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- ItemStrong and ductile high temperature soft magnets through Widmanstätten precipitates([London] : Nature Publishing Group UK, 2023) Han, Liuliu; Maccari, Fernando; Soldatov, Ivan; Peter, Nicolas J.; Souza Filho, Isnaldi R.; Schäfer, Rudolf; Gutfleisch, Oliver; Li, Zhiming; Raabe, DierkFast growth of sustainable energy production requires massive electrification of transport, industry and households, with electrical motors as key components. These need soft magnets with high saturation magnetization, mechanical strength, and thermal stability to operate efficiently and safely. Reconciling these properties in one material is challenging because thermally-stable microstructures for strength increase conflict with magnetic performance. Here, we present a material concept that combines thermal stability, soft magnetic response, and high mechanical strength. The strong and ductile soft ferromagnet is realized as a multicomponent alloy in which precipitates with a large aspect ratio form a Widmanstätten pattern. The material shows excellent magnetic and mechanical properties at high temperatures while the reference alloy with identical composition devoid of precipitates significantly loses its magnetization and strength at identical temperatures. The work provides a new avenue to develop soft magnets for high-temperature applications, enabling efficient use of sustainable electrical energy under harsh operating conditions.
- ItemA diuranium carbide cluster stabilized inside a C80 fullerene cage(London : Nature Publishing Group, 2018) Zhang, X.; Li, W.; Feng, L.; Chen, X.; Hansen, A.; Grimme, S.; Fortier, S.; Sergentu, D.-C.; Duignan, T.J.; Autschbach, J.; Wang, S.; Wang, Y.; Velkos, G.; Popov, A.A.; Aghdassi, N.; Duhm, S.; Li, X.; Li, J.; Echegoyen, L.; Schwarz, W.H.E.; Chen, N.Unsupported non-bridged uranium-carbon double bonds have long been sought after in actinide chemistry as fundamental synthetic targets in the study of actinide-ligand multiple bonding. Here we report that, utilizing I h(7)-C80 fullerenes as nanocontainers, a diuranium carbide cluster, U=C=U, has been encapsulated and stabilized in the form of UCU@I h(7)-C80. This endohedral fullerene was prepared utilizing the Krätschmer-Huffman arc discharge method, and was then co-crystallized with nickel(II) octaethylporphyrin (NiII-OEP) to produce UCU@I h(7)-C80·[NiII-OEP] as single crystals. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals a cage-stabilized, carbide-bridged, bent UCU cluster with unexpectedly short uranium-carbon distances (2.03 Å) indicative of covalent U=C double-bond character. The quantum-chemical results suggest that both U atoms in the UCU unit have formal oxidation state of +5. The structural features of UCU@I h(7)-C80 and the covalent nature of the U(f1)=C double bonds were further affirmed through various spectroscopic and theoretical analyses.
- ItemDiscovery of ZrCoBi based half Heuslers with high thermoelectric conversion efficiency(London : Nature Publishing Group, 2018) Zhu, H.; He, R.; Mao, J.; Zhu, Q.; Li, C.; Sun, J.; Ren, W.; Wang, Y.; Liu, Z.; Tang, Z.; Sotnikov, A.; Wang, Z.; Broido, D.; Singh, D.J.; Chen, G.; Nielsch, K.; Ren, Z.Thermoelectric materials are capable of converting waste heat into electricity. The dimensionless figure-of-merit (ZT), as the critical measure for the material's thermoelectric performance, plays a decisive role in the energy conversion efficiency. Half-Heusler materials, as one of the most promising candidates for thermoelectric power generation, have relatively low ZTs compared to other material systems. Here we report the discovery of p-type ZrCoBi-based half-Heuslers with a record-high ZT of ∼1.42 at 973 K and a high thermoelectric conversion efficiency of ∼9% at the temperature difference of ∼500 K. Such an outstanding thermoelectric performance originates from its unique band structure offering a high band degeneracy (N v) of 10 in conjunction with a low thermal conductivity benefiting from the low mean sound velocity (v m ∼2800 m s-1). Our work demonstrates that ZrCoBi-based half-Heuslers are promising candidates for high-temperature thermoelectric power generation.