Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Ntalane S. S. Seroka, Raymond Taziwa, Lindiwe Khotseng
Summary: This study demonstrates the magnesiothermic reduction of silica to silicon at a lower temperature than its carbothermal counterpart. Silica was extracted from sugarcane bagasse ash using L-cysteine chloride monohydrate and used as a precursor for silicon production. The synthesized nanocrystalline silicon exhibited desirable physicochemical properties suitable for thin-film solar cells.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Tianhao Wang, Xiang Ji, Fuzhong Wu, Wanliang Yang, Xinyi Dai, Xuejiao Xu, Jing Wang, Dan Guo, Meili Chen
Summary: A novel three-dimensional coral-like Si nanostructure coated with C/rGO was successfully prepared through high-temperature magnesiothermic reduction, effectively managing volume expansion and enhancing electrode conductivity for improved cycling stability.
JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sien Wang, Yue Xiao, Qiyu Chen, Qing Hao
Summary: Nanoporous Si films have potential applications in thermoelectrics and thermal management of devices. Offset nanoslot patterns achieve smaller characteristic lengths and lower thermal conductivity compared to periodic circular pores. Additional reduction in thermal conductivity can be achieved by implanting Ga ions.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Christopher M. Walters, Gunwant K. Matharu, Wadood Y. Hamad, Erlantz Lizundia, Mark J. MacLachlan
Summary: The development of novel aerogel materials with chiral nematic ordered structures provides exciting pathways for multifunctional hybrid materials fabrication. By incorporating germania into cellulose nanocrystal aerogels, hybrid aerogels with good shape recovery and high surface areas were achieved. The combination of carbonaceous skeleton and GeO2 nanoparticles resulted in materials with good capacitance retention for energy storage applications.
CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jianhua Hou, Liang Fang, Xiaozhi Wang, Hong Gao, Guoxiu Wang
Summary: Mesoporous hollow SiC nanospheres with high specific surface area and good dispersion have been successfully synthesized. The obtained nanospheres exhibit high-rate capacitance and long cycling stability in supercapacitors.
CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Isabel S. Curtis, Ryan J. Wills, Mita Dasog
Summary: By investigating the conditions of magnesiothermic reduction and synthesizing mesoporous silicon nanoparticles, it was found that mp-Si300 performed the best in photocatalytic hydrogen generation with the highest hydrogen evolution rate. Crystallinity has a significant impact on the performance of mp-Si photocatalysts, while high oxygen content and particle sintering lower hydrogen evolution rates. Aging under ambient conditions leads to continued surface oxidation, adversely affecting photocatalytic performance.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zhao Zhang, Fengshuo Xi, Xiuhua Chen, Shaoyuan Li, Wenhui Ma, Zhao Ding, Tao Qu, Yongnian Dai, Rong Deng
Summary: In this study, spherical porous silicon was prepared by recycling microsilica waste from the photovoltaic industry, and nitrogen-doped carbon was coated on the surface to create a coral-like structure. The material showed excellent performance in lithium-ion batteries, with good accommodation of volumetric changes of silicon.
ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Kai Tang, Azam Rasouli, Jafar Safarian, Xiang Ma, Gabriella Tranell
Summary: Fundamental studies have been conducted on the magnesiothermic reduction of silica with different Mg/SiO2 molar ratios and temperatures. The equilibrium relations calculated by FactSage software are inadequate due to kinetic barriers. A machine learning approach using a physics-informed Gaussian process machine (GPM) is developed to describe the complex magnesiothermic reductions.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jeong Hun Choi, Nitee Kumari, Amit Kumar, Anubhab Acharya, Jungsoo Ahn, Jaerim Kim, Hyeonwoong Hwang, Taiha Joo, Jong Kyu Kim, In Su Lee
Summary: Silicon nanostructures can be used for various biomedical applications, but it is challenging to maintain their subhundred nm size during the silica-to-silicon conversion at high temperatures. The SC-SSR method utilizes a metal-silicide stratum space inside silica nanospheres to guide the synthesis of hollow and porous SiNSs through a magnesiothermic reduction reaction. The mechanism involves the participation of metal-silicide species to achieve solid-to-hollow transformation within a predefined radial boundary. The resulting hydrophilic SiNSs can be used as photoluminescence-based bioimaging probes in different biomedia, and rattle-like SiNSs encapsulated with Pd nanocrystals can catalyze intracellular synthesis of probe molecules through C-C cross coupling reaction.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Maximilian Yan, Siddharth V. Patwardhan
Summary: This study demonstrates for the first time that the onset temperature of magnesiothermic reduction (MgTR) is dependent on the particle size of the feedstock silica. Only particles <= 20 nm can trigger the reaction at temperatures as low as 380 degrees C, significantly reducing energy consumption and costs in the manufacturing process of porous silicon.
Article
Electrochemistry
Yunpeng Shan, Junzhang Wang, Zhou Xu, Shengchi Bai, Yingting Zhu, Xiaoqi Wang, Xingzhong Guo
Summary: Bi-continuous silicon/carbon (Si/C) anode materials were prepared via magnesiothermic reduction of silica aerogels followed by pitch impregnation and carbonization. The innovative bi-continuous structure, featuring both Si and carbon with a cross-linked structure, provides an area to accommodate the volume change of Si. The obtained Si/C anodes exhibited excellent electrochemical performance, showing potential applications in high-performance lithium-ion batteries.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Jinfu Zhao, Binglong Rui, Wenxian Wei, Ping Nie, Limin Chang, Xiangxin Xue, Limin Wang, Jiangmin Jiang
Summary: In this study, a novel in-situ self-catalytic strategy was proposed to encapsulate silicon nanoparticles with highly graphitic carbon using chemical vapor deposition. The synthesized silicon-carbon composites exhibited improved electronic conductivity and significant suppression of volume expansion, leading to excellent lithium storage capabilities and high energy density in lithium-ion batteries. The effectiveness of the in-situ self-catalytic reaction in enhancing the overall energy storage performance was demonstrated.
JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Ben Xiang, Wei-Li An, Ji-Jiang Fu, Shi-Xiong Mei, Si-Guang Guo, Xu-Ming Zhang, Biao Gao, Paul K. Chu
Summary: This study demonstrates a method to produce blackberry-like porous silicon nanospheres controllably using a magnesiothermic reduction reaction, providing better control of kinetics and heat release compared to traditional methods. The resulting porous silicon material has higher structural integrity, and the encapsulated composite shows superior cycling stability and rate performance.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Xiaofu Tang, Diping Zeng, Dongrui Chen, Wenmin Guo, Jun Fu, Lihua Zou
Summary: This study develops a rational strategy to trap porous silicon within a stable 3D framework of interconnected N-doped graphene and carbon nanotubes, forming a composite material of PSi@NG/CNT. The PSi@NG/CNT composite exhibits excellent lithium storage properties with high specific capacity, remarkable rate capability, good cycling retention, and high columbic efficiency. This work provides new insights into the rational design of electroactive materials with ultrahigh stability for silicon-based anodes in high energy density lithium-ion batteries.
JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS
(2022)
Article
Physics, Applied
Sota Koike, Ryoto Yanagisawa, Masashi Kurosawa, Rajveer Jha, Naohito Tsujii, Takao Mori, Masahiro Nomura
Summary: We experimentally investigated the effect of nanostructuring on the thermoelectric performance of SiGe thin films. Porous nanostructures were fabricated to reduce thermal conductivity and improve thermoelectric figure of merit. The results showed that the nanostructured SiGe thin films had a 24% lower thermal conductivity and a 19% lower electrical conductivity compared to films without nanostructure, resulting in a 4% increase in thermoelectric figure of merit at room temperature.
JAPANESE JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Renyuan Li, Wenbin Wang, Yifeng Shi, Chang-ting Wang, Peng Wang
Summary: Water-based evaporative cooling technology offers a sustainable and low-cost solution to meet the increasing global cooling demand. This review provides an overview of the state-of-the-art material design and engineering in water-based evaporative cooling, including direct evaporative cooling, cyclic sorption-driven liquid water evaporative cooling (CSD-LWEC), and atmospheric water harvesting-based evaporative cooling (AWH-EC). The unique requirements for sorbent materials in CSD-LWEC and AWH-EC are highlighted, along with challenges and future prospects for improving water-based evaporative cooling performance.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ze Xu, Yi-Xuan Liu, Maryam Azadeh, Hao-Cheng Thong, Yuqi Jiang, Fang-Zhou Yao, Zhen-Xing Yue, Zhong-Tai Zhang, Zi-Long Tang, Jing-Feng Li, Heng Wang, Till Froemling, Ke Wang
Summary: Recent advances in perovskite ferroelectrics have led to the development of exciting sensors and actuators. The control of defects is crucial for the performance of ferroelectric materials, especially lead-free ones. However, quantitatively studying defect concentration remains a challenge due to complex measurement techniques. This study demonstrates a feasible approach to analyzing defects and charges in alkali metal niobate, providing insights into their impact on conductivity and oxygen partial pressure, and suggesting strategies for performance optimization in perovskite oxides.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2023)
Article
Spectroscopy
John Jamboretz, Andreas Reitz, Christina S. Birkel
Summary: Microwave heating methods offer unique advantages in the preparation of inorganic solids, but the understanding of its mechanisms is limited due to the lack of easily applicable in situ monitoring methods. This study describes a new Raman measurement system that can be readily used to observe inorganic transformations in real time, allowing for a better understanding and wider application of microwave-assisted methods.
JOURNAL OF RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY
(2023)
Article
Virology
Bon Ikwuagwu, Emily Hartman, Carolyn E. Mills, Danielle Tullman-Ercek
Summary: Researchers quantitatively assessed two key amino acid residues in MS2 VLPs and found that they can impact the size and shape of VLPs. They also demonstrated that similar residues in Q beta VLPs play a role in determining their size and shape.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Melody A. Morris, Rogerio A. Bataglioli, Danielle J. Mai, Yun Jung Yang, Justin M. Paloni, Carolyn E. Mills, Zachary D. Schmitz, Erika A. Ding, Allison C. Huske, Bradley D. Olsen
Summary: Protein materials have unique properties that make them suitable for various applications. This article introduces an automated platform for protein expression, which allows testing of different combinations of DNA vectors and Escherichia coli strains. Within a week, high-yield expression conditions can be determined.
MOLECULAR SYSTEMS DESIGN & ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Eleonora Isotta, Shizhou Jiang, Gregory Moller, Alexandra Zevalkink, G. Jeffrey Snyder, Oluwaseyi Balogun
Summary: Grain-boundary engineering is an effective strategy to tune thermal conductivity, leading to improved performance in various applications. By employing spatially resolved frequency-domain thermoreflectance, thermal imaging of individual grain boundaries is demonstrated in SnTe. Local suppressions in thermal conductivity at grain boundaries are observed. The extracted grain-boundary thermal resistance is found to be correlated with the grain-boundary misorientation angle, providing comprehensive understanding of how microstructure affects heat transport.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Ruben Bueno Villoro, Duncan Zavanelli, Chanwon Jung, Dominique Alexander Mattlat, Raana Hatami Naderloo, Nicolas Perez, Kornelius Nielsch, Gerald Jeffrey Snyder, Christina Scheu, Ran He, Siyuan Zhang
Summary: By using scanning transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography, this study revealed the structural differences of hexagonal close-packed lattice phases at grain boundaries in Ti-doped NbFeSb half-Heusler compounds. It was found that the enrichment of Fe leads to high electrical resistivity in Nb0.95Ti0.05FeSb, while the accumulation of Ti dopants results in good electrical conductivity in Nb0.80Ti0.20FeSb. This resistive to conductive grain boundary phase transition provides a new design space for decoupling the intertwined electronic and phononic transport in thermoelectric materials.
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
James P. Male, Brea Hogan, Max Wood, Dean Cheikh, G. Jeffrey Snyder, Sabah K. Bux
Summary: The elastic and mechanical properties of advanced RE3-xTe4 (RE = La, Pr, Nd) thermoelectric materials are significantly influenced by the cation vacancy concentration x. Increasing x leads to increased stiffness of elastic constants and decreased thermal expansion. Vickers indentation hardness and fracture toughness both decrease with increasing x, indicating more brittle behavior. These counter-intuitive mechanical property trends highlight the importance of intrinsic defects and the potential for tuning the mechanical performance of RE3-xTe4 for next-generation thermoelectric devices.
MATERIALS TODAY PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Ashlee K. Hauble, Michael Y. Toriyama, Stephan Bartling, Ali M. Abdel-Mageed, G. Jeffrey Snyder, Susan M. Kauzlarich
Summary: Low-dimensional materials, such as layered Zintl phases, have unique properties that make them desirable for various applications. The complex structure and composition of layered Zintl phases pose challenges in producing phase-pure bulk samples for characterization. Eu11Zn4Sn2As12, a layered Zintl phase of significant complexity, exhibits magnetic, electronic, and thermoelectric properties, making it a promising material for further optimization and exploitation in thermoelectric applications.
CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Melody A. Morris, Carolyn E. Mills, Justin M. Paloni, Eric A. Miller, Hadley D. Sikes, Bradley D. Olsen
Summary: Evolution shapes diverse properties of proteins. Incorporating proteins into materials is desired for applications, but high-throughput selection techniques are lacking. This study established a high-throughput platform to assess binding affinity for ordered sensing proteins. Fusion proteins library was constructed, and selected variants showed high binding in films. The assembly of fusion proteins and the functionality of binding protein are key factors in biosensing performance. Integration of directed evolution with assembled systems is necessary for designing better materials.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Michael Y. Y. Toriyama, Adam N. N. Carranco, G. Jeffrey Snyder, Prashun Gorai
Summary: This study derives three material descriptors to evaluate the performance of narrow-gap semiconductors and semimetals in thermoelectric cooling. These descriptors include band gap, n- and p-type TE quality factors, and the asymmetry in transport between the majority and minority carriers. By applying these descriptors, three candidate room-temperature TE materials, namely SrSb2, Zn3As2, and NaCdSb, are identified from a broad set of 650 Zintl phases. These material descriptors enable fast and targeted searches for low-temperature thermoelectric narrow-gap semiconductors.
MATERIALS HORIZONS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yi-Fen Tsai, Charlotte L. Stern, Bo-Chia Chen, G. Jeffrey Snyder, Hsin-Jay Wu
Summary: This work presents the discovery of a newly-found Cu8-xGe(S, Te)(6) argyrodite with a high-symmetry cubic phase stable in the entire low-to-mid temperature range (250-700 K). The substitution of sulfur with tellurium increases the configuration entropy, making Cu8-xGe(S, Te)(6) a promising mid-entropy thermoelectric (TE) alloy with ultralow thermal conductivity.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Adetoye H. Adekoya, Shashwat Anand, G. Jeffrey Snyder
Summary: The solubility of defects is crucial in controlling the properties of engineering materials. The shape of single-phase boundaries surrounding these defects has been overlooked, despite its significant impact on material engineering. We examine the shape of single-phase boundaries for substitutional defects and find that they should be concave or star-shaped, rather than convex-like droplets. The shape depends on the thermodynamic stability of the compound, with more stable compounds having star-like phase regions.
MATERIALS HORIZONS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Eleonora Isotta, Shizhou Jiang, Gregory Moller, Alexandra Zevalkink, G. Jeffrey Snyder, Oluwaseyi Balogun
Summary: Grain-boundary engineering is an effective strategy to control thermal conductivity in materials, but the mechanism by which grain boundaries modulate heat flow is not yet fully understood. In this study, thermal imaging technique revealed local suppressions in thermal conductivity at grain boundaries and showed a correlation between grain-boundary thermal resistance and misorientation angle. Extracting thermal properties from microscale imaging enables a comprehensive understanding of how microstructure affects heat transport.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Dulyawich Palaporn, Supree Pinitsoontorn, Ken Kurosaki, G. Jeffrey Snyder
Summary: This work proposes a new fabrication route for bulk Ag2Se with a tube-like porous structure via a modified cold sintering process. By optimizing the process parameters, Ag2Se achieves a maximum zT above 1.0 at 400K and an average zT around unity within the 300-400K range, representing one of the highest reported values.
ADVANCED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGIES
(2023)
