A method of fluorination assisted electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (FETV-ICP-MS) was developed to directly determine the trace impurities in niobium pentaoxide solid powder in which a poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) emulsion was used as fluorinating modifier to promote the vaporization of refractory elements from a graphite furnace and to avoid the forma...

Spatially-resolved neutron powder diffraction with a gauge volume of 2 × 2 × 20 mm(3) has been applied as an in situ method to probe the lithium concentration in the graphite anode of different Li-ion cells of 18650-type in charged state. Structural studies performed in combination with electrochemical measurements and X-ray computed tomography under real cell operating conditions unambiguously...

Using reflection high-energy electron diffraction, we have observed diffraction patterns from both vertically aligned and randomly oriented multiwalled carbon nanotube samples. The patterns, for both samples, consist of rings and are similar to the patterns observed in x-ray diffraction from multiwalled carbon nanotubes. The ring radii are roughly consistent with powder diffraction from graphit...

A novel approach for the marking of deposited lithium on graphite anodes from large automotive lithium-ion cells (≥6 Ah) is presented. Graphite anode samples were extracted from two different formats (cylindrical and pouch cells) of pristine and differently aged lithium-ion cells. The samples present a variety of anodes with various states of lithium deposition (also known as plating). A chemic...

We present a study of the specific heat and effective thermal conductivity in anisotropic and randomly oriented multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and randomly oriented single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) composites from 300 to 400 K. Measurements on randomly oriented MWCNTs and SWCNTs were made by depositing a thin film of CNTs within a calorimetric cell. Anisotropic measurements were made on ...

The synthetically tunable properties and intrinsic porosity of conductive metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) make them promising materials for transducing selective interactions with gaseous analytes in an electrically addressable platform. Consequently, conductive MOFs are valuable functional materials with high potential utility in chemical detection. The implementation of these materials, howev...

The layered oxide compounds xLi2MnO3$(1 x)LiMO2 (M 1⁄4 Ni, Mn, Co) are of great interest as positive electrode materials for high energy density lithium-ion batteries. In-situ neutron diffraction was carried out to compare the structural changes between the classical layered compound Li[Ni1/3Mn1/3Co1/3]O2 (x 1⁄4 0) and lithium-excess layered compound Li[Li0.2Ni0.18Mn0.53Co0.1]O2 (x 1⁄4 0.5) dur...

10 Abstract CexZr1-xO2 (x = 0.10, 0.16 and 0.33) nano11 crystalline powders were obtained by a two-step synthesis 12 technique and sintered by spark plasma sintering (SPS). As 13 consequence of the reduction of Ce to Ce species by 14 carbon in the graphite environment in SPS, phase assem15 blies including tetragonal, monoclinic and pyrochlore 16 phases were generated in the ceramics during the ...

Graphite-bearing polycrystalline olivine and polycrystalline clinopyroxene with submicron to micron grain size were successfully sintered from a single crystal of naturally occurring olivine (Fo88–92Fa12–8: Mg1.76–1.84Fe0.16–0.24SiO4) and a single crystal of naturally occurring clinopyroxene (Di99Hed1: Ca0.92Na0.07Mn0.01Mg0.93Fe0.01Al0.06Si2O6). The milled powders of both these crystals were si...

The presence of multiple, neighbouring transition metals presents a challenge for powder diffraction when trying to locate individual elements in a structure. Combining the information in X-ray and neutron data in simultaneous refinements has historically been a powerful tool. However, increasingly complex compositions require more information and element contrast than two datasets can provide....