Electrochemically Synthesized Tin/Lithium Alloy to Convert Laser Light to Extreme Ultraviolet Light

金沢大学先端科学・社会共創推進機構This paper describes lithium-tin alloys as a novel target material to enhance the efficiency of 13.5 nm extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light from generated laser-produced plasmas. Both lithium and tin exhibit EUV emission with the same peak at 13.5 nm. We show that lithium-tin (LiSn) alloys exhibit emission also at 13.5 nm and a mixture of tin and lithium emission by illuminating Nd:YAG laser (1 ns, 2.5 × 1010, 7.1 × 1010 W/cm2). The emission spectra and emission angular distribution by using phosphor imaging plates were analyzed to obtain the conversion efficiency from laser light to 13.5 nm light. The Li-Sn alloys were slightly higher than planar tin and between tin and lithium. It would be due to the suppression of self-absorption of 13.5 nm light by the tin plasma. Copyright © 2018 American Chemical Society

Exploration of organic superionic glassy conductors by process and materials informatics with lossless graph database

Data-driven material exploration is a ground-breaking research style; however, daily experimental results are difficult to record, analyze, and share. We report a new data platform that losslessly describes the relationships of structures, properties, and processes as graphs in electronic laboratory notebooks. As a model project, organic superionic glassy conductors were explored by recording over 500 different experiments. Automated data analysis revealed the essential factors for a remarkable room temperature ionic conductivity of 10^−4-10^−3 S/cm and a lithium transference number of around 0.8. In contrast to previous materials research, everyone can access all the experimental results, including graphs, raw measurement data, and data processing systems, at a public repository. Direct data sharing will improve scientific communication and accelerate integration of material knowledge

Local Structure of Thermally Stable Super Ionic Conducting AgI Confined in Mesopores

AgI confined in mesopores of Al₂O₃ exhibits high ionic conductivity for a very wide temperature range. The mechanism of this attractive feature was revealed by detailed investigation of local structure using ¹⁰⁹Ag nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). All data of NMR and XAS data as well as X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, transmission electron microscopy, and a.c. impedance spectroscopy were carefully analyzed to reach the most plausible model. It was revealed that the local structure of the super ionic conducting phase of AgI in mesopores is amorphous, which is similar to α-AgI structure, and was stabilized for a very wide temperature range from 30 K to melting point around 850 K

Experimental Evaluation of Influence of Stress on Li Chemical Potential and Phase Equilibrium in Two-phase Battery Electrode Materials

We experimentally evaluated the influence of stress on the Li chemical potential (μLi) and phase equilibrium in the two-phase battery electrode materials through the emf measurements while applying a mechanical load. In our measurements, we prepared an electrochemical cell by depositing a thin film of a two-phase electrode material (LiFePO4 or LiCoO2 in the two-phase region) on each of the solid electrolyte surfaces. Then we applied a mechanical load to the electrochemical cell through four-point bending, and the resulting μLi variation in the electrode material was measured as the emf between the two thin films. Our results indicated that μLi in the two-phase electrode materials immediately changed just after loading and then gradually changed while maintaining a constant mechanical load. Besides, the loading and unloading led to the μLi variation in the opposite direction. Such characteristic μLi variations could be explained by considering the change in the phase equilibrium between the two phases, which led to the Li content variation in the two phases and the stress relaxation due to the volume fraction variation of the two phases. Our results can provide valuable insights regarding the influence of stress on the performances of energy storage devices with two-phase electrode materials