Pressure-induced polymerization of 1,4-difluorobenzene towards fluorinated diamond nanothreads

Che, G.*; Fei, Y.*; Tang, X.*; Zhao, Z.*; Hattori, Takanori; Abe, Jun*; Wang, X.*; Ju, J.*; Dong, X.*; Wang, Y.*; et al.

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 27(2), p.1112 - 1118, 2025/01

https://doi.org/10.1039/D4CP03751K

Pressure-induced polymerization (PIP) of aromatic molecules has emerged as an effective method for synthesizing various carbon-based materials. In this work, PIP of 1,4-difluorobenzene (1,4-DFB) was investigated. high-pressure investigations of 1,4-DFB reveal a phase transition at approximately 12.0 GPa and an irreversible chemical reaction at 18.7 GPa. Structural analysis of the product and the kinetics of the reaction uncovered the formation of pseudohexagonal stacked fluoro-diamond nanothreads with linear growth. Compared to the crystal structures of benzene under high pressure, 1,4-DFB exhibits higher compression along the [001] axis. The anisotropic compression is attributed to the stronger H interaction along the [01] axis and the potential compression-inhibiting HF interactions along the [100] and [010] axes, and it facilitates a possible reaction pathway along the [01] axis. This work emphasizes the crucial role of functionalization in modulating molecular stacking and influencing the reaction pathway.

Spectral evidence for Dirac spinons in a kagome lattice antiferromagnet

Zeng, Z.*; Zhou, C.*; Zhou, H.*; Han, L.*; Chi, R.*; Li, K.*; Kofu, Maiko; Nakajima, Kenji; Wei, Y.*; Zhang, W.*; et al.

Nature Physics, 20(7), p.1097 - 1102, 2024/07

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-024-02495-z

Microscopic origin of the spin-reorientation transition in the kagome topological magnet TbMnSn

Huang, Z.*; Wang, W.*; Ye, H.*; Bao, S.*; Shangguan, Y.*; Liao, J.*; Cao, S.*; Kajimoto, Ryoichi; Ikeuchi, Kazuhiko*; Deng, G.*; et al.

Physical Review B, 109(1), p.014434_1 - 014434_9, 2024/01

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.109.014434

Pressure-modulated magnetism and negative thermal expansion in the HoFe intermetallic compound

Cao, Y.*; Zhou, H.*; Khmelevskyi, S.*; Lin, K.*; Avdeev, M.*; Wang, C.-W.*; Wang, B.*; Hu, F.*; Kato, Kenichi*; Hattori, Takanori; et al.

Chemistry of Materials, 35(8), p.3249 - 3255, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.3c00158

Hydrostatic and chemical pressure are efficient stimuli to alter the crystal structure and are commonly used for tuning electronic and magnetic properties in materials science. However, chemical pressure is difficult to quantify and a clear correspondence between these two types of pressure is still lacking. Here, we study intermetallic candidates for a permanent magnet with a negative thermal expansion (NTE). Based on in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction, negative chemical pressure is revealed in HoFe on Al doping and quantitatively evaluated by using temperature and pressure dependence of unit cell volume. A combination of magnetization and neutron diffraction measurements also allowed one to compare the effect of chemical pressure on magnetic ordering with that of hydrostatic pressure. Intriguingly, pressure can be used to control suppression and enhancement of NTE. Electronic structure calculations indicate that pressure affected the top of the majority band with respect to the Fermi level, which has implications for the magnetic stability, which in turn plays a critical role in modulating magnetism and NTE. This work presents a good example of understanding the effect of pressure and utilizing it to control properties of functional materials.

Mg-Zn-Mn oxide systems for a rechargeable Mg-battery cathode

Ye, X.*; Shimokawa, Kohei*; Kezuka, Yuto*; Hatakeyama, Takuya*; Li, H.*; Ichitsubo, Tetsu

Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 127(11), p.5210 - 5218, 2023/03

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.2c09071

Si-addition contributes to overcoming the strength-ductility trade-off in high-entropy alloys

Wei, D.*; Gong, W.; Tsuru, Tomohito; Lobzenko, I.; Li, X.*; Harjo, S.; Kawasaki, Takuro; Do, H.-S.*; Bae, J. W.*; Wagner, C.*; et al.

International Journal of Plasticity, 159, p.103443_1 - 103443_18, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijplas.2022.103443

First observation of a shape isomer and a low-lying strongly-coupled prolate band in neutron-deficient semi-magic Pb

Zhang, W. Q.*; Andreyev, A. N.; Liu, Z.*; Seweryniak, D.*; Huang, H.*; Li, Z. H.*; Li, J. G.*; Guo, C. Y.*; 34 of others*

Physics Letters B, 829, p.137129_1 - 137129_7, 2022/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2022.137129

Radiation chemistry provides nanoscopic insights into the role of intermediate phases in CeO mesocrystal formation

Li, Z.*; Piankova, D.*; Yang, Y.*; Kumagai, Yuta; Zschiesche, H.*; Jonsson, M.*; Tarakina, N. V.*; Soroka, I. L.*

Angewandte Chemie; International Edition, 61(6), p.e202112204_1 - e202112204_9, 2022/02

https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202112204

The role of intermediate phases in CeO mesocrystal formation from aqueous Ce(III) solutions subjected to -radiation was studied. Radiolytically formed hydroxyl radicals convert soluble Ce(III) into less soluble Ce(IV). Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction studies of samples from different stages of the process allowed the identification of several stages in CeO mesocrystal evolution following the oxidation to Ce(IV): (1) formation of hydrated Ce(IV)-hydroxides, serving as intermediates in the liquid-to-solid phase transformation; (2) CeO primary particle growth inside the intermediate phase; (3) alignment of the primary particles into "pre-mesocrystals" and subsequently to mesocrystals, guided by confinement of the amorphous intermediate phase and accompanied by the formation of mineral bridges. Further alignment of the obtained mesocrystals into supracrystals occurs upon slow drying, making it possible to form complex hierarchical architectures.

Benchmark analysis of ductile fracture simulation for circumferentially cracked pipes subjected to bending

Kumagai, Tomohisa*; Miura, Yasufumi*; Miura, Naoki*; Marie, S.*; Almahdi, R.*; Mano, Akihiro; Li, Y.; Katsuyama, Jinya; Wada, Yoshitaka*; Hwang, J.-H.*; et al.

Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, 144(1), p.011509_1 - 011509_18, 2022/02

https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4052852

To predict fracture behavior for ductile materials, some ductile fracture simulation methods different from classical approaches have been investigated based on appropriate models of ductile fracture. For the future use of the methods to overcome restrictions of classical approaches, the applicability to the actual components is of concern. In this study, two benchmark problems on the fracture tests supposing actual components were provided to investigate prediction ability of simulation methods containing parameter decisions. One was the circumferentially through-wall and surface cracked pipes subjected to monotonic bending, and the other was the circumferentially through-wall cracked pipes subjected to cyclic bending. Participants predicted the ductile crack propagation behavior by their own approaches, including FEM employed GTN yielding function with void ratio criterion, are FEM employed GTN yielding function, FEM with fracture strain or energy criterion modified by stress triaxiality, XFEM with J or delta J criterion, FEM with stress triaxiality and plastic strain based ductile crack propagation using FEM, and elastic-plastic peridynamics. Both the deformation and the crack propagation behaviors for monotonic bending were well reproduced, while few participants reproduced those for cyclic bending. To reproduce pipe deformation and fracture behaviors, most of groups needed parameters which were determined toreproduce pipe deformation and fracture behaviors in benchmark problems themselves and it is still difficult to reproduce them by using parameters only from basic materials tests.

Suppressed lattice disorder for large emission enhancement and structural robustness in hybrid lead iodide perovskite discovered by high-pressure isotope effect

Kong, L.*; Gong, J.*; Hu, Q.*; Capitani, F.*; Celeste, A.*; Hattori, Takanori; Sano, Asami; Li, N.*; Yang, W.*; Liu, G.*; et al.

Advanced Functional Materials, 31(9), p.2009131_1 - 2009131_12, 2021/02

https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202009131

The soft nature of organic-inorganic halide perovskites renders their lattice particularly tunable to external stimuli such as pressure, undoubtedly offering an effective way to modify their structure for extraordinary optoelectronic properties. However, these soft materials meanwhile feature a general characteristic that even a very mild pressure will lead to detrimental lattice distortion and weaken the critical light-matter interaction, thereby triggering the performance degradation. Here, using the methylammonium lead iodide as a representative exploratory platform, we observed the pressure-driven lattice disorder can be significantly suppressed via hydrogen isotope effect, which is crucial for better optical and mechanical properties previously unattainable.