Prospective Cohort Study

Energy production and storage have become key issues concerning our welfare in daily life. Present challenges for batteries are twofold. In the first place, the increasing demand for powering systems of portable electronic devices and zero-emission vehicles stimulates research towards high energy and high voltage systems. In the second place, low cost batteries are required in order to advance towards smart electric grids that integrate discontinuous energy flow from renewable sources, optimizing the performance of clean energy sources. Na-ion batteries can be the key for the second point, because of the huge availability of sodium, its low price and the similarity of both Li and Na insertion chemistries. In spite of the lower energy density and voltage of Na-ion based technologies, they can be focused on applications where the weight and footprint requirement is less drastic, such as electrical grid storage. Much work has to be done in the field of Na-ion in order to catch up with Li-ion technology. Cathodic and anodic materials must be optimized, and new electrolytes will be the key point for Na-ion success. This review will gather the up-to-date knowledge about Na-ion battery materials, with the aim of providing a wide view of the systems that have already been explored and a starting point for the new research on this battery technology.

Na-ion batteries, recent advances and present challenges to become low cost energy storage systems

The General Utility Lattice Program (GULP) has been extended to include the ability to simulate polymers and surfaces, as well as adding many other new features, and the current status of the program is fully documented. Both the background theory is described, as well as providing a concise review of some of the previous applications in order to demonstrate the range of its use. Examples are presented of work performed using the new compatibilities of the software, including the calculation of Born effective charges, mechanical properties as a function of applied pressure, calculation of frequency-dependent dielectric data, surface reconstructions of calcite and the performance of a linear-scaling algorithm for bond-order potentials.

The general utility lattice program (GULP)

Although known since the late 19th century, organic–inorganic perovskites have recently received extraordinary research community attention because of their unique physical properties, which make them promising candidates for application in photovoltaic (PV) and related optoelectronic devices. This review will explore beyond the current focus on three-dimensional (3-D) lead(II) halide perovskites, to highlight the great chemical flexibility and outstanding potential of the broader class of 3-D and lower dimensional organic-based perovskite family for electronic, optical, and energy-based applications as well as fundamental research. The concept of a multifunctional organic–inorganic hybrid, in which the organic and inorganic structural components provide intentional, unique, and hopefully synergistic features to the compound, represents an important contemporary target.

Organic–Inorganic Perovskites: Structural Versatility for Functional Materials Design

Synthesis, properties, and applications of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles

The n = 2 Ruddlesden—Popper phases LaSr2CoMnO7 and La1.2Sr1.8CoMnO7 are prepared by a sol—gel method from acetic acid solutions of stoichiometric amounts of La2O3, SrCO3, Co(OAc)2, and Mn(OAc)2 (calcination in flowing oxygen at 1350 °C, 18 h).

Synthesis and Characterization of La1+xSr2‐xCoMnO7‐δ (x = 0.02; δ = 0.1).

Fluorine Insertion in Inorganic Materials

The defect structure of tin–antimony oxide has been investigated by profile refinement of powder neutron diffraction data. The structure, based on the occupation by antimony(III) of interstitial positions within the tin(IV) oxide rutile-type lattice, is described and the model used to rationalise some of the properties of the mixed oxide.

A neutron diffraction investigation of the defect rutile structure of tin antimony oxide

The existence of materials of the type (Ln,Ce) 2 Sr 2 Cu 3 O 8+x (Ln=lanthanide, Y), analogies of the unstable YSr 2 Cu 3 O 7−x 2 with yttrium replaced by a fluorite block, (Ln,Ce) 2 O 2 , have yet to confirmed by detailed structural studies. Reported here are the results of an investigation into their formation and structure which indicate the partial substitution of copper on the “Cu1” sites by cerium to be necessary to stabilise the YBCO-type strucure.

Colin Greaves

Papers

Synthesis and Characterization of La1+xSr2‐xCoMnO7‐δ (x = 0.02; δ = 0.1).

Fluorine Insertion in Inorganic Materials

A neutron diffraction investigation of the defect rutile structure of tin antimony oxide

The formation of strontium analogues of YBa2Cu3O7−x

The erroneous description of a high temperature superconductor of composition Sn2Ba2Sr0.5Y0.5Cu3Ox