Brightening triplet excitons enable high-performance white-light emission in organic small molecules via integrating n-- transitions

Yang, Q.*; Yang, X.*; Wang, Y.*; Fei, Y.*; Li, F.*; Zheng, H.*; Li, K.*; Han, Y.*; Hattori, Takanori; Zhu, P.*; et al.

Nature Communications (Internet), 15, p.7778_1 - 7778_9, 2024/09

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52196-7

Luminescent materials that simultaneously embody bright singlet and triplet excitons hold great potential in optoelectronics, signage, and information encryption. However, achieving high-performance white-light emission is severely hampered by their inherent unbalanced contribution of fluorescence and phosphorescence. Herein, we address this challenge by pressure treatment engineering via hydrogen bonding cooperativity effect to realize the mixture of n-- transitions, where the triplet state emission was boosted from 7% to 40% in isophthalic acid (IPA). A superior white-light emission based on hybrid fluorescence and phosphorescence was harvested in pressure-treated IPA, and the photoluminescence quantum yield was increased to 75% from the initial 19% (blue-light emission). In-situ high-pressure IR spectra, X ray diffraction, and neutron diffraction reveal continuous strengthening of the hydrogen bonds with the increase of pressure. Furthermore, this enhanced hydrogen bond is retained down to the ambient conditions after pressure treatment, awarding the targeted IPA efficient intersystem crossing for balanced singlet/triplet excitons population and resulting in efficient white-light emission. This work not only proposes a route for brightening triplet states in organic small molecule, but also regulates the ratio of singlet and triplet excitons to construct high-performance white-light emission.

Discrete degeneracies distinguished by the anomalous Hall effect in a metallic kagome ice compound

Zhao, K.*; Tokiwa, Yoshifumi; Chen, H.*; Gegenwart, P.*

Nature Physics, 20(3), p.442 - 449, 2024/03

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02307-w

In magnetic crystals, despite the explicit breaking of time-reversal symmetry, two equilibrium states related by time reversal are always energetically degenerate. In ferromagnets, this time-reversal degeneracy is reflected in the hysteresis of the magnetic field dependence of the magnetization and, if metallic, in that of the anomalous Hall effect (AHE). Under time-reversal, both these quantities change signs but not their magnitude. Here we show that a time-reversal-like degeneracy appears in the metallic kagome spin ice HoAgGe when magnetic fields are applied parallel to the kagome plane. We find vanishing hysteresis in the field dependence of the magnetization at low temperature, but finite hysteresis in the field-dependent AHE. This suggests the emergence of states with nearly the same energy and net magnetization but different sizes of the AHE and of the longitudinal magnetoresistance. By analysing the experimental data and a minimal tight-binding model, we identify a time-reversal-like operation connecting these near-degenerate states, which is related to the non-trivial distortion of the kagome lattice in HoAgGe. Our work demonstrates the diagnostic power of transport phenomena for identifying hidden symmetries in frustrated spin systems.

Deformation mechanism of a strong and ductile maraging steel investigated using X-ray synchrotron diffraction

Li, H.*; Liu, Y.*; Zhao, W.*; Liu, B.*; Tominaga, Aki; Shobu, Takahisa; Wei, D.*

International Journal of Plasticity, 165, p.103612_1 - 103612_20, 2023/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijplas.2023.103612

In order to clarify the strength properties of Co-free maraging steel, tensile experiment using high energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction was performed. Diffraction profiles from the martensitic and austenitic phases were obtained, and their strength and width were observed to vary as loading. Analysis of the diffraction profiles showed that the content of martensite in the as-aged material decreased slowly at low stress levels and decreased rapidly at high stress levels. On the other hand, the austenite phase in the as-solution materials was significantly transformed the martensite phase as the stress increased. It was clarified to be responsible for their respective strength properties.

Magnetic properties and electronic configurations of Mn ions in the diluted magnetic semiconductor BaK(ZnMn)As studied by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering

Suzuki, Hakuto*; Zhao, G.*; Okamoto, Jun*; Sakamoto, Shoya*; Chen, Z.-Y.*; Nonaka, Yosuke*; Shibata, Goro; Zhao, K.*; Chen, B.*; Wu, W.-B.*; et al.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 91(6), p.064710_1 - 064710_5, 2022/06

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.91.064710

Atomic arrangements of quasicrystal bilayer graphene; Interlayer distance expansion

Fukaya, Yuki; Zhao, Y.*; Kim, H.-W.*; Ahn, J.-R.*; Fukidome, Hirokazu*; Matsuda, Iwao*

Physical Review B, 104(18), p.L180202_1 - L180202_5, 2021/11

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.104.L180202

no abstracts in English

Coordination number regulation of molybdenum single-atom nanozyme peroxidase-like specificity

Wang, Y.*; Jia, G.*; Cui, X.*; Zhao, X.*; Zhang, Q.*; Gu, L.*; Zheng, L.*; Li, L. H.*; Wu, Q.*; Singh, D. J.*; et al.

Chem, 7(2), p.436 - 449, 2021/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chempr.2020.10.023

Ultralow thermal conductivity from transverse acoustic phonon suppression in distorted crystalline -MgAgSb

Li, X.*; Liu, P.-F.*; Zhao, E.*; Zhang, Z.*; Guide, T.*; Le, M. D.*; Avdeev, M.*; Ikeda, Kazutaka*; Otomo, Toshiya*; Kofu, Maiko; et al.

Nature Communications (Internet), 11, p.942_1 - 942_9, 2020/02

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14772-5

In high-performance thermoelectric materials, there are two main low thermal conductivity mechanisms: the phonon anharmonic and phonon scattering resulting from the dynamic disorder, which have been successfully revealed by inelastic neutron scattering. Using neutron scattering and ab initio calculations, we report here a mechanism of static local structure distortion combined with phonon-anharmonic-induced ultralow lattice thermal conductivity in -MgAgSb. Since the transverse acoustic phonons are almost fully scattered by the intrinsic distorted rocksalt sublattice in this compound, the heat is mainly transported by the longitudinal acoustic phonons. The ultralow thermal conductivity in -MgAgSb is attributed to its atomic dynamics being altered by the structure distortion, which presents a possible microscopic route to enhance the performance of similar thermoelectric materials.

Faradaically selective membrane for liquid metal displacement batteries

Yin, H.*; Chung, B.*; Chen, F.*; Ouchi, Takanari*; Zhao, J.*; Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Sadoway, D. R.*

Nature Energy (Internet), 3(2), p.127 - 131, 2018/02

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-017-0072-1

We disclose a new porous electronically conductive membrane, which achieves chemical selectivity by preferred faradaic reaction. This shift in membrane mechanism grants access to a variety of heretofore forbidden choices for positive and negative electrode metals and allows the battery to charge-discharge at high rate without degradation. Fitted with a porous membrane of TiN, a displacement cell comprising a Pb positive electrode, a Li Pb negative electrode, and LiCl-KCl eutectic electrolyte was cycled at 410C and exhibited a coulombic efficiency of 92%. The capacity fade rate was measured to be 0.00172% per cycle, which is tantamount to retention of greater than 94% of initial capacity after 10 years. Most significant from the standpoint of scalability, we show that the faradaic membrane can be fashioned out of metal so as to be mechanically durable and therefore easily mass-produced at large scale with a thin cross-section for minimal ohmic drop in cell voltage.

Spin excitations in optimally P-doped BaFe(AsP) superconductor

Hu, D.*; Yin, Z.*; Zhang, W.*; Ewings, R. A.*; Ikeuchi, Kazuhiko*; Nakamura, Mitsutaka; Roessli, B.*; Wei, Y.*; Zhao, L.*; Chen, G.*; et al.

Physical Review B, 94(9), p.094504_1 - 094504_7, 2016/09

AA2016-0252.pdf:2.18MB

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.094504

The temperature and energy dependence of spin excitations in an optimally P-doped BaFe(AsP) superconductor (T = 30 K) were studied by using inelastic neutron scattering. Experimental results are consistent with calculations from a combined density functional theory and dynamical mean field theory, and suggest that the decreased average pnictogen height in BaFe(AsP) reduces the strength of electron correlations and increases the effective bandwidth of magnetic excitation.

Coherent control of single spins in silicon carbide at room temperature

Widmann, M.*; Lee, S.-Y.*; Rendler, T.*; Son, N. T.*; Fedder, H.*; Paik, S.*; Yang, L.-P.*; Zhao, N.*; Yang, S.*; Booker, I.*; et al.

Nature Materials, 14(2), p.164 - 168, 2015/02

https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4145