Nonlocal interactions in doped cuprates: correlated motion of Zhang-Rice polarons

In-plane, inter-carrier correlations in hole doped cuprates are investigated by ab initio multiconfiguration calculations. The dressed carriers display features that are reminiscent of both Zhang-Rice (ZR) CuO4 singlet states and Jahn-Teller polarons. The interaction between these quasiparticles is repulsive. At doping levels that are high enough, the interplay between long-range unscreened Coulomb interactions and long-range phase coherence among the O-ion half-breathing vibrations on the ZR plaquettes may lead to a strong reduction of the effective adiabatic energy barrier associated to each polaronic state. Tunneling effects cannot be neglected for a relatively flat, multi-well energy landscape. We suggest that the coherent, superconducting quantum state is the result of such coherent quantum lattice fluctuations involving the in-plane O ions. Our findings appear to support models where the superconductivity is related to a lowering of the in-plane kinetic energy

Electronic states and magnetic excitations in LiV2O4: Exact diagonalization study

Motivated by recent inelastic neutron scattering experiment we examine magnetic properties of LiV2O4. We consider a model which describes the half-filled localized A1g spins interacting via frustrated antiferromagnetic Heisenberg exchange and coupled by local Hund's interaction with the 1/8-filled itinerant Eg band, and study it within an exact diagonalization scheme. In the present study we limited the analysis to the case of the cluster of two isolated tetrahedrons. We obtained that both the ground state structure and low-lying excitations depend strongly on the value of the Hund's coupling which favors the triplet states. With increasing temperature the triplet states become more and more populated which results in the formation of non-zero residual magnetic moment. We present the temperature dependence of calculated magnetic moment and of the spin-spin correlation functions at different values of Hund's coupling and compare them with the experimental results.Comment: 7 pages. 6 eps figure

Electrochemical testing of an innovative dual membrane fuel cell design in reversible mode

Solid oxide fuel Cells (SOFC) are intrinsically reversible which makes them attractive for the development of reversible devices (rSOC). The main hurdles that have to be overcome are the higher degradation in electrolyzer (EL) mode and the slow and difficult switching form mode to mode. This work aims at the development and experimental validation of a concept for rSOC based on a new dual membrane fuel cell (dmFC) design which can overcome the existing problems of the classical SOFC. The kernel of the system is additional chamber - central membrane (CM) for water formation/evacuation in FC mode and injection in El mode. Its optimization in respect of microstructure and geometry in laboratory conditions is carried out on button cells. The electrochemical performance is evaluated based on volt-ampere characteristics (VACs) combined with impedance measurements in different working points. The influence of a catalyst in the water chamber is also examined. The VACs which give integral picture of the cell performance are in excellent agreement with the impedance studies which ensure deeper and quantitative information about the processes, including information about the rate limiting step. The results from the optimization of the water chamber show that the combination of design and material brings to important principle advantages in respect to the classical rSOC \u2013 better performance in electrolyzer mode combined with instantaneous switching

Accelerated Stress Tests for Solid Oxide Cells via Artificial Aging of the Fuel Electrode

Solid Oxide Cells (SOCs) are under intensive development due to their great potential to meet the 2030 targets for decarbonization. One of their advantages is that they can work in reversible mode. However, in respect to durability, there are still some technical challenges. Although the quick development of experimental and modeling approaches gives insight into degradation mechanisms, an obligatory step that cannot be avoided is the performance of long‐term tests. Taking into account the target for a commercial lifetime is 80,000 h, experiments lasting years are not acceptable for market needs. This work aims to develop accelerated stress tests (ASTs) for SOCs by the artificial aging of the fuel electrode via redox cycling, which follows the degradation processes of calendar aging (Ni coarsening and migration). However, it can cause irreversible damage by the formation of cracks at the interface anode/electrolyte. The advantages of the developed procedure are that it offers a mild level of oxidation, which can be governed and regulated by the direct impedance monitoring of the Ni network resistance changes during oxidation/reduction on a bare anode sample. Once the redox cycling conditions are fixed and the anode/electrolyte sample is checked for cracks, the procedure is introduced for the AST in full‐cell configuration. The developed methodology is evaluated by a comparative analysis of current voltage and impedance measurements of pristine, artificially aged, and calendar‐aged button cells, combined with microstructural characterization of their anodes. It can be applied in both fuel cell and electrolyzer mode. The results obtained in this study from the electrochemical tests show that the artificially aged experimental cell corresponds to at least 3500 h of nominal operation. The number of hours is much bigger in respect to the microstructural aging of the anode. Taking into consideration that the duration of the performed 20 redox cycles is about 50 to 60 working hours, the acceleration factor in respect to experimental timing is estimated to be higher than 60, without any damaging of the sample. This result shows that the selected approach is very promising for a large decrease in testing times for SOCs

Coherence scale of the Kondo lattice

It is shown that the large-N approach yields two energy scales for the Kondo lattice model. The single-impurity Kondo temperature, $T_K$, signals the onset of local singlet formation, while Fermi liquid coherence sets in only below a lower scale, $T^{\star}$. At low conduction electron density $n_c$ ("exhaustion" limit), the ratio $T^{\star}/T_K$ is much smaller than unity, and is shown to depend only on $n_c$ and not on the Kondo coupling. The physical meaning of these two scales is demonstrated by computing several quantities as a function of $n_c$ and temperature.Comment: 4 pages, 4 eps figures. Minor changes. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Kondo engineering : from single Kondo impurity to the Kondo lattice

In the first step, experiments on a single cerium or ytterbium Kondo impurity reveal the importance of the Kondo temperature by comparison to other type of couplings like the hyperfine interaction, the crystal field and the intersite coupling. The extension to a lattice is discussed. Emphasis is given on the fact that the occupation number $n_f$ of the trivalent configuration may be the implicit key variable even for the Kondo lattice. Three $(P, H, T)$ phase diagrams are discussed: CeRu$_2$Si$_2$, CeRhIn$_5$ and SmS

Evidence of phi --> pi0 pi0 gamma and phi --> pi0 eta gamma decays in SND experiment at VEPP-2M

Preliminary results on the study of e+e- --> phi(1020) --> pi0 pi0 gamma, eta pi0 gamma processes from SND experiment at VEPP-2M collider in Novosibirsk are presented. Branching ratios of rare radiative phi --> pi0 pi0 gamma and phi --> pi0 eta gamma decays are measured: B(phi --> pi0 pi0 gamma ) = (1.1 +- 0.2) * 10^-4 (invariant mass (pi0 pi0) < 800 MeV), B(phi --> eta pi0 gamma ) = (1.3 +- 0.5) * 10^-4.Comment: Talk at the HADRON97 conference, BNL, Aug 24-30 1997; LaTeX, 4 pages, 4 eps figure