Theoretical prediction of structure,electronic and optical properties of VH2 hydrogen storage material

The vanadium hydrides have better hydrogen storage capacity in comparison to the other metal hydrides. Although the structure of VH₂ hydride has been reported, the structural stability, electronic and optical properties of VH₂ hydride are unclear. To solve these problems, we apply the first-principles method to study the structural stability, electronic and optical properties of VH₂ hydrides. Similar to the metal dihydrides, four possible VH₂ hydrides such as the cubic (Fm-3m), tetragonal (I4/mmm), tetragonal (P4₂/mnm) and orthorhombic (Pnma) are designed. The result shows that the cubic VH₂ hydride is a thermodynamic and dynamical stability. In particular, the tetragonal (I4/mmm) and the orthorhombic (Pnma) VH₂ hydrides are firstly predicted. It is found that these VH₂ hydrides show metallic behavior. The electronic interaction of V (d-state)-H (s-state) is beneficial to improve the hydrogen storage in VH₂ hydride. In addition, the formation of V–H bond can improve the structural stability of VH₂ hydride. Based on the analysis of optical properties, it is found that all VH₂ hydrides show the ultraviolet response. Compared to the tetragonal and orthorhombic VH₂ hydrides, the cubic VH₂ hydride has better storage optical properties. Therefore, we believe that the VH₂ hydride is a promising hydrogen storage material.     

New horizon in mechanochemistry—high-temperature,high-pressure mechanical synthesis in a planetary ball mill—with magnesium hydride synthesis as an example

A new route of materials synthesis, namely, high-temperature, high-pressure reactive planetary ball milling (HTPRM), is presented. HTPRM allows for the mechanosynthesis of materials at fully controlled temperatures of up to 450 °C and pressures of up to 100 bar of hydrogen. As an example of this application, a successful synthesis of magnesium hydride is presented. The synthesis was performed at controlled temperatures (room temperature (RT), 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, and 325 °C) while milling in a planetary ball mill under hydrogen pressure ($>$50 bar). Very mild milling conditions (250 rpm) were applied for a total milling time of 2 h, and a milling vial with a relatively small diameter (φ = 53 mm, V = ～0.06 dm³) was used. The effect of different temperatures on the synthesis kinetics and outcome were examined. The particle morphology, phase composition, reaction yield, and particle size were measured and analysed by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. The obtained results showed that increasing the temperature of the process significantly improved the reaction rate, which suggested the great potential of this technique for the mechanochemical synthesis of materials.     

Recent insights in synthesis and energy storage applications of porous carbon derived from biomass waste: A review

In the last few decades, global warming, environmental pollution, and an energy shortage of fossil fuel may cause a severe economic crisis and health threats. Storage, conversion, and application of regenerable and dispersive energy would be a promising solution to release this crisis. The development of porous carbon materials from regenerated biomass are competent methods to store energy with high performance and limited environmental damages. In this regard, bio-carbon with abundant surface functional groups and an easily tunable three-dimensional porous structure may be a potential candidate as a sustainable and green carbon material. Up to now, although some literature has screened the biomass source, reaction temperature, and activator dosage during thermochemical synthesis, a comprehensive evaluation and a detailed discussion of the relationship between raw materials, preparation methods, and the structural and chemical properties of carbon materials are still lacking. Hence, in this review, we first assess the recent advancements in carbonization and activation process of biomass with different compositions and the activity performance in various energy storage applications including supercapacitors, lithium-ion batteries, and hydrogen storage, highlighting the mechanisms and open questions in current energy society. After that, the connections between preparation methods and porous carbon properties including specific surface area, pore volume, and surface chemistry are reviewed in detail. Importantly, we discuss the relationship between the pore structure of prepared porous carbon with surface functional groups, and the energy storage performance in various energy storage fields for different biomass sources and thermal conversion methods. Finally, the conclusion and prospective are concluded to give an outlook for the development of biomass carbon materials, and energy storage applications technologies. This review demonstrates significant potentials for energy applications of biomass materials, and it is expected to inspire new discoveries to promote practical applications of biomass materials in more energy storage and conversion fields.     

Achieving superior hydrogen storage properties via in-situ formed nanostructures: A high-capacity Mg–Ni alloy with La microalloying

Mg-based hydride is a promising hydrogen storage material, but its capacity is hindered by the kinetic properties. In this study, Mg–Mg₂Ni–LaH_x nanocomposite is formed from the H-induced decomposition of Mg₉₈Ni_1·67La_0.33 alloy. The hydrogen capacity of 7.19 wt % is reached at 325 °C under 3 MPa H₂, attributed to the ultrahigh hydrogenation capacity in Stage I. The hydrogen capacity of 5.59 wt % is achieved at 175 °C under 1 MPa H₂. The apparent activation energies for hydrogen absorption and desorption are calculated as 57.99 and 107.26 kJ/mol, which are owing to the modified microstructure with LaH_x and Mg₂Ni nanophases embedding in eutectic, and tubular nanostructure adjacent to eutectic. The LaH_2.49 nanophase can catalyze H₂ molecules to dissociate and H atoms to permeate due to its stronger affinity with H atoms. The interfaces of these nanophases provide preferential nucleation sites and alleviate the “blocking effect” together with tubular nanostructure by providing H atoms diffusion paths after the impingement of MgH₂ colonies. Therefore, the superior hydrogenation properties are achieved because of the rapid absorption process of Stage I. The efficient synthesis of nano-catalysts and corresponding mechanisms for improving hydrogen storage properties have important reference to related researches.     

Engineering the hydrogen storage properties of the perovskite hydride ZrNiH3 by uniaxial/biaxial strain

In the present work, the bonding length, electronic structure, stability, and dehydrogenation properties of the Perovskite-type ZrNiH₃ hydride, under different uniaxial/biaxial strains are investigated through ab-initio calculations based on the plane-wave pseudo-potential (PW-PP) approach. The findings reveal that the uniaxial/biaxial compressive and tensile strains are responsible for the structural deformation of the ZrNiH₃ crystal structure, and its lattice deformation becomes more significant with decreasing or increasing the strain magnitude. Due to the strain energy contribution, the uniaxial/biaxial strain not only lowers the stability of ZrNiH₃ but also decreases considerably the dehydrogenation enthalpy and decomposition temperature. Precisely, the formation enthalpy and decomposition temperature are reduced from ?67.73 kJ/mol.H₂ and 521 K for non-strained ZrNiH₃ up to ?33.73 kJ/mol.H₂ and 259.5 K under maximal biaxial compression strain of ε = ?6%, and to ?50.99 kJ/mol.H₂ and 392.23 K for the maximal biaxial tensile strain of ε = +6%. The same phenomenon has been also observed for the uniaxial strain, where the formation enthalpy and decomposition temperature are both decreased to ?39.36 kJ/mol.H₂ and 302.78 K for a maximal uniaxial compressive strain of ε = - 12%, and to ?51.86 kJ/mol.H₂ and 399 K under the maximal uniaxial tensile strain of ε = +12%. Moreover, the densities of states analysis suggests that the strain-induced variation in the dehydrogenation and structural properties of ZrNiH₃ are strongly related to the Fermi level value of total densities of states. These ab-initio calculations demonstrate insightful novel approach into the development of Zr-based intermetallic hydrides for hydrogen storage practical applications.     

Effect of sintering temperature on lightweight aggregates manufacturing from copper contaminated soil

Manufacturing lightweight aggregate (LWA) at high temperature is an effective way to immobilize heavy metals in solid waste. This work investigated the performance and solidification mechanism of LWA prepared from copper contaminated soil. The volume expansion of LWA could reach a maximum of 28%, and its lowest density accounted of 1.5 g/cm³, which met the standard requirements. Optical microscope and micro-CT test illustrated that the addition of Cu leaded to obvious phase separation in LWA. The Cu leaching result of LWA first increased and then dropped with the temperature. The XRD test found that the main formation phase of Cu in LWA were t-CuFe₂O₄ and amorphous phase that they had different acid resistance ability. XPS revealed that the main cause of the agglomeration of liquid phase in LWA was the chain broken reaction between Cu and Si–O tetrahedron. SEM-EDS results showed that the distribution of Cu and Si had a strong correlation, which meant that Cu mostly formed amorphous phase. This work showed the uniqueness of Cu in the high temperature immobilization and pointed out the best immobilization target phase.     

Preparation of high-purity SiC ceramics with good plasma corrosion resistance by hot-pressing sintering

High-purity SiC ceramic devices are applied in semiconductor industry owing to their outstanding properties. Nevertheless, it is difficult to densify SiC ceramics without any sintering additive even by HP sintering. In this work, high-purity and dense SiC ceramics were fabricated by HP sintering with very low amounts of sintering aids. Residual B content was only 556 ppm and relative density was more than 99.5%. Furthermore, thermal conductivity of as-prepared SiC ceramics was improved from 155 W m^?1 K^?1 to 167 W m^?1 K^?1 by increasing holding time and their plasma corrosion resistance was promoted in the meantime. The as-prepared high-purity SiC ceramics have broad application prospects in the field of semiconductor industry.     

Design of Ti4+-doped Li3V2(PO4)3/C fibers for lithium energy storage

In this work, we propose a facile approach to fabricate Ti⁴⁺-doped Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃/C (abbreviated as C-LVTP) nanofibers using an electrospinning route followed by a high temperature treatment. In this designed nanocomposite, the ultrafine LVTP dots are homogeneously dispersed into one-dimensional carbon nanofibers and the Ti⁴⁺ doping does not destroy the crystal structure of monoclinic Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃. Compared to the undoped Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃/C (abbreviated as C-LVP), the as-fabricated C-LVTP fibers present higher reversible capacity, superior high-rate capability as well as better cyclic property. Especially, the C-LVT_7%P cathode delivers not only high capacities of 187.2 and 160.3 mAh g^?1 at 0.5 and 10 C respectively, but also stable cyclic property with the reversible capacity of 135.8 mAh g^?1 at 20 C following 500-cycle spans. The good battery characteristics of C-LVT_7%P can be mainly ascribed to Ti⁴⁺ doping, which can increase the electrical conductivity and Li⁺ diffusion coefficient.     

Induced slim ferroelectric hysteresis loops and enhanced energy-storage properties of Mn-doped (Pb0·93La0.07)(Zr0·82Ti0.18)O3 anti-ferroelectric thick films by aerosol deposition

In this study, the high ferroelectric hysteresis loss of (Pb_0·93La_0.07)(Zr_0·82Ti_0.18)O₃ (PLZT 7/82/18) antiferroelectric (AFE) ceramics was reduced by employing a combinatorial approach of Mn acceptor doping followed by thick film fabrication via an aerosol deposition (AD) process. The grains of the as-deposited PLZT 7/82/18 AFE AD thick films were grown by thermal annealing at 550 °C to enhance their electrical properties. Investigation of the electrical properties revealed that Mn-doping results in improved dielectric and ferroelectric properties, increased dielectric breakdown strength (DBS), and energy-storage properties. The Mn-doped PLZT AFE AD films possess a frequency-independent high dielectric constant (ε_r ≈ 660) with low dielectric loss (tan δ ≈ 0.0146), making them suitable candidates for storage capacitor applications. The bipolar and unipolar polarization vs. electric field (P-E) hysteresis loops of PLZT 7/82/18 AFE AD thick films were found to be slimmer than those of their bulk form (double hysteresis) with significantly reduced ferroelectric hysteresis loss, which is attributed to the AD-induced mixed grain structure. The Mn-doped PLZT 7/82/18 AFE AD thick films exhibited a low remnant polarization (P_r ≈ 9.22 μC/cm²) at a high applied electric field (~2750 kV/cm). The energy-storage density and energy efficiency of the Mn-doped PLZT AFE AD thick films were calculated from unipolar P-E hysteresis loops and found to be ~38.33 J/cm³ and ~74%, respectively.