Hall-plot of the phase diagram for Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2

The Hall effect is a powerful tool for investigating carrier type and density. For single-band materials, the Hall coefficient is traditionally expressed simply by $R_H^{-1} = -en$, where $e$ is the charge of the carrier, and $n$ is the concentration. However, it is well known that in the critical region near a quantum phase transition, as it was demonstrated for cuprates and heavy fermions, the Hall coefficient exhibits strong temperature and doping dependencies, which can not be described by such a simple expression, and the interpretation of the Hall coefficient for Fe-based superconductors is also problematic. Here, we investigate thin films of Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$)$_2$As$_2$ with compressive and tensile in-plane strain in a wide range of Co doping. Such in-plane strain changes the band structure of the compounds, resulting in various shifts of the whole phase diagram as a function of Co doping. We show that the resultant phase diagrams for different strain states can be mapped onto a single phase diagram with the Hall number. This universal plot is attributed to the critical fluctuations in multiband systems near the antiferromagnetic transition, which may suggest a direct link between magnetic and superconducting properties in the BaFe$_2$As$_2$ system.Comment: Accepted for publication in Scientific Reports, 6 main figures plus Supplemental Information (8 figures

The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics' resources: focus on curated databases

The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (www.isb-sib.ch) provides world-class bioinformatics databases, software tools, services and training to the international life science community in academia and industry. These solutions allow life scientists to turn the exponentially growing amount of data into knowledge. Here, we provide an overview of SIB's resources and competence areas, with a strong focus on curated databases and SIB's most popular and widely used resources. In particular, SIB's Bioinformatics resource portal ExPASy features over 150 resources, including UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, ENZYME, PROSITE, neXtProt, STRING, UniCarbKB, SugarBindDB, SwissRegulon, EPD, arrayMap, Bgee, SWISS-MODEL Repository, OMA, OrthoDB and other databases, which are briefly described in this article

Giant thermal expansion and α-precipitation pathways in Ti-Alloys

Ti-alloys represent the principal structural materials in both aerospace development and metallic biomaterials. Key to optimizing their mechanical and functional behaviour is in-depth know-how of their phases and the complex interplay of diffusive vs. displacive phase transformations to permit the tailoring of intricate microstructures across a wide spectrum of configurations. Here, we report on structural changes and phase transformations of Ti–Nb alloys during heating by in situ synchrotron diffraction. These materials exhibit anisotropic thermal expansion yielding some of the largest linear expansion coefficients (+ 163.9×10−6 to −95.1×10−6 °C−1) ever reported. Moreover, we describe two pathways leading to the precipitation of the α-phase mediated by diffusion-based orthorhombic structures, α″lean and α″iso. Via coupling the lattice parameters to composition both phases evolve into α through rejection of Nb. These findings have the potential to promote new microstructural design approaches for Ti–Nb alloys and β-stabilized Ti-alloys in general.ISSN:2041-172

High Area Capacity Lithium-Sulfur Full-cell Battery with Prelitiathed Silicon Nanowire-Carbon Anodes for Long Cycling Stability

We show full Li/S cells with the use of balanced and high capacity electrodes to address high powerelectro-mobile applications. The anode is made of an assembly comprising of silicon nanowires asactive material densely and conformally grown on a 3D carbon mesh as a light-weight current collector,offering extremely high areal capacity for reversible Li storage of up to 9 mAh/cm2. The dense growthis guaranteed by a versatile Au precursor developed for homogenous Au layer deposition on 3Dsubstrates. In contrast to metallic Li, the presented system exhibits superior characteristics as an anodein Li/S batteries such as safe operation, long cycle life and easy handling. These anodes are combinedwith high area density S/C composite cathodes into a Li/S full-cell with an ether- and lithium triflatebasedelectrolyte for high ionic conductivity. The result is a highly cyclable full-cell with an areal capacityof 2.3 mAh/cm2, a cyclability surpassing 450 cycles and capacity retention of 80% after 150 cycles(capacity loss <0.4% per cycle). A detailed physical and electrochemical investigation of the SiNWLi/S full-cell including in-operando synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements reveals that the lowerdegradation is due to a lower self-reduction of polysulfides after continuous charging/discharging

High Area Capacity Lithium-Sulfur Full-cell Battery with Prelitiathed Silicon Nanowire-Carbon Anodes for Long Cycling Stability

We show full Li/S cells with the use of balanced and high capacity electrodes to address high power electro-mobile applications. The anode is made of an assembly comprising of silicon nanowires as active material densely and conformally grown on a 3D carbon mesh as a light-weight current collector, offering extremely high areal capacity for reversible Li storage of up to 9 mAh/cm(2). The dense growth is guaranteed by a versatile Au precursor developed for homogenous Au layer deposition on 3D substrates. In contrast to metallic Li, the presented system exhibits superior characteristics as an anode in Li/S batteries such as safe operation, long cycle life and easy handling. These anodes are combined with high area density S/C composite cathodes into a Li/S full-cell with an ether- and lithium triflate-based electrolyte for high ionic conductivity. The result is a highly cyclable full-cell with an areal capacity of 2.3 mAh/cm(2), a cyclability surpassing 450 cycles and capacity retention of 80% after 150 cycles (capacity loss <0.4% per cycle). A detailed physical and electrochemical investigation of the SiNW Li/S full-cell including in-operando synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements reveals that the lower degradation is due to a lower self-reduction of polysulfides after continuous charging/discharging

High Area Capacity Lithium-Sulfur Full-cell Battery with Prelitiathed Silicon Nanowire-Carbon Anodes for Long Cycling Stability

We show full Li/S cells with the use of balanced and high capacity electrodes to address high power electro-mobile applications. The anode is made of an assembly comprising of silicon nanowires as active material densely and conformally grown on a 3D carbon mesh as a light-weight current collector, offering extremely high areal capacity for reversible Li storage of up to 9 mAh/cm(2). The dense growth is guaranteed by a versatile Au precursor developed for homogenous Au layer deposition on 3D substrates. In contrast to metallic Li, the presented system exhibits superior characteristics as an anode in Li/S batteries such as safe operation, long cycle life and easy handling. These anodes are combined with high area density S/C composite cathodes into a Li/S full-cell with an ether- and lithium triflate-based electrolyte for high ionic conductivity. The result is a highly cyclable full-cell with an areal capacity of 2.3 mAh/cm(2), a cyclability surpassing 450 cycles and capacity retention of 80% after 150 cycles (capacity loss <0.4% per cycle). A detailed physical and electrochemical investigation of the SiNW Li/S full-cell including in-operando synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements reveals that the lower degradation is due to a lower self-reduction of polysulfides after continuous charging/discharging

Giant thermal expansion and α-precipitation pathways in Ti-alloys

Ti-alloys represent the principal structural materials in both aerospace development and metallic biomaterials. Key to optimizing their mechanical and functional behaviour is in-depth know-how of their phases and the complex interplay of diffusive vs. displacive phase transformations to permit the tailoring of intricate microstructures across a wide spectrum of configurations. Here, we report on structural changes and phase transformations of Ti–Nb alloys during heating by in situ synchrotron diffraction. These materials exhibit anisotropic thermal expansion yielding some of the largest linear expansion coefficients (+ 163.9×10−6 to −95.1×10−6 °C−1) ever reported. Moreover, we describe two pathways leading to the precipitation of the α-phase mediated by diffusion-based orthorhombic structures, α″lean and α″iso. Via coupling the lattice parameters to composition both phases evolve into α through rejection of Nb. These findings have the potential to promote new microstructural design approaches for Ti–Nb alloys and β-stabilized Ti-alloys in general.© The Author(s) 201