Insights into the electrochemical reduction products and processes in silica anodes for next-generation lithium-ion batteries

The use of silica as a lithium‐ion battery anode material requires a pretreatment step to induce electrochemical activity. The partially reversible electrochemical reduction reaction between silica and lithium has been postulated to produce silicon, which can subsequently reversibly react with lithium, providing stable capacities higher than graphite materials. Up to now, the electrochemical reduction pathway and the nature of the products were unknown, thereby hampering the design, optimization, and wider uptake of silica‐based anodes. Here, the electrochemical reduction pathway is uncovered and, for the first time, elemental silicon is identified as a reduction product. These insights, gleaned from analysis of the current response and capacity increase during reduction, conclusively demonstrated that silica must be reduced to introduce reversible capacity and the highest capacities of 600 mAh g−1 are achieved by using a constant load discharge at elevated temperature. Characterization via total scattering X‐ray pair distribution function analysis reveal the reduction products are amorphous in nature, highlighting the need for local structural methods to uncover vital information often inaccessible by traditional diffraction. These insights contribute toward understanding the electrochemical reduction of silica and can inform the development of pretreatment processes to enable their incorporation into next‐generation lithium‐ion batteries

Global agricultural N2O emission reduction strategies deliver climate benefits with minimal impact on stratospheric O3 recovery

Agricultural nitrous oxide (N2O) emission reduction strategies are required given the potency of N2O as a greenhouse gas. However, the growing influence of N2O on stratospheric ozone (O3) with declining stratospheric chlorine means the wider atmospheric impact of N2O reductions requires investigation. We calculate a N2O emission reduction of 1.35 TgN2O yr-1 (~5% of 2020 emissions) using spatially separate deployment of nitrification inhibitors ($70–113 tCO2e−1) and crushed basalt (no-cost co-benefit) which also sequesters CO2. In Earth System model simulations for 2025–2075 under high (SSP3-7.0) and low (SSP1-2.6) surface warming scenarios, this N2O mitigation reduces NOx-driven O3 destruction, driving regional stratospheric O3 increases but with minimal impact on total O3 column recovery. By 2075, the radiative forcing of the combined N2O and CO2 reductions equates to a beneficial 9–11 ppm CO2 removal. Our results support targeted agricultural N2O emission reductions for helping nations reach net-zero without hindering O3 recovery

Design and innovation strategies within "successful" high-tech firms

Reports on an ongoing empirical study into the characteristics and strategies of “successful” technologically oriented UK firms. Using survey data from samples of winners of the Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement and a comparative group of high-technology firms, the study establishes that few statistical differences exist between the two groups and between specific sizes of firms in each sample in relation to aspects of their design and innovation strategies. The issues raised in this paper include: the way in which technological success is conceptualised; the usefulness of awards such as the Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement as a benchmark for innovative firms; and, the attitudes and activities of sample firms in relation to design and new product development strategies

Oxide muonics: A new compendium

A new survey of muonium states brings the total of binary non-magnetic oxides studied to 30, with normal muonium—the interstitiallytrapped atomic state—found in 15 of these. The number of shallow-donor states of the type known in ZnO now also totals 15, but thereare hints of several others. Tantalizingly, the shallow-donor and deep-atomic states are found to coexist in several of the candidate highpermittivity dielectrics. Highly anisotropic states, resembling anomalous muonium in semiconductors and including examples ofmuonium trapped at oxygen vacancies, complete a spectrum of hyperfine parameters covering five powers of ten. Effective ionizationtemperatures range from 10K for shallow to over 1000K for deep states, with corresponding activation energies between several meVand several eV. The oxide band gap emerges as a parameter controlling the systematics of the deep-to-shallow transition for muoniumand, by inference, monatomic hydrogen