Evidence for Magnetic Fractional Excitations in a Kitaev Quantum-Spin-Liquid Candidate α-RuCl_(3)

It is known that α-RuCl_(3) has been studied extensively because of its proximity to the Kitaev quantum-spin-liquid(QSL)phase and the possibility of approaching it by tuning the competing interactions.Here we present the first polarized inelastic neutron scattering study on α-RuCl_(3) single crystals to explore the scattering continuum around the Γ point at the Brillouin zone center,which was hypothesized to be resulting from the Kitaev QSL state but without concrete evidence.With polarization analyses,we find that,while the spin-wave excitations around the Γ point vanish above the transition temperature T_(N),the pure magnetic continuous excitations around the Γ point are robust against temperature.Furthermore,by calculating the dynamical spin-spin correlation function using the cluster perturbation theory,we derive magnetic dispersion spectra based on the K-Γ model,which involves with a ferromagnetic Kitaev interaction of −7.2 meV and an off-diagonal interaction of 5.6 meV.We find this model can reproduce not only the spin-wave excitation spectra around the Γ point,but also the non-spin-wave continuous magnetic excitations around the Γ point.These results provide evidence for the existence of fractional excitations around the Γ point originating from the Kitaev QSL state,and further support the validity of the K-Γ model as the effective minimal spin model to describe α-RuCl_(3).

The effect of volume change and stack pressure on solid-state battery cathodes

Solid-state lithium batteries may provide increased energy density and improved safety compared with Li-ion technology.However,in a solid-state composite cathode,mechanical degradation due to repeated cathode volume changes during cycling may occur,whichmay be partially mitigated by applying a significant,but often impractical,uniaxial stack pressure.Herein,we compare the behavior of composite electrodes based on Li4Ti5O12(LTO)(negligible volume change)and Nb2O5(+4%expansion)cycled at different stack pressures.The initial LTO capacity and retention are not affected by pressure but for Nb2O5,they are significantly lower when a stack pressure of<2MPa is applied,due to inter-particle cracking and solid-solid contact loss because of cyclic volume changes.Thiswork confirms the importance of cathode mechanical stability and the stack pressures for long-term cyclability for solid-state batteries.This suggests that low volumechange cathode materials or a proper buffer layer are required for solid-state batteries,especially at low stack pressures.

Carbon-emcoating architecture boosts lithium storage of Nb_(2)O_(5)

Intercalation transition metal oxides (ITMO)have attracted great attention as lithium-ion battery negative electrodes due to high operation safety,high capacity and rapid ion intercalation.However,the intrinsic low electron conductivity plagues the lifetime and cell performance of the ITMO negative electrode.Here we design a new carbon-emcoating architecture through single CO_(2)activation treatment as demonstrated by the Nb_(2)O_(5)/C nanohybrid.Triple structure engineering of the carbon-emcoating Nb_(2)O_(5)/C nanohybrid is achieved in terms of porosity,composition,and crystallographic phase.The carbon-embedding Nb_(2)O_(5)/C nanohybrids show superior cycling and rate performance compared with the conventional carbon coating,with reversible capacity of 387 m A h g(-1)at 0.2 C and 92%of capacity retained after 500cycles at 1 C.Differential electrochemical mass spectrometry(DEMS) indicates that the carbon emcoated Nb_(2)O_(5)nanohybrids present less gas evolution than commercial lithium titanate oxide during cycling.The unique carbon-emcoating technique can be universally applied to other ITMO negative electrodes to achieve high electrochemical performance.