Topological analysis of self-catenated motifs in coordination networks

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The Aluminum-Ion Battery: A Sustainable and Seminal Concept?

The expansion of renewable energy and the growing number of electric vehicles and mobile devices are demanding improved and low-cost electrochemical energy storage. In order to meet the future needs for energy storage, novel material systems with high energy densities, readily available raw materials, and safety are required. Currently, lithium and lead mainly dominate the battery market, but apart from cobalt and phosphorous, lithium may show substantial supply challenges prospectively, as well. Therefore, the search for new chemistries will become increasingly important in the future, to diversify battery technologies. But which materials seem promising? Using a selection algorithm for the evaluation of suitable materials, the concept of a rechargeable, high-valent all-solid-state aluminum-ion battery appears promising, in which metallic aluminum is used as the negative electrode. On the one hand, this offers the advantage of a volumetric capacity four times higher (theoretically) compared to lithium analog. On the other hand, aluminum is the most abundant metal in the earth's crust. There is a mature industry and recycling infrastructure, making aluminum very cost efficient. This would make the aluminum-ion battery an important contribution to the energy transition process, which has already started globally. So far, it has not been possible to exploit this technological potential, as suitable positive electrodes and electrolyte materials are still lacking. The discovery of inorganic materials with high aluminum-ion mobility—usable as solid electrolytes or intercalation electrodes—is an innovative and required leap forward in the field of rechargeable high-valent ion batteries. In this review article, the constraints for a sustainable and seminal battery chemistry are described, and we present an assessment of the chemical elements in terms of negative electrodes, comprehensively motivate utilizing aluminum, categorize the aluminum battery field, critically review the existing positive electrodes and solid electrolytes, present a promising path for the accelerated development of novel materials and address problems of scientific communication in this field

Predicting crystal growth via a unified kinetic three-dimensional partition model

Understanding and predicting crystal growth is fundamental to the control of functionality in modern materials. Despite investigations for more than one hundred years1, 2, 3, 4, 5, it is only recently that the molecular intricacies of these processes have been revealed by scanning probe microscopy6, 7, 8. To organize and understand this large amount of new information, new rules for crystal growth need to be developed and tested. However, because of the complexity and variety of different crystal systems, attempts to understand crystal growth in detail have so far relied on developing models that are usually applicable to only one system9, 10, 11. Such models cannot be used to achieve the wide scope of understanding that is required to create a unified model across crystal types and crystal structures. Here we describe a general approach to understanding and, in theory, predicting the growth of a wide range of crystal types, including the incorporation of defect structures, by simultaneous molecular-scale simulation of crystal habit and surface topology using a unified kinetic three-dimensional partition model. This entails dividing the structure into ‘natural tiles’ or Voronoi polyhedra that are metastable and, consequently, temporally persistent. As such, these units are then suitable for re-construction of the crystal via a Monte Carlo algorithm. We demonstrate our approach by predicting the crystal growth of a diverse set of crystal types, including zeolites, metal–organic frameworks, calcite, urea and L-cystine

<i>CrystalGrower</i>: a generic computer program for Monte Carlo modelling of crystal growth.

From Europe PMC via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: ppub 2020-11-01, epub 2020-11-18Publication status: PublishedA Monte Carlo crystal growth simulation tool, CrystalGrower, is described which is able to simultaneously model both the crystal habit and nanoscopic surface topography of any crystal structure under conditions of variable supersaturation or at equilibrium. This tool has been developed in order to permit the rapid simulation of crystal surface maps generated by scanning probe microscopies in combination with overall crystal habit. As the simulation is based upon a coarse graining at the nanoscopic level features such as crystal rounding at low supersaturation or undersaturation conditions are also faithfully reproduced. CrystalGrower permits the incorporation of screw dislocations with arbitrary Burgers vectors and also the investigation of internal point defects in crystals. The effect of growth modifiers can be addressed by selective poisoning of specific growth sites. The tool is designed for those interested in understanding and controlling the outcome of crystal growth through a deeper comprehension of the key controlling experimental parameters

Topology of 2‑Periodic Coordination Networks: Toward Expert Systems in Crystal Design

We have performed comprehensive topological analysis of 2-periodic coordination networks in 10 371 metal–organic compounds. Both local and overall topologies of complex groups were determined, classified, and stored in the electronic databases. Two plane nets, square lattice (<b>sql</b>) and honeycomb (<b>hcb</b>), were found to compose two-thirds of all the coordination networks. Strong correlations were found between local topological characteristics (coordination numbers of atoms or complex groups, coordination figures, formalized coordination modes of ligands and coordination formula) and the overall topology that in many cases allowed us to predict possible topological motifs from the data on chemical composition with high probability. The possibility to develop an expert system that could envisage local and overall topology of periodic coordination networks is discussed, and an example is given of how such a system can work

A method for topological analysis of high nuclearity coordination clusters and its application to Mn coordination compounds

A novel method for the topological description of high nuclearity coordination clusters (CCs) was improved and applied to all compounds containing only manganese as a metal center, the data on which are collected in the CCDC (CCDC 5.33 Nov. 2011). Using the TOPOS program package that supports this method, we identified 539 CCs with five or more Mn centers adopting 159 topologically different graphs. In the present database all the Mn CCs are collected and illustrated in such a way that can be searched by cluster topological symbol and nuclearity, compound name and Refcode. The main principles for such an analysis are described herein as well as useful applications of this method

Topology of 2‑Periodic Coordination Networks: Toward Expert Systems in Crystal Design

We have performed comprehensive topological analysis of 2-periodic coordination networks in 10 371 metal–organic compounds. Both local and overall topologies of complex groups were determined, classified, and stored in the electronic databases. Two plane nets, square lattice (<b>sql</b>) and honeycomb (<b>hcb</b>), were found to compose two-thirds of all the coordination networks. Strong correlations were found between local topological characteristics (coordination numbers of atoms or complex groups, coordination figures, formalized coordination modes of ligands and coordination formula) and the overall topology that in many cases allowed us to predict possible topological motifs from the data on chemical composition with high probability. The possibility to develop an expert system that could envisage local and overall topology of periodic coordination networks is discussed, and an example is given of how such a system can work

Local Coordination versus Overall Topology in Crystal Structures: Deriving Knowledge from Crystallographic Databases

We propose three independent methods for determining geometrical shape and topological type of local atomic environment in crystals that is represented as a coordination figure. The methods are based on comparison of the edge graphs of the simplified Voronoi polyhedra, maximizing volume of intersection of polyhedra, and comparison of angular fingerprints of polyhedra. We implemented the methods to the program package ToposPro and tested them on 9642 crystal structures of five-coordinated copper and zinc complexes. The methods showed good selectivity and coincidence. We discuss correlations of the coordination figure type with other structure descriptors and perspectives to use the obtained results in knowledge databases