I11-High Resolution Powder Diffraction
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[25166]
Open Access
Abstract: We present the synthesis of a novel binary metal oxide material: Ba7Mn4O15. The crystal structure has been investigated by high-resolution powder synchrotron X-ray diffraction in the temperature range of 100–300 K as well as by powder neutron diffraction at 10 and 80 K. This material represents an isostructural barium-substituted analogue of the layered material Sr7Mn4O15 that forms its own structural class. However, we find that Ba7Mn4O15 adopts a distinct magnetic ordering, resulting in a magnetoelectric ground state below 50 K. The likely magnetoelectric coupling mechanisms have been inferred from performing a careful symmetry-adapted refinement against the powder neutron diffraction experiments, as well as by making a comparison with the nonmagnetoelectric ground state of Sr7Mn4O15.
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Jun 2022
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I11-High Resolution Powder Diffraction
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[29466]
Open Access
Abstract: Magnetic bistability in single-molecule magnets (SMMs) is a potential basis for new types of nanoscale information storage material. The standard model for thermally activated relaxation of the magnetization in SMMs is based on the occurrence of a single Orbach process. Here, we show that incorporating a phosphorus atom into the framework of the dysprosium metallocene [(CpiPr5)Dy(CpPEt4)]+[B(C6F5)4]− (CpiPr5 is penta-isopropylcyclopentadienyl, CpPEt4 is tetraethylphospholyl) leads to the occurrence of two distinct high-temperature Orbach processes, with energy barriers of 1410(10) and 747(7) cm–1, respectively. These barriers provide experimental evidence for two different spin–phonon coupling regimes, which we explain with the aid of ab initio calculations. The strong and highly axial crystal field in this SMM also allows magnetic hysteresis to be observed up to 70 K, using a scan rate of 25 Oe s–1. In characterizing this SMM, we show that a conventional Debye model and consideration of rotational contributions to the spin–phonon interaction are insufficient to explain the observed phenomena.
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Apr 2022
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I19-Small Molecule Single Crystal Diffraction
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[22240]
Open Access
Abstract: Four novel homo- and heterometallic sodium and/or aluminium complexes based on the TrenSal ligand, [LH3], have been synthesised and fully characterised, including by single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments. While [LAl] was completely inactive towards rac-lactide ring-opening polymerisation, incorporating sodium to form heterometallic [LNaAlMe] changes the aluminium geometry from octahedral to tetrahedral, leading to good catalytic activity in the presence of co-initiator BnOH (kobs=3.19×10−2 min−1; room temperature, toluene solvent) and good polymerisation control. Under identical conditions, homometallic sodium complexes showed higher activities in rac-lactide polymerisation than [LNaAlMe], with [LNa3] being extremely active (kobs=1.21 min−1) but displaying unusual second-order monomer dependency and poor polymerisation control. 1H NMR spectroscopic studies suggest that polymerisation with [LNaAlMe] or [LH2Na]/BnOH follows an activated monomer mechanism, whereas [LNa3] operates via simultaneous coordination-insertion and activated monomer mechanisms. Overall, heterometallic [LNaAlMe] provides a balance of good activity and control compared to the homometallic analogues.
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Apr 2022
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I22-Small angle scattering & Diffraction
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[11969]
Open Access
Abstract: Iron nitride (Fe3N) and iron carbide (Fe3C) nanoparticles can be prepared via sol–gel synthesis. While sol–gel methods are simple, it can be difficult to control the crystalline composition, i.e., to achieve a Rietveld-pure product. In a previous in situ synchrotron study of the sol–gel synthesis of Fe3N/Fe3C, we showed that the reaction proceeds as follows: Fe3O4 → FeOx → Fe3N → Fe3C. There was considerable overlap between the different phases, but we were unable to ascertain whether this was due to the experimental setup (side-on heating of a quartz capillary which could lead to thermal gradients) or whether individual particle reactions proceed at different rates. In this paper, we use in situ wide- and small-angle X-ray scattering (wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS)) to demonstrate that the overlapping phases are indeed due to variable reaction rates. While the initial oxide nanoparticles have a small range of diameters, the size range expands considerably and very rapidly during the oxide–nitride transition. This has implications for the isolation of Rietveld-pure Fe3N, and in an extensive laboratory study, we were indeed unable to isolate phase-pure Fe3N. However, we made the surprising discovery that Rietveld-pure Fe3C nanoparticles can be produced at 500 °C with a sufficient furnace dwell time. This is considerably lower than the previous reports of the sol–gel synthesis of Fe3C nanoparticles.
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Apr 2022
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B18-Core EXAFS
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Fabio
Del Bello
,
Maura
Pellei
,
Luca
Bagnarelli
,
Carlo
Santini
,
Gianfabio
Giorgioni
,
Alessandro
Piergentili
,
Wilma
Quaglia
,
Chiara
Battocchio
,
Giovanna
Iucci
,
Irene
Schiesaro
,
Carlo
Meneghini
,
Iole
Venditti
,
Nitya
Ramanan
,
Michele
De Franco
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Paolo
Sgarbossa
,
Cristina
Marzano
,
Valentina
Gandin
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[25674]
Open Access
Abstract: Bis(pyrazol-1-yl)- and bis(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)-acetates were conjugated with the 2-hydroxyethylester and 2-aminoethylamide derivatives of the antineoplastic drug lonidamine to prepare Cu(I) and Cu(II) complexes that might act through synergistic mechanisms of action due to the presence of lonidamine and copper in the same chemical entity. Synchrotron radiation-based complementary techniques [X-ray photorlectron spectroscopy and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS)] were used to characterize the electronic and molecular structures of the complexes and the local structure around the copper ion (XAFS) in selected complexes. All complexes showed significant antitumor activity, proving to be more effective than the reference drug cisplatin in a panel of human tumor cell lines, and were able to overcome oxaliplatin and multidrug resistance. Noticeably, these Cu complexes appeared much more effective than cisplatin against 3D spheroids of pancreatic PSN-1 cancer cells; among these, PPh3-containing Cu(I) complex 15 appeared to be the most promising derivative. Mechanistic studies revealed that 15 induced cancer cell death by means of an apoptosis-alternative cell death.
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Mar 2022
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B18-Core EXAFS
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[20060]
Abstract: Sol–gel chemistry, while being extremely established, is to this day not fully understood, and much of the underlying chemistry and mechanisms are yet to be unraveled. Here, we elaborate on the sol–gel chemistry of Cr2GaC, the first layered ternary carbide belonging to the MAX phase family to ever be synthesized using this wet chemical approach. Leveraging a variety of both in- and ex situ characterization techniques, including X-ray and neutron powder diffraction, X-ray absorption fine structure analyses, total scattering analyses, and differential scanning calorimetry coupled with mass spectrometry, in-depth analyses of the local structures and reaction pathways are elucidated. While the metals first form tetrahedrally and octahedrally coordinated oxidic structures, that subsequently grow and crystallize into oxides, the carbon source citric acid sits on a separate reaction pathway, that does not merge with the metals until the very end. In fact, after decomposing it remains nanostructured and disordered graphite until the temperature allows for the reduction of the metal oxides into the layered carbide. Based on this, we hypothesize that the method is mostly applicable to systems where the needed metals are reducible by graphite around the formation temperature of the target phase.
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Feb 2022
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I19-Small Molecule Single Crystal Diffraction
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[23480]
Abstract: The hexagonal-bipyramidal lanthanide(III) complex [Dy(OtBu)Cl(18-C-6)][BPh4] (1; 18-C-6 = 1,4,7,10,13,16-hexaoxacyclooctadecane ether) displays an energy barrier for magnetization reversal (Ueff) of ca. 1000 K in a zero direct-current field. Temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction studies of 1 down to 30 K reveal bending of the Cl–Ln–OtBu angle at low temperature. Using ab initio calculations, we show that significant bending of the O–Dy–Cl angle upon cooling from 273 to 100 K leads to a ca. 10% decrease in the energy of the excited electronic states. A thorough exploration of the temperature and field dependencies of the magnetic relaxation rate reveals that magnetic relaxation is dictated by five mechanisms in different regimes: Orbach, Raman-I, quantum tunnelling of magnetization, and Raman-II, in addition to the observation of a phonon bottleneck effect.
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Dec 2021
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B18-Core EXAFS
I11-High Resolution Powder Diffraction
I15-1-X-ray Pair Distribution Function (XPDF)
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[23666, 23167]
Open Access
Abstract: Li-rich rocksalt oxides are promising candidates as high-energy density cathode materials for next-generation Li-ion batteries because they present extremely diverse structures and compositions. Most reported materials in this family contain as many cations as anions, a characteristic of the ideal cubic closed-packed rocksalt composition. In this work, a new rocksalt-derived structure type is stabilized by selecting divalent Cu and pentavalent Sb cations to favor the formation of oxygen vacancies during synthesis. The structure and composition of the oxygen-deficient Li4CuSbO5.5□0.5 phase is characterized by combining X-ray and neutron diffraction, ICP-OES, XAS, and magnetometry measurements. The ordering of cations and oxygen vacancies is discussed in comparison with the related Li2CuO2□1 and Li5SbO5□1 phases. The electrochemical properties of this material are presented, with only 0.55 Li+ extracted upon oxidation, corresponding to a limited utilization of cationic and/or anionic redox, whereas more than 2 Li+ ions can be reversibly inserted upon reduction to 1 V vs Li+/Li, a large capacity attributed to a conversion reaction and the reduction of Cu2+ to Cu0. Control of the formation of oxygen vacancies in Li-rich rocksalt oxides by selecting appropriate cations and synthesis conditions affords a new route for tuning the electrochemical properties of cathode materials for Li-ion batteries. Furthermore, the development of material models of the required level of detail to predict phase diagrams and electrochemical properties, including oxygen release in Li-rich rocksalt oxides, still relies on the accurate prediction of crystal structures. Experimental identification of new accessible structure types stabilized by oxygen vacancies represents a valuable step forward in the development of predictive models.
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Dec 2021
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I11-High Resolution Powder Diffraction
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Harry C.
Sansom
,
Leonardo R. V.
Buizza
,
Marco
Zanella
,
James T.
Gibbon
,
Michael
Pitcher
,
Matthew S.
Dyer
,
Troy D.
Manning
,
Vinod R.
Dhanak
,
Laura M.
Herz
,
Henry J.
Snaith
,
John B.
Claridge
,
Matthew J.
Rosseinsky
Open Access
Abstract: A newly reported compound, CuAgBiI5, is synthesized as powder, crystals, and thin films. The structure consists of a 3D octahedral Ag+/Bi3+ network as in spinel, but occupancy of the tetrahedral interstitials by Cu+ differs from those in spinel. The 3D octahedral network of CuAgBiI5 allows us to identify a relationship between octahedral site occupancy (composition) and octahedral motif (structure) across the whole CuI–AgI–BiI3 phase field, giving the ability to chemically control structural dimensionality. To investigate composition–structure–property relationships, we compare the basic optoelectronic properties of CuAgBiI5 with those of Cu2AgBiI6 (which has a 2D octahedral network) and reveal a surprisingly low sensitivity to the dimensionality of the octahedral network. The absorption onset of CuAgBiI5 (2.02 eV) barely changes compared with that of Cu2AgBiI6 (2.06 eV) indicating no obvious signs of an increase in charge confinement. Such behavior contrasts with that for lead halide perovskites which show clear confinement effects upon lowering dimensionality of the octahedral network from 3D to 2D. Changes in photoluminescence spectra and lifetimes between the two compounds mostly derive from the difference in extrinsic defect densities rather than intrinsic effects. While both materials show good stability, bulk CuAgBiI5 powder samples are found to be more sensitive to degradation under solar irradiation compared to Cu2AgBiI6.
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Nov 2021
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B18-Core EXAFS
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[24074]
Abstract: The synthesis, characterization, and crystal structure of a novel (dominant) uranium(V) brannerite of composition U1.09(6)Ti1.29(3)Al0.71(3)O6 is reported, as determined from Rietveld analysis of the high-resolution neutron powder diffraction data. Examination of the UTi2–xAlxO6 system demonstrated the formation of brannerite-structured compounds with varying Al3+ and U5+ contents, from U0.93(6)Ti1.64(3)Al0.36(3)O6 to U0.89(6)Ti1.00(3)Al1.00(3)O6. Substitution of Al3+ for Ti4+, with U5+ charge compensation, resulted in near-linear changes in the b and c unit cell parameters and the overall unit cell volume, as expected from ionic radii considerations. The presence of U5+ as the dominant oxidation state in near-single-phase brannerite compositions was evidenced by complementary laboratory U L3-edge and high-energy-resolution fluorescence-detected U M4-edge X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy. No brannerite phase was found for compositions with Al3+/Ti4+ > 1, which would require a U6+ contribution for charge compensation. These data expand the crystal chemistry of uranium brannerites to the stabilization of dominant uranium(V) brannerites by the substitution of trivalent cations, such as Al3+, on the Ti4+ site.
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Nov 2021
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