized via compositional engineering like mixing halides. It is well established that hybrid perovskites undergo a series of structural phase transitions as temperature varies. In this work, the authors find that phase transitions are substantially suppressed in mixed-halide hybrid perovskite single crystals of MAPbI3-x Brx (MA = CH3 NH3 + and x = 1 or 2) using a complementary suite of diffraction and spectroscopic techniques. Furthermore, as a general behavior, multiple crystallographic phases coexist in mixed-halide perovskites over a wide temperature range, and a slightly distorted monoclinic phase, hitherto unreported for hybrid perovskites, is dominant at temperatures above 100 K. The anomalous structural evolution is correlated with the glassy behavior of organic cations and optical phonons in mixed-halide perovskites. This work demonstrates the complex interplay between composition engineering and lattice dynamics in hybrid perovskites, shedding new light on their unique properties.

Tailoring Phase Alignment and Interfaces via Polyelectrolyte Anchoring Enables Large-Area 2D Perovskite Solar Cells.

Ruddlesden-Popper phase 2D perovskite solar cells (PSCs) exhibit improved lifetime while still facing challenges such as phase alignment and up-scaling to module-level devices. Herein, polyelectrolytes are explored to tackle this issue. The contact between perovskite and hole-transport layer (HTL) is important for decreasing interfacial non-radiative recombination and scalable fabrication of uniform 2D perovskite films. Through exploring compatible butylamine cations, we first demonstrate poly(3-(4-carboxybutyl)thiophene-2,5-diyl)-butylamine (P3CT-BA) as an efficient HTL for 2D PSCs due to its great hydrophilicity, relatively high hole mobility and uniform surface. More importantly, the tailored P3CT-BA has an anchoring effect and acts as the buried passivator for 2D perovskites. Consequently, a best efficiency approaching 18 % was achieved and we further first report large-area (2×3 cm2 , 5×5 cm2 ) 2D perovskite minimodules with an impressive efficiency of 14.81 % and 11.13 %, respectively.

Impact of Surface Defects on LaNiO3 Perovskite Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction.

Perovskite oxides are regarded as promising electrocatalysts for water splitting due to their cost-effectiveness, high efficiency and durability in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Despite these advantages, a fundamental understanding of how critical structural parameters of perovskite electrocatalysts influence their activity and stability is lacking. Here, we investigate the impact of structural defects on OER performance for representative LaNiO3 perovskite electrocatalysts. Hydrogen reduction of 700 °C calcined LaNiO3 induces a high density of surface oxygen vacancies, and confers significantly enhanced OER activity and stability compared to unreduced LaNiO3 ; the former exhibit a low onset overpotential of 380 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and a small Tafel slope of 70.8 mV dec-1 . Oxygen vacancy formation is accompanied by mixed Ni2+ /Ni3+ valence states, which quantum-chemical DFT calculations reveal modify the perovskite electronic structure. Further, it reveals that the formation of oxygen vacancies is thermodynamically more favourable on the surface than in the bulk; it increases the electronic conductivity of reduced LaNiO3 in accordance with the enhanced OER activity that is observed.

Interface-Charge Induced Giant Electrocaloric Effect in Lead Free Ferroelectric Thin-Film Bilayers.

Conventional refrigeration methods based on compression-expansion cycles of greenhouse gases are environmentally threatening and cannot be miniaturized. Electrocaloric effects driven by electric fields are especially well suited for implementation of built-in cooling in portable electronic devices. However, most known electrocaloric materials present poor cooling performances near room temperature, contain toxic substances, and require high electric fields. Here, we show that lead-free ferroelectric thin-film bilayers composed of (Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3-BaTiO3 (BNBT) and Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3-(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3 (BCZT) display unprecedentedly large electrocaloric effects of ∼23 K near room temperature under moderate electric bias. The giant electrocaloric effect observed in BNBT/BCZT bilayers, which largely surpasses the sum of the individual caloric responses measured in BNBT and BCZT, is originated from the presence of compositional bound charges at their interface. Our discovery of interface charge-induced giant electrocaloric effects indicates that multilayered oxide heterostructures hold tremendous promise for developing highly efficient and scalable solid-state cooling applications.

Giant Thermal Enhancement of the Electric Polarization in Ferrimagnetic BiFe_{1-x}Co_{x}O_{3} Solid Solutions near Room Temperature.

Thermal excitations typically reduce the electric polarization in ferroelectric materials. Here, we show by means of first-principles calculations that multiferroic BiFe_{1-x}Co_{x}O_{3} solid solutions with 0.25≤x≤0.50 (BFCO) represent a noteworthy exception to this behavior. In particular, we find that, at room temperature and for moderate pressures of 0.1-1.0 GPa, depending on the composition, the electric polarization of bulk BFCO increases by ∼150%. The origin of such an exceptional behavior is a phase transformation involving a low-T rhombohedral (R) phase and a high-T supertetragonal (T) phase. Both R and T phases are ferrimagnetic near room temperature with an approximate net magnetization of 0.13 µ_{B} per formula unit. Contrary to what occurs in either bulk BiFeO_{3} or BiCoO_{3}, the T phase is stabilized over the R by increasing temperature due to its higher vibrational entropy. This extraordinary T-induced R→T phase transition is originated by polar phonon modes that involve concerted displacements of transition-metal and oxygen ions.

First-principles prediction of large thermoelectric efficiency in superionic Li2SnX3 (X = S, Se).

Thermoelectric materials create an electric potential when subjected to a temperature gradient and vice versa; hence they can be used to harvest waste heat into electricity and in thermal management applications. However, finding highly efficient thermoelectrics with high figures of merit, zT ≥ 1, is very challenging because the combination of a high power factor and low thermal conductivity is rare in materials. Here, we use first-principles methods to analyze the thermoelectric properties of Li2SnX3 (X = S, and Se), a recently synthesized class of lithium fast-ion conductors presenting high thermal stability. In p-type Li2SnX3, we estimate highly flat electronic valence bands that produce high Seebeck coefficients exceeding 400 µV K-1 at 700 K. In n-type Li2SnX3, the electronic conduction bands are slightly dispersive; however, the accompanying electron-acoustic phonon scattering is weak, which induces high electrical conductivity. The combination of a high Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity gives rise to high power factors, reaching a maximum of ∼4.5 mW m-1 K-2 at 300 K in both n-type Li2SnS3 and Li2SnSe3. Likewise, the thermal conductivity in Li2SnX3 is low as compared to conventional thermoelectric materials, 1.35-4.65 W m-1 K-1 at room temperature. As a result, we estimate a maximum zT of 1.1 in n-type Li2SnS3 at 700 K and of 2.1 (1.1) in n-type Li2SnSe3 at the same temperature (300 K). Our findings of large zT in Li2SnX3 suggest that lithium fast-ion conductors, typically employed as electrolytes in solid-state batteries, hold exceptional promise as thermoelectric materials.

Giant Mechanocaloric Effects in Fluorite-Structured Superionic Materials.

Mechanocaloric materials experience a change in temperature when a mechanical stress is applied on them adiabatically. Thus, far, only ferroelectrics and superelastic metallic alloys have been considered as potential mechanocaloric compounds to be exploited in solid-state cooling applications. Here we show that giant mechanocaloric effects occur in hitherto overlooked fast ion conductors (FIC), a class of multicomponent materials in which above a critical temperature, Ts, a constituent ionic species undergoes a sudden increase in mobility. Using first-principles and molecular dynamics simulations, we found that the superionic transition in fluorite-structured FIC, which is characterized by a large entropy increase of the order of 10(2) JK(-1) kg(-1), can be externally tuned with hydrostatic, biaxial, or uniaxial stresses. In particular, Ts can be reduced several hundreds of degrees through the application of moderate tensile stresses due to the concomitant drop in the formation energy of Frenkel pair defects. We predict that the adiabatic temperature change in CaF2 and PbF2, two archetypal fluorite-structured FIC, close to their critical points are of the order of 10(2) and 10(1) K, respectively. This work advocates that FIC constitute a new family of mechanocaloric materials showing great promise for prospective solid-state refrigeration applications.

Revisiting the zero-temperature phase diagram of stoichiometric SrCoO3 with first-principles methods.

By using first-principles methods based on density functional theory we revisited the zero-temperature phase diagram of stoichiometric SrCoO3, a ferromagnetic metallic perovskite that undergoes significant structural, electronic, and magnetic changes as its content of oxygen is decreased. We considered both bulk and epitaxial thin film geometries. In the bulk case, we found that a tetragonal P4/mbm phase with moderate Jahn-Teller distortions and a c/a ratio of is consistently predicted to have a lower energy than the thus far assumed ground-state cubic Pm3[combining macron]m phase. In thin films, we found two phase transitions occurring at compressive and tensile epitaxial strains. However, in contrast to previous theoretical predictions, our results show that: (i) the phase transition induced by tensile strain is isostructural and involves only a change in magnetic spin order (that is, not a metallic to insulator transformation), and (ii) the phase transition induced by compressive strain comprises simultaneous structural, electronic and magnetic spin order changes, but the required epitaxial stress is so large (<-6%) that is unlikely to be observed in practice. Our findings call for a revision of the crystallographic data obtained in fully oxidised SrCoO3 samples at low temperatures, as well as of previous first-principles studies.

Superionicity and polymorphism in calcium fluoride at high pressure.

We present a combined experimental and computational first-principles study of the superionic and structural properties of CaF_{2} at high P-T conditions. We observe an anomalous superionic behavior in the low-P fluorite phase that consists of a decrease of the normal → superionic critical temperature with compression. This unexpected effect can be explained in terms of a P-induced softening of a zone-boundary X phonon that involves exclusively fluorine displacements. Also we find that superionic conductivity is absent in the high-P cotunnite phase. Instead, superionicity develops in a new low-symmetry high-T phase that we identify as monoclinic (space group P2_{1}/c). We discuss the possibility of observing these intriguing phenomena in related isomorphic materials.

Light-driven dynamical tuning of the thermal conductivity in ferroelectrics.

Dynamical tuning of the thermal conductivity in crystals, κ, is critical for thermal management applications, as well as for energy harvesting and the development of novel phononic devices able to perform logic operations with phonons. Such a desired κ control can be achieved in functional materials that experience large structural and phonon variations as a result of field-induced phase transformations. However, this approach is only practical within reduced temperature intervals containing zero-bias phase transition points, since otherwise the necessary driving fields become excessively large and the materials' performances are detrimentally affected. Here, based on first-principles calculations, we propose an alternative strategy for dynamically tuning κ that is operative over broad temperature conditions and realizable in a wide class of materials. By shining light on the archetypal perovskite oxide KNbO3, we predict that ultrafast and reversible ferroelectric-to-paraelectric phase transitions are induced, yielding large and anisotropic κ variations (up to ≈30% at T = 300 K). These light-induced thermal transport shifts can take place at temperatures spanning several hundreds of kelvin and are essentially the result of anharmonic effects affecting the phonon lifetimes.

Colossal Reversible Barocaloric Effects in a Plastic Crystal Mediated by Lattice Vibrations and Ion Diffusion.

Solid-state methods for cooling and heating promise a sustainable alternative to current compression cycles of greenhouse gases and inefficient fuel-burning heaters. Barocaloric effects (BCE) driven by hydrostatic pressure (p) are especially encouraging in terms of large adiabatic temperature changes (|ΔT| ≈ 10 K) and isothermal entropy changes (|ΔS| ≈ 100 J K-1 kg-1). However, BCE typically require large pressure shifts due to irreversibility issues, and sizeable |ΔT| and |ΔS| seldom are realized in a same material. Here, the existence of colossal and reversible BCE in LiCB11H12 is demonstrated near its order-disorder phase transition at ≈380 K. Specifically, for Δp ≈ 0.23 (0.10) GPa, |ΔSrev| = 280 (200) J K-1 kg-1 and |ΔTrev| = 32 (10) K are measured, which individually rival with state-of-the-art BCE figures. Furthermore, pressure shifts of the order of 0.1 GPa yield huge reversible barocaloric strengths of ≈2 J K-1 kg-1 MPa-1. Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to quantify the role of lattice vibrations, molecular reorientations, and ion diffusion on the disclosed BCE. Interestingly, lattice vibrations are found to contribute the most to |ΔS| while the diffusion of lithium ions, despite adding up only slightly to the entropy change, is crucial in enabling the molecular order-disorder phase transition.

Eutectic Mixture Formation and Relaxation Dynamics of Coamorphous Mixtures of Two Benzodiazepine Drugs.

The formation of coamorphous mixtures of pharmaceuticals is an interesting strategy to improve the solubility and bioavailability of drugs, while at the same time enhancing the kinetic stability of the resulting binary glass and allowing the simultaneous administration of two active principles. In this contribution, we describe kinetically stable amorphous binary mixtures of two commercial active pharmaceutical ingredients, diazepam and nordazepam, of which the latter, besides being administered as a drug on its own, is also the main active metabolite of the other in the human body. We report the eutectic equilibrium-phase diagram of the binary mixture, which is found to be characterized by an experimental eutectic composition of 0.18 molar fraction of nordazepam, with a eutectic melting point of Te = 395.4 ± 1.2 K. The two compounds are barely miscible in the crystalline phase. The mechanically obtained mixtures were melted and supercooled to study the glass-transition and molecular-relaxation dynamics of amorphous mixtures at the corresponding concentration. The glass-transition temperature was always higher than room temperature and varied linearly with composition. The Te was lower than the onset of thermal decomposition of either compound (pure nordazepam decomposes upon melting and pure diazepam well above its melting point), thus implying that the eutectic liquid and glass can be obtained without any degradation of the drugs. The eutectic glass was kinetically stable against crystallization for at least a few months. The relaxation processes of the amorphous mixtures were studied by dielectric spectroscopy, which provided evidence for a single structural (α) relaxation, a single Johari-Goldstein (ß) relaxation, and a ring-inversion conformational relaxation of the diazepinic ring, occurring on the same timescale in both drugs. We further characterized both the binary mixtures and pure compounds by FTIR spectroscopy and first-principles density functional theory (DFT) simulations to analyze intermolecular interactions. The DFT calculations confirm the presence of strong attractive forces within the heteromolecular dimer, leading to large dimer interaction energies of the order of -0.1 eV.

Universal ion-transport descriptors and classes of inorganic solid-state electrolytes.

Solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) with high ion conductivity are pivotal for the development and large-scale adoption of green-energy conversion and storage technologies such as fuel cells, electrocatalysts and solid-state batteries. Yet, SSEs are extremely complex materials for which general rational design principles remain indeterminate. Here, we combine first-principles materials modelling, computational power and modern data analysis techniques to advance towards the solution of such a fundamental and technologically pressing problem. Our data-driven survey reveals that the correlations between ion diffusivity and other materials descriptors in general are monotonic, although not necessarily linear, and largest when the latter are of vibrational nature and explicitly incorporate anharmonic effects. Surprisingly, principal component and k-means clustering analyses show that elastic and vibrational descriptors, rather than the usual ones related to chemical composition and ion mobility, are best suited for reducing the high complexity of SSEs and classifying them into universal classes. Our findings highlight the need for considering databases that incorporate temperature effects to improve our understanding of SSEs and point towards a generalized approach to the design of energy materials.