BaCoO2 with Tetrahedral Cobalt Coordination: The Missing Element to Understand Energy Storage and Conversion Applications in BaCoO3-δ-Based Materials.

Barium-cobaltate-based perovskite (BaCoO3-δ) and barium-cobaltate-based nanocomposites have been intensively studied in energy storage and conversion devices mainly due to flexible oxygen stoichiometry and tunable nonprecious transition metal oxidation states. Although a rich and complex family of structural polymorphs has already been reported for these perovskites in the literature, the potential structural evolution that may occur during the oxygen reduction reaction and the oxygen evolution reaction has not been investigated so far. In this study, we synthesized and characterized the lowest Co-oxidation state possible in the compound, BaCoO2, which exhibits a quartz-derived, trigonal structure with a helicoidally corner-sharing, CoO4-tetrahedral-framework as already proposed by Spitsbergen et al. Oxygen can reversibly be inserted in such a crystal structure to form BaCoO3-δ, i.e., with 0 ≤ δ ≤ 1, based on the results of an in situ coupled thermogravimetric - neutron diffraction study and which presents therefore giant oxygen capacity storage due to the extreme tunability of the electronic configuration of the cobalt cations which defines the fundamental origins of the materials performance. The reversible conversion of BaCoO2 to BaCoO3-δ associated with a similar electronic conductivity above 900 K permits to clarify the high potential of BaCoO3-δ-based energy storage and conversion devices.

Stability and Physical Properties of Metastable Ba-Si Clathrates.

In the present study, we have investigated the stability of different Ba-Si clathrates with pressure and temperature using DFT calculations and studied the stability of type I Ba8Si46 and type IX Ba24Si100 clathrates using high pressure─high temperature synthesis technique, calorimetry, and diffraction experiments. When increasing pressure, the type I Ba8Si46 clathrate and BaSi6 become more stable. In good qualitative agreement with experiments, the type IX Ba24Si100 clathrate becomes stable at a pressure of 1-2 GPa thanks to the pressure and thermal effect of both electronic and vibrational contributions. One can notice that the presence of Ba in the cages of type IX clathrate increases significantly the stability and the mechanical properties of type IX clathrate. We have determined the P-T existence domain of type IX Ba24Si100 clathrate from ex situ experiments, which was confirmed by in situ synchrotron X-ray experiments. At room pressure and under an oxidizing atmosphere, the type I Ba8Si46 and the type IX Ba24Si100 clathrates are stable up to about 560 °C and up to about 600 °C, respectively. The thermoelectric properties of type IX Ba24Si100 are also reported.

Thermoelectric properties and lattice dynamics of tetragonal topological semimetal Ba3Si4.

We report the lattice dynamics and thermoelectric properties of topological semimetal Ba3Si4. The lattice dynamics has been studied by Raman and inelastic neutron scattering experiments. Good agreement has been found with first-principles calculations. The presence of low-energy optical modes at about 7 meV mainly due to the heavy mass of the Ba atoms suggests a propensity to low thermal conductivity, which is favorable for thermoelectric applications. Our density functional theory calculations indicate that the semimetallic nature of Ba3Si4 is the origin for the rather large thermopower. Ba3Si4 shows high potential for a thermoelectric material with a Seebeck coefficient as large as -120 µV K-1 for 0.2 electrons/formula units through the substitution of Ba by appropriate cations, such as Y.

Effect of Nanostructuring on the Thermoelectric Properties of ß-FeSi2.

Nanostructured ß-FeSi2 and ß-Fe0.95Co0.05Si2 specimens with a relative density of up to 95% were synthesized by combining a top-down approach and spark plasma sintering. The thermoelectric properties of a 50 nm crystallite size ß-FeSi2 sample were compared to those of an annealed one, and for the former a strong decrease in lattice thermal conductivity and an upshift of the maximum Seebeck's coefficient were shown, resulting in an improvement of the figure of merit by a factor of 1.7 at 670 K. For ß-Fe0.95Co0.05Si2, one observes that the figure of merit is increased by a factor of 1.2 at 723 K between long time annealed and nanostructured samples mainly due to an increase in the phonon scattering and an increase in the point defects. This results in both a decrease in the thermal conductivity to 3.95 W/mK at 330 K and an increase in the power factor to 0.63 mW/mK2 at 723 K.

Room temperature magnetoelectric coupling in a molecular ferroelectric ytterbium(III) complex.

Magnetoelectric (ME) materials combine magnetic and electric polarizabilities in the same phase, offering a basis for developing high-density data storage and spintronic or low-consumption devices owing to the possibility of triggering one property with the other. Such applications require strong interaction between the constitutive properties, a criterion that is rarely met in classical inorganic ME materials at room temperature. We provide evidence of a strong ME coupling in a paramagnetic ferroelectric lanthanide coordination complex with magnetostrictive phenomenon. The properties of this molecular material suggest that it may be competitive with inorganic magnetoelectrics.

Transition metal silicide surface grafting by multiple functional groups and green optimization by mechanochemistry.

Chromium disilicide (CrSi2) particles were synthesized by using an arc melting furnace followed by mechanical milling. XRD and DLS analyses show that aggregates of around 3 µm containing about 10 nm sized crystallites were obtained. These aggregates were functionalized in solution by coupling agents with different anchoring groups (silane, phosphonic acid, alkene and thiol) in order to disperse them into an organic polymer. Dodecene was used to modify the CrSi2 surface during mechano-synthesis in a grinding bowl with quite little solvent quantity and the optimization step allowed the aggregate size to be reduced to 500 nm. A thermoelectric composite was then made of alkene CrSi2 grafted samples and poly(p-phénylène-2,6-benzobisoxazole). This study opens the route for new surface grafting of intermetallic silicides for applications linked to electronics and/or energy.

Crystal Structure, Stability, and Physical Properties of Metastable Electron-Poor Narrow-Gap AlGe Semiconductor.

We report for the first time the full crystal structure, the electronic structure, the lattice dynamics, and the elastic constants of metastable monoclinic AlGe. In addition to ultrarapid cooling techniques such as melt spinning, we show the possibility of obtaining monoclinic AlGe by water-quenching in a quartz tube. Monoclinic AlGe and rhombohedral Al6Ge5 are competing phases with similar stability since they both begin to decompose above 230 °C. The crystal structure and electronic bonding of monoclinic AlGe are similar to those of ZnSb and comply with its 3.5 valence electrons per atom: besides classical two electron-two center Al-Ge and Ge-Ge covalent bonds, Al2Ge2 parallelogram rings are formed by uncommon multicenter bonds. Monoclinic AlGe could be used in various applications since it is found theoretically to be an electron-poor semiconductor with a narrow indirect energy bandgap of about 0.5 eV. The lattice dynamics calculations show the presence of low energy optical phonons, which should lead to a low thermal conductivity.