We have studied the laser pulse shape dependence of the conversion efficiency of λ = 1.03 μm laser pulse energy into 13.5 nm extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emission from a Sn laser-produced plasma. Laser pulses of arbitrary temporal shape ranging from hundreds of picoseconds to several nanoseconds were generated using a programmable pulse synthesizer based on a diode-pumped chirped pulse amplification Yb: YAG laser. Measurements show that the conversion efficiency favors the use of nearly square pulses of duration longer than 2 ns, in agreement with hydrodynamic/atomic physics simulations. A 35% increase in conversion efficiency was obtained when Q-switched pulses were substituted by square pulses of a similar duration. Experiments conducted irradiating a Sn target with a sequence of two time-delayed 250 ps pulses showed a 30 percent increase in the EUV yield respect to a single pulse of the same total energy when the pulse separation was optimum at 2.1 ns. This suggests that re-heating of the plasma with delayed laser pulses could be used to improve the EUV yield. The spectroscopic characterization of EUV emission and in-band EUV images that characterize the source size are also presented.

As fast-ion conductors, cluster-ion anti-perovskites (APs) are attractive for potential new mechanisms of conduction whereby cation and anion motion is highly correlated [1,2]. Cluster-ion APs, like perovskites, have a framework that accommodates diverse atomic substitutions. Furthermore, the potential for cluster-ion substitution onto one or both anion sites (A and B in X3AB) provides additional compositional degrees of freedom. To identify model cluster-ion APs for understanding such conduction mechanism, we have synthesized and characterized ~20 cluster-ion APs compositions, from which Na3-x(NH2)xO1-x(BH4) has been identified as an ideal model system for understanding the correlation between cluster-ion rotation and cation transport as shown in Figure 1. Particularly, Na2(NH2)(BH4) exhibits an unusual positive deviation from ideal Arrhenius behavior indicative of a flattening of the energy landscape with increasing temperature. Concurrently, the sodium conductivity increases by 104 to 105, which is most likely due to some combination of the effects of Na vacancy introduction and NH2 and/or BH4 anion mobility. Herein, synthesis, property, and characterization of the cluster-ion APs, aimed at understanding the temperature-dependent atomistic dynamics and its effects on cation transport, will be discussed in the presentation. This work was supported as part of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, an Energy Innovation Hub funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences. Reference s : [1] Hong Fang and Puru Jena. Li-rich antiperovskite superionic conductors based on cluster ions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017, 114, 110461. [2] Hong Fang and Puru Jena. Sodium Superionic Conductors Based on Clusters. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces. 2019, 11, 963-972. Figure 1

Anti-perovskite materials have recently attracted great interest as a family of non-flammable solid state electrolytes with high ionic conduction.[1] Typical solid-state electrolyte materials have temperature dependent ionic conductivity following linear Arrhenius behavior over a substantial range of temperature, corresponding to a constant activation energy Ea. However, we have discovered several anti-perovskite materials that have strong positive deviations from Arrhenius behavior, leading to rapidly rising ionic conductivities with increasing temperature. Na3OCl and Na3OBr are typical anti-perovskite compositions with atomic structure shown in Figure 1a. Strong deviations from Arrhenius (linear) behavior were observed in the temperature dependent conductivity measured by impedance spectroscopy, where Na3OCl0.5Br0.5 reaches the highest ionic conductivity with increasing temperature, as shown in Figure 1b. The structural origins of such behavior, such as change of octahedral tilt systems and order/disorder phase transition, has been investigated using multiple temperature-resolved characterization methods including synchrotron XRD, NMR, dielectric property measurements, and calorimetry, and modeled using AIMD and DFT. This work will give insight to tuning solid state electrolyte with high ionic conductivity. This work was supported as part of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, an Energy Innovation Hub funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences. Figure : Temperature dependent ionic conductivity and atomic model of Na-based anti-perovskites. Figure 1

A promising high-voltage spinel oxide cathode material MgCrMnO₄ with 18% Mg/Mn inversion was synthesized successfully. A new custom operando battery device was designed to study the cation migration mechanisms of the MgCrMnO₄ cathode using 0.1 M Mg(TPFA)₂ electrolyte dissolved in triglyme and activated carbon as the anode. For the first time in multivalent batteries, high-quality operando diffraction data enabled the accurate quantification of cation contents in the host structure. Besides the exceptional reversibility of 12% Mg²⁺ insertion in Mg_1-xCrMnO₄ (x ≤ 1), a partially reversible insertion of excess Mg²⁺ during overdischarging was also observed. Moreover, the insertion/extraction reaction was experimentally shown to be accompanied by a series of cation redistributions in the spinel framework, which were further supported by density functional theory calculations. The inverted Mn is believed to be directly involved in the cation migrations, which would cause voltage hysteresis and irreversible structural evolution after overdischarging. Tuning the Mg/Mn inversion rate could provide a direct path to further optimize spinel oxide cathodes for Mg-ion batteries, and more generally, the operando techniques developed in this work should play a key role in understanding the complex mechanisms involved in multivalent ion insertion systems.

Although the determination of site occupancies is often a major goal in Rietveld refinement studies, the accurate refinement of site occupancies is exceptionally challenging due to many correlations and systematic errors that have a hidden impact on the final refined occupancy parameters. Through the comparison of results independently obtained from neutron and synchrotron powder diffraction, improved approaches capable of detecting occupancy defects with an exceptional sensitivity of 0.1% (absolute) in the class of layered NMC (Li[Ni_xMn_yCo_z]O₂) Li-ion battery cathode materials have been developed. A new method of visualizing the diffraction parameter space associated with crystallographic site scattering power through the use of f* diagrams is described, and this method is broadly applicable to ternary compounds. The f* diagrams allow the global minimum fit to be easily identified and also permit a robust determination of the number and types of occupancy defects within a structure. Through a comparison of neutron and X-ray diffraction results, a systematic error in the synchrotron results was identified using f* diagrams for a series of NMC compounds. Using neutron diffraction data as a reference, this error was shown to specifically result from problems associated with the neutral oxygen X-ray atomic form factor and could be eliminated by using the ionic O^2- form factor for this anion while retaining the neutral form factors for cationic species. The f* diagram method offers a new opportunity to experimentally assess the quality of atomic form factors through powder diffraction studies on chemically related multi-component compounds.

Antiperovskite structure compounds (X3AB, where X is an alkali cation and A and B are anions) have the potential for highly correlated motion between the cation and a cluster anion on the A or B site. This so-called “paddle-wheel” mechanism may be the basis for enhanced cation mobility in solid electrolytes. Through combined experiments and modeling, the first instance of a double paddle-wheel mechanism, leading to fast sodium ion conduction in the antiperovskite Na3−xO1−x(NH2)x(BH4), is shown. As the concentration of amide (NH2−) cluster anions is increased, large positive deviations in ionic conductivity above that predicted from a vacancy diffusion model are observed. Using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, synchrotron X-ray diffraction, neutron diffraction, ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, and NMR, the cluster anion rotational dynamics are characterized and it is found that cation mobility is influenced by the rotation of both NH2− and BH4− species, resulting in sodium ion conductivity a factor of 102 higher at x = 1 than expected for the vacancy mechanism alone. Generalization of this phenomenon to other compounds could accelerate fast ion conductor exploration and design.

Oxygen redox at high voltage has emerged as a transformative paradigm for high-energy battery cathodes such as layered transition-metal oxides by offering extra capacity beyond conventional transition-metal redox. However, these cathodes suffer from voltage hysteresis, voltage fade and capacity drop upon cycling. Single-crystalline cathodes have recently shown some improvements, but these challenges remain. Here we reveal the fundamental origin of oxygen redox instability to be from the domain boundaries that are present in single-crystalline cathode particles. By investigating single-crystalline cathodes with different domain boundaries structures, we show that the elimination of domain boundaries enhances the reversible lattice oxygen redox while inhibiting the irreversible oxygen release. This leads to significantly suppressed structural degradation and improved mechanical integrity during battery cycling and abuse heating. The robust oxygen redox enabled through domain boundary control provides practical opportunities towards high-energy, long-cycling, safe batteries.