Charl Jafta

• Ph.D.
• PostDoc Position at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Energy storage technologies, particularly those utilizing phase change materials (PCMs), have gained attention for their high energy density and efficient thermal management. PCMs, which store energy through solid-liquid phase transitions, can efficiently capture and release thermal energy, but face the challenge of leakage during the phase change...

The surging demand for Li-ion batteries (LIBs) in electric vehicles and consumer electronics drives the enormous expansion of cell manufacturing globally, resulting in a significant amount of manufacturing scraps and vast stockpiles of spent LIBs in near future. Recycling those waste LIBs and reintegrating the recovered materials into the battery s...

Lithium‐ion battery cathode materials suffer from bulk and interfacial degradation issues, which negatively affect their electrochemical performance. Oxide coatings can mitigate some of these problems and improve electrochemical performance. However, current coating strategies have low throughput, are expensive, and have limited applicability. In t...

Seawater batteries (SWBs) have gained tremendous interest in the electrochemical energy storage research field because of their low cost, natural abundance, and potential use for long-duration energy storage. Advancing a SWB to demonstration projects is plagued by the poor electrochemical performance stemming from the poor interfaces of the solid e...

The effectiveness of electrochemical systems in various applications (e.g., energy storage and conversion, wastewater treatment, ammonia synthesis) is, in essence, dependent on the electrode materials employed in such systems. The emphasis of research on electrochemical systems is given to developing electrode materials that would offer cost-effect...

With the rapid expansion of Li-ion battery production, significant amounts of electrode scraps that need to be recycled are being produced during cell manufacturing. Anode scrap that comprises critical materials such as graphite and valuable Cu should be recycled and reintegrated into the battery supply chain. This study reports a simple yet effici...

Cu is a unique metal that catalyzes carbon monoxide/carbon dioxide (CO/CO2) to form high-order hydrocarbons and oxygenates through the CO/CO2 reduction reaction (CO/CO2RR) at decent selectivity and productivity. While this has been shown, the limits of the system are still unknown, i.e., the minimum amount of Cu needed for the CO/CO2RR, and the max...

Sodium-ion batteries are one of the most promising next-generation energy storage systems because of their abundant and low-cost component materials. However, the lower energy density of sodium-ion batteries compared with lithium-ion batteries diminishes their practical value proposition. Among the many sodium-based cathodes, layered transition met...

In-situ and operando measurements are done to gain a better understanding of the precipitation mechanisms during charge and discharge in lithium sulfur batteries. In this work we used a carbon felt networked with microfibers consisting of pores, 2 nm and smaller, as a freestanding sulfur host. First, three different infiltration methods of sulfur i...

Scalable and sustainable production of high voltage cathodes is required to meet the increasing demands for Li-ion batteries. Additionally, the anticipated scarcity of critical materials like cobalt necessitates demonstration of Co-free alternatives that can match the performance metrics of conventional cathodes. Herein, a hydrothermal synthesis ro...

Alkaline seawater electrolysis is a promising method for hydrogen production; however, little progress has been made in investigating the substrates for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts. Ni foam and stainless-steel mesh (SS mesh) were investigated systematically for OER in alkaline seawater electrolysis in this work. The overpotenti...

Lithium Ion Batteries In article number 2200519, Sheng Dai and co‐workers facilely develop a new high‐performance nanoporous Mo1.5W1.5Nb14O44 lithium‐ion battery anode material via a novel ionothermal‐synthesis‐assisted doping strategy, realizing the concurrent improvement of lithium‐ion diffusivity and electrical conductivity. Thereby, the obtaine...

Interfacial mechanics are a significant contributor to the performance and degradation of solid-state batteries. Spatially resolved measurements of interfacial properties are extremely important to effectively model and understand the electrochemical behavior. Herein, we report the interfacial properties of thiophosphate (Li3PS4)- and argyrodite (L...

Wind and solar sources require storage capabilities that allow the distribution of these renewable energy. Grid scale batteries are one such ideal solution that is cost effective, sustainable, and safe. There are different battery chemistries offering different advantages, of which Li-ion, Na-ion, and K-ion batteries are competing for the title of...

Wadsley–Roth phased niobates are promising anode materials for lithium‐ion batteries, while their inherently low electrical conductivity still limits their rate‐capability. Herein, a novel doped Mo1.5W1.5Nb14O44 (MWNO) material is facilely prepared via an ionothermal‐synthesis‐assisted doping strategy. The detailed crystal structure of MWNO is char...

Eutectic Syntheses In article number 2200027, Belharouak and co‐workers, demonstrate novel eutectic synthesis of NaxNiyMn1–yO2 cathodes, and provide new insights from in‐situ gas analysis results that the differences in the in‐plane cation ordering within the lattice structure strongly affect the oxygen anion redox activities and further impact the...

Reengineering Cathode Interfaces Via Electrochemical Fluorination In article number 2200035, Bishnu P. Thapaliya, Sheng Dai, and co‐workers develop electrochemical fluorination (ECF) to reengineer the interface of high‐capacity cathodes by forming conformal LiF layer. The ECF can tune the LiF layer thickness, resulting in a robust cathode electroly...

Inorganic solid-state electrolytes (SSEs), especially Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO), are promising candidates for all solid-state batteries. Generally, SSEs are synthesized by solid-state reactions at high temperatures. The high temperature required to synthesize useful polymorphs (e.g., cubic phase, in the case of LLZO) increases their production cost. To l...

Sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) are one of the most promising next‐generation energy storage systems because of their abundant and low‐cost component materials. However, the lower energy density of SIBs compared with lithium‐ion batteries diminishes their practical value proposition. Among the many sodium‐based cathodes, layered transition metal oxides...

High nickel content layered oxide LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2 (NMC811) is a promising cathode material with a high theoretical capacity of 200 mAh g-1 for use in high energy density lithium-ion batteries. However, its surface can easily get passivated by LiOH and Li2CO3 due to its surface residual Li2O being reacting with ambient moisture and CO2. Herein,...

High‐capacity cathodes (LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2) that can boost the energy density of lithium‐ion batteries are promising candidates for vehicle electrification. However, several factors specific to high energy density materials entailing electrode reactions inhibit their application. Fluorination has shown a promising ability to combat the detrimental...

Surface modified reduced graphene oxide (rGO) aerogels were synthesized using the hydrothermal method. Ethylene diamine (EDA) and α-cyclodextrin (CD) were used to functionalize the surface of the graphene oxide layers. The oxygen reduction and surface modification occurred in-situ during the hydrothermal self-assembly process. The chemical function...

TiNb2O7 (TNO) is regarded as one of the promising next-generation anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to its high rate capabilities, higher theoretical capacity, and higher lithiation voltage. This enables the cycling of TNO-based anodes under extreme fast charging (XFC) conditions with a minimal risk of lithium plating compared to...

Scaffold structures of electrospun aluminum–substituted lithium lanthanum zirconate Li7La3Zr2O12 (Al-LLZO) were synthesized and used as an additive in a LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2 composite cathode. The scaffolds were crystalized in the cubic phase after calcination at 700 °C. The Al-LLZO scaffold morphology was dependent on the precursor formulation (aqu...

Stabilizing interfaces in solid-state batteries (SSBs) is crucial for development of high energy density batteries. In this work, we report a facile electrochemical protocol to improve the interfacial impedance and contact at the interface of Li | Li6.25Al0.25La3Zr2O12 (LALZO). Application of short duration, high-voltage pulses to poorly formed int...

Heat generation is one of the major concerns with lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) while charging them at higher currents, which could inadvertently impact the rate performance and battery safety. Polymer separator is one of the least thermal conductive components of a LIB. In addition, commercial separators for LIBs are made from polyolefin membranes...

Ever increasing demand on high energy density batteries positions sulfur as a very promising cathode material for next-generation energy storage due to its high theoretical capacity of 1675 mAh/g. Electronically sulfur is highly insulating, and therefore integration of a conducting framework such as a carbon nanotube (CNT) scaffold with sulfur is a...

In article number 2008708, Charl J. Jafta, Xiao‐Guang Sun, Craig Bridges, and co‐workers use high surface area mesoporous hard carbons to demonstrate that surface passivation for the bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide anion (FSI−) occurs via chemical reactions at the open cell voltage, and through electrochemical reactions at cell voltages near 2 V. The rese...

Quasi-liquid solid electrolytes are a promising alternative for next-generation Li batteries. These systems combine the safety of solid electrolytes with the desired properties of liquids and are typically formed by solutions of Li salts in ionic liquids incorporated into solid matrices. Here, we present a fundamental understanding of the transport...

In-situ and operando measurements are done to gain a better understanding of the precipitation mechanisms during charge and discharge in lithium sulfur batteries. A carbon felt networked with microfibers consisting of pores, 2 nm and smaller, is used as a freestanding sulfur host. Three different methods of sulfur infiltration are explored in order...

Monodisperse unilamellar nanotubes (NTs) and nanoribbons (NRs) were transformed to multilamellar NRs and NTs in a well‐defined fashion. This was done by using a step‐wise approach in which self‐assembled cationic amino acid amphiphile (AAA) formed the initial NTs or NRs, and added polyanion produced an intermediate coating. Successive addition of c...

The formation of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) in an ionic liquid electrolyte of 0.5 m lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI) in 1‐ethyl‐3‐methylimidazolium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide at high cell voltages (1.7–1.9 V) is investigated in ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) based Li metal cells using an operando small‐angle neutron scattering (S...

Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) battery has been proposed and investigated since the 1960s as an effective energy storage device via reversible electrochemical reactions. As the fast development and commercialization of Li-ion battery (LIB) technology kept moving forward, no breakthroughs have been attained to solve critical technical issues facing Li-S batt...

Cycling of lithium-ion batteries containing Ni-rich NMC cathodes at high voltage involves intense gas generation. From a safety standpoint, it is critical to understand how different gas species respond to changes in upper cut-off voltages. In this manuscript, we introduce a novel experimental set up for real-time analysis of gas generation in pris...

In recent years, cobalt has become a critical constraint on the supply chain of the Li‐ion battery industry. With the ever‐increasing projections for electric vehicles, the dependency of current Li‐ion batteries on the ever‐fluctuating cobalt prices poses serious environmental and sustainability issues. To address these challenges, a new class of c...

High‐capacity metal oxide conversion anodes for lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) are primarily limited by their poor reversibility and cycling stability. In this study, a promising approach has been developed to improve the electrochemical performance of a MoO2 anode by direct fluorination of the prelithiated MoO2. The fluorinated anode contains a mixt...

Separation of cathode materials from the current collector remains a challenging task for the recycling of both spent lithium-ion batteries and cathode scraps. Dissolving the organic binder polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) with an organic solvent to recover both cathode materials and Al foils is an efficient and promising method. However, the use o...

The Cover Feature shows a direct fluorination of prelithiated MoO2 using elemental fluorine, which leads to the formation of oxyfluoride and thereby improves both lithium‐ion diffusivity and reversibility of the corresponding conversion reaction. The negative electrode derived through this process exhibits enhanced electrochemical performances, mak...

Thermal stability is a crucial parameter that must be considered within the overall performance metrics of Ni-rich layered oxide cathodes. While the intrinsic structural stability of the cathode materials under thermal conditions is important, it is also critical to consider their reaction with electrolytes. In this paper, operando gas analysis, ex...

Lithium sulfur batteries are one of the most promising next generation energy storage technologies due to their impressive theoretical energy density, low materials cost and relative safety. However, incomplete understanding of their underlying operation mechanisms has hindered their further development and commercialization. To gain a better under...

The formation of a solid–electrolyte interphase (SEI) on the surface of Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) has become a highly controversial topic, with arguments for it and against it. However, prior studies supporting the formation of an SEI layer have typically suggested that a layer forms upon cycling of a cell, although the layer is probed after disassembling. I...

The development of electric vehicles (EVs) has been restricted by severe lithium plating in lithium ion batteries (LIBs) with graphite as the anode. To mitigate the lithium plating issue, carbon coated porous titanium niobium oxides ([email protected]) has been synthesized and evaluated as anode material for extreme fast charging (XFC) applications...

An engaging area of research in sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) has been focusing on discovery, design, and synthesis of high-capacity cathode materials in order to boost energy density to levels close enough to that of state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries. Of particular interest, P2-type layered oxide, Na2/3Fe1/2Mn1/2O2, has been researched as a pot...

Layered structures have played an important role in the development of electrochemical energy storage, for the relative ease of ion motion through two-dimensional diffusion channels, and for the stability of the host structure during battery operation. There have been several recent examples in which the performance of ion conducting materials has...

In article number 2000135, Jinli Zhang, Xiao‐Guang Sun, Sheng Dai and co‐workers report a F‐substitution strategy for a P2‐type sodium oxide cathode (Na2/3Ni1/3Mn2/3O2−xFx), which not only enhances its Na⁺ diffusion coefficients and specific discharge capacity, but also improves its long‐term cycling stability by suppression of the biphasic reactio...

Designing high–performance catalysts that can stabilize catalytic active sites against sintering to deactivation at temperature higher than 900 °C is significant but challenging. Here we report a new strategy to obtain a transition metal oxide catalyst with high temperature stability for CO oxidation. This is achieved through a synergistic interfac...

A series of F‐substituted Na2/3Ni1/3Mn2/3O2−xFx (x = 0, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07) cathode materials have been synthesized and characterized by solid‐state ¹⁹F and ²³Na NMR, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and neutron diffraction. The underlying charge compensation mechanism is systematically unraveled by X‐ray absorption spectroscopy and electron energy...

A central problem of solid polymer electrolytes is their inability to achieve robust mechanical strength with fast ionic conductivities required for commercialization of lithium metal batteries (LMBs). At present, state‐of‐the‐art offers superiority of one at the expense of the other. Here, this dilemma has been solved by fabricating mechanically r...

Currently, lithium ion batteries (LIBs) and sodium ion batteries (SIBs) mainly depend on inorganic cathode materials, which are still plagued by several issues restricting their advancement such as power density, sustainability, and safety. As alternatives, organic electrode materials have been intensively investigated for both LIBs and SIBs due to...

Organic quinone materials offer a sustainable approach for electric energy storage, however, their intrinsic electrical insulation and dissolution into the electrolyte during cycling have hampered their wide application. To tackle these two issues, we have synthesized novel organic cathode materials by anchoring a quinone compound, 2,3-dicyano-p-be...

The solid-solution metal oxide (NiMgCuZnCo)O is the first known high-entropy (HE) metal oxide synthesized, forming a poster child of the emerging high-entropy oxide materials, which is derived from high-temperature synthesis methodologies (>900 °C). In this work, we report the mechanochemical synthesis of this known HE metal oxide (NiMgCuZnCo)O und...

Inherently uncontrollable Li electrodeposition has significantly hindered the practical application of Li metal batteries largely due to a dendritic deposition which can initiate an internal short circuit and gives rise to severe safety issues. The understanding of the fundamental electrodeposition mechanism is, however, elusive and limited due to...

In recent years lithium sulfur (Li-S) battery research became an important route to go beyond traditional lithium ion batteries. Among various battery systems, Li-S batteries have comparatively high theoretical energy density and lower cost, making Li-S batteries very promising for next generation secondary batteries. However, the current energy de...

The degradation of lithium ion batteries (LIBs) with cycling results from reactions of electrolyte at both anode and cathode, leading to increased cell impedance from continual formation of solid electrolyte interphases (SEIs). One of the economic ways to improve battery cycling performance is to utilize sacrificial additives that could form thin a...

The electrode-electrolyte interface plays a critical role in the performance of electrochemical energy storage systems. To understand the complex processes occurring at the interface of Li-ion or Na-ion batteries, and how these relate to processes occurring in the electrodes, multiple techniques are required. In addition to methods such as X-ray di...

Extensive research efforts have been devoted to the development of alternative materials as electrode materials, in particular, exfoliated transition metal carbides, called MXene due to their 2D layered structure. We have thus investigated how modifying the anion sublattice of MXene can be used to address this challenge. In this presentation we wil...

Dimer impurity in the solution of a generation five (G5) polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer has been investigated by small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The existence of dimer impurity in dendrimer solution was evidenced by indirect Fourier transform (IFT) analysis of the SANS data, in which the maximum dimension of particles in solution was found...

Invited for this month′s cover is the group of Dr. Sheng Dai at the University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Joint Institute for Advanced Materials. The image shows the transformation of 2D Mxene into novel 2D TiOF2 via low temperature direct fluorination. The Full Paper itself is available at 10.1002/cssc.201900003.

The Front Cover shows the transformation of MXene 2D sheets into TiOF2, with the MXene‐retained 2D morphology, through direct fluorination using elemental fluorine. The 2D TiOF2, as a battery electrode, has superior electrochemical performance. Specifically, with increased rate capability due to the layered structure that would allow for better lit...

The Front Cover shows the transformation of MXene 2D sheets into TiOF2, with the MXene‐retained 2D morphology, through direct fluorination using elemental fluorine. The 2D TiOF2, as a battery electrode, has superior electrochemical performance. Specifically, with increased rate capability due to the layered structure that would allow for better lit...

Hypothesis: Micelle formation, particularly the formation of compact, globular micelles in the high ionic strength environment of an ionic liquid, seems to be at odds with the principle of opposing forces and the concept of the surfactant packing parameter. Here we examine how interactions between polar head-groups, with solvent ions, and chain pac...

The transformation of MXene sheets into TiOF2 2D sheets with superior electrochemical performance was developed. MXene synthesized from Ti3AlC2 was fluorinated for 3, 6, and 24 h, respectively, by means of a direct fluorination process. Exposure of MXene powder to elemental fluorine for 3 h induced the formation of CF2 groups and TiF3 on the surfac...

Three trimethylsilyl based malonate esters, bis(trimethylsilyl) 2-methyl-2-fluoromalonate (BTMSMFM), bis(trimethylsilyl) 2-ethyl-2-fluoromalonate (BTMSEFM) and bis(trimethylsilyl) 2-propyl-2-fluoromalonate (BTMSPFM), have been used as additives in 1.0 M LiPF6/ethylene carbonate (EC)-dimethyl carbonate (DMC)-diethyl carbonate (DEC) (1-1-1, by v) bas...

The key to understanding the cycling mechanism of lithium-ion battery electrodes is to develop methods to monitor the dynamic cell chemistry, but the complexity of the problem has continued to pose an obstacle. Here we describe the use of operando small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) to show directly how the use of concentrated LiTFSI electrolyte...

To address the ever-increasing energy demand due to the increase in the population and at the same time depleting fossil fuel reserves, new energy storage systems, such as batteries, are being developed. Among various battery systems, Li-S batteries have comparatively high theoretical energy density and lower cost, making Li-S batteries very promis...

We examined the relationship between viscosity, ionic conductivity, diffusion coefficients, and reorientational dynamics in the ionic liquid 3‐methyl‐1‐methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (DMIM‐TFSI) with and without lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (Li‐TFSI). The diffusion coefficients for the DMIM+ cation as well as the...

We probe, for the first time, quantum tunneling in the methyl groups of the ionic liquid [DMIm][TFSI] facilitated by the presence of Bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide lithium salt. The observation of tunneling is made possible by crystallization, rather than vitrification, of [DMIm][TFSI] at low temperature. Neutron scattering measurements detect qu...

Fluorinated Room Temperature Ionic Liquids (FRTILs) are a branch of ionic liquids that is the object of growing interest for a wide range of potential applications, due to the synergic combination of specifically ionic features and those properties that stem from fluorous tails. So far limited experimental work exists on the micro- and mesoscopic s...

Micellization mechanism of biosurfactant/synthetic surfactant systems is essential in predicting their industrial applications. Biosurfactant, [Glu1,Asp5]-C15 surfactin, mixing with three isomers of sodium cetyl benzenesulfonate (SCBS) with benzenesulfonate attached at the 2nd, 5th, 8th carbon on the alkyl chain (abbreviated as 2-SCBS, 5-SCBS, and...

The presence of fluorous tails in room-temperature ionic liquids imparts new properties to their already rich spectrum of appealing features. The interest towards this class of compounds that are of ionic nature with melting point less than 25 °C is accordingly growing; in particular, compounds bearing relatively long fluorous tails have begun to b...

We report on a remarkable viscosity transition of poly(p-hydroxystyrene)-graft- poly(propylene oxide-ran-ethylene oxide) (PHOS-g-P(PO-r-EO)) bottle-brush copolymers and their underlying spatial solution arrangement in aqueous solutions. The changes of morphology are measured by small-angle neutron scattering, and the rheological alterations are cha...

Possible denaturation or tertiary structural changes of the protein human serum albumin (HSA) upon adsorption of uremic toxin is investigated using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). Calorimetric data in previous studies give proof of the binding between HSA and two classes of uremic toxins: i) small molecular weight and ii) middle molecular we...

Efficient Li utilization is generally considered to be a prerequisite for developing next-generation energy storage systems (ESSs). However, uncontrolled growth of Li micro-structures (LmSs) during electrochemical cycling has prevented its practical commercialization. Herein, we attempt to understand the correlation of morphological evolution of Li...

Zn0.5Ni0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles have been produced by glycol-thermal reaction and high-energy ball milling. The synthesis route appears to have some effects on the magnetic properties. The Mössbauer spectra indicate ordered magnetic state. The Curie temperature (TC) was measured by zero velocity Mössbauer technique and found to be 548 ±3 K for the bu...

To achieve higher energy density batteries while maintaining battery safety, better understanding is needed of processes such as solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation due to electrolyte decomposition at the electrode surface. Research has historically been hindered by a lack of methods to directly probe electrochemical processes during batte...

We present a model free analysis of the structure of a micro porous carbon (Kynol fiber cloth) with neutrons (SANS) and X-rays (SAXS). SANS with contrast matching is used to analyze the accessible pores. It is shown that the SAXS- and the SANS-intensities agree after correction of the SANS specific background. Moreover, we analyze the scattering co...

The interactions of bovine serum albumin (BSA) with aggregates of cationic polymers, i.e. quaternized poly(chloromethyl styrene) chains (QIm-PCMS), in aqueous solutions are investigated by small angle neutron scattering at length scales relevant to the size of BSA. The arrangement of the macromolecular chains within their aggregates is consistent w...

Energy Storage Materials 9 (2017) 96–104 Lithium sulfur batteries are considered to hold great potential for the next generation of high energy density portable electronic devices or vehicles, however, they are hindered by their poor cycling stability. Recently, more attention have been paid on the mechanism study, trying to reveal and solve the ma...

We discuss some published results and provide new observations concerning the high level of structural complexity that lies behind the nanoscale correlations in ionic liquids (ILs) and their mixtures with molecular liquids. It turns out that this organization is a consequence of the hierarchical construction on both spatial (from ångström to severa...

Fluorinated room temperature ionic liquids (FRTILs) represent a class of solvent media that is attracting great attention due to the IL-specific properties as well as features stemming from their fluorous nature. Medium-to-long fluorous tails constitute a well-defined apolar moiety in the otherwise polar environment. Similarly to the case of alkyl...

Multifunctional Ti4O7 particles with interconnected-pore structure are designed and synthesized using porous poly(styrene-b-2-vinylpyridine) particles as a template. The particles can work efficiently as a sulfur-host material for lithium–sulfur batteries. Specifically, the well-defined porous Ti4O7 particles exhibit interconnected pores in the int...

There is no doubt that the electrochemical energy storage and conversion devices are the key components in future’s smart energy grids enabling on-demand and efficient energy usage. During the last thirty years, various carbon based materials have been studied and used in the energy storage and conversion devices: supercapacitors, fuel cells and ba...

We discuss some published results and provide new observations concerning the high level of structural complexity that lies behind the nanoscale correlations in ionic liquids (ILs) and their mixtures with molecular liquids. It turns out that this organization is a consequence of the hierarchical construction on both spatial (from ångström to severa...

V4 is a small-angle neutron scatting instrument with an accessible range of scattering vector 0.01 nm-1 < Q < 8.5 nm-1. Outstanding features of the instrument are the polarized neutron option and the list mode data acquisition, allowing for time-resolved measurements with µs time resolution.

In this study, dispersible mesoporous nitrogen-doped hollow carbon nanoplates have been synthesized as a new anisotropic carbon nanostructure using gibbsite nanoplates as templates. The gibbsite-silica core-shell nanoplates were first prepared before the gibbsite core was etched away. Dopamine as carbon precursor was self-polymerized on the hollow...

DNA oligomers with properly designed sequences self-assemble into well defined constructs. Here, we exploit this methodology to produce bulk quantities of tetravalent DNA nanostars (each one composed by 196 nucleotides) and to explore the structural signatures of their aggregation process. We report small-angle neutron scattering experiments focuse...

DNA oligomers with properly designed sequences self-assemble into well defined constructs. Here, we exploit this methodology to produce bulk quantities of tetravalent DNA nanostars (each one composed by 196 nucleotides) and to explore the structural signatures of their aggregation process. We report small-angle neutron scattering experiments focuse...

Lithium sulfur cells are the most promising candidate for the post lithium-ion battery era. Their major drawback is rapid capacity fading attributed to the complex electrochemical processes during charge and discharge which are not known precisely. Here we present for the first time a multidimensional operando measurement by combining X-ray radiogr...