Ben Britton

In a joint effort of Chinese, Korean, German and Austrian research institutions, the combined effect of employing mixed inorganic and polymer ion conductors in composite solid electrolytes with a well defined architecture and the interface regulation has been evaluated in lithium metal batteries. More details in https://lnkd.in/dAdDFwbH

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Please check out our review on additive manufacturing of neuromorphic systems, available free and open-source here https://lnkd.in/ghh2M9fg. In the review, we discuss the different neuromorphic hardware that has been additively manufactured, including which processes and materials were used and the resulting properties. It's exciting to think about additive manufacturing being used to produce potentially billions of individual components in the future... a long way away from the mostly-prototyping view of AM that was common when I first got into the field. I'm personally mostly focused on the toolpath and control-side of additive manufacturing with FullControlXYZ, whereas co-authors have the brains for materials and neuromorphic systems (Jiongyi Yan, Yutai Su and James Armstrong), but I have no doubt the toolpath will be absolutely critical in enabling these components to be manufactured as economically, quickly, reliable and tiny-tiny-sized as possible! And there's so much mind-blowing potential when you start thinking about mass-customization of things like memristors

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Modeling the apparent arc spot motion: The drunkard’s steps are not of equal length! Cathodic (vacuum) arcs cathode spots randomly ignite and then rapidly extinguish. Spots are the sources of #plasma of the cathode material, and this is relevant in vacuum arc applications such as high-power switches (so-called vacuum interrupters) and in application with process gas, such as the reactive [gas] cathodic arc deposition of #thinfilms and #coatings. For decades, the appearance of arc spots has been modeled using the random walk model, also known as the “drunkard’s walk”, where the walker’s step was assumed to be in a random direction but of equal length.  In an open access paper that appeared today in Journal of Applied Physics, Jiang and colleagues generalized this model by assuming that step lengths and times can be described by evolving probability distributions. In this way, modeling of the apparent spot motion can be brought into much better agreement with measurements. The full paper can be downloaded here: https://lnkd.in/ebE6y9fT   Image credit: Medium.com (Note: the drunk in this cartoon is able to make remarkably even steps, still following the old model).  

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Thermodynamics and mechanism behind lowering direct reduction temperatures of oxide mixtures: pathway for sustainable one-step metallurgy from mixed oxides to ready-to-go alloys Hydrogen-based direct reduction offers a #sustainable pathway to decarbonize the #metal production industry. However, stable metal oxides, like Cr2O3, are notoriously difficult to reduce, requiring extremely high temperatures (above 1300 ◦C). In our latest paper, we explain how reducing mixed oxides can be leveraged to lower hydrogen-based reduction temperatures of stable oxides and produce alloys in a single process. Using a newly developed #thermodynamic framework, we predict the precise conditions (oxygen partial pressure, temperature, and oxide composition) needed for co-reduction. We showcase this approach by reducing Cr2O3 mixed with Fe2O3 at 1100 ◦C, significantly lowering reduction temperatures (by ~200 ◦C). Our model and post-reduction structural and chemical analyses elucidate that the temperature-lowering effect is driven by the lower chemical activity of Cr in the Fe-Cr solid solution phase. This strategy achieves low-temperature co-reduction of mixed oxides, dramatically reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions, while unlocking transformative pathways toward sustainable #alloy design. The paper is here: https://lnkd.in/evkH2QHW Many thanks to the outstanding author team and particularly to Shiv Shankar and Barak Ratzker for their leadership and ingenuity behind this approach. With this we can break a few so-far unbreakable #oxides with #hydrogen :-) Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials Max Planck Society #sustainablemetallurgy #metallurgy #alloydesign #sustainability #reduction #hydrogen #greenmetals #greenalloys #metals

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Machine learning + DFT accelerate high-entropy alloy design for CO-tolerant methanol oxidation Understanding how porous structure, composition, and surface chemistry conspire to enable—or hinder—electrocatalysis has been a long-standing challenge. High-entropy alloys (HEAs) hold promise because they provide a rich landscape of active sites, but the design space is overwhelming: five metals at variable ratios already lead to more than 200,000 possible combinations. For methanol oxidation (MOR), platinum is a standard choice, yet its performance is severely limited by CO poisoning that blocks active sites. In a new study, Ho Ngoc Nam and coauthors combine first-principles modeling with machine learning to design, synthesize, and validate a quinary HEA: PtPdRhRuMo. By screening over 211,000 compositions with density functional theory and CatBoost, the team identified molybdenum as a key element that activates water dissociation while weakening CO binding. Atomistic simulations confirmed lower barriers for water adsorption and improved *CO hydroxylation, while experiments on mesoporous nanoparticles and films demonstrated exceptional catalytic performance. The film reached 18.20 mA cm⁻² specific current and 9.89 A mgPt⁻¹ mass activity, retaining nearly half of its activity after 10,000 seconds. In situ spectroscopy and CO-stripping further showed faster CO removal and enhanced CO-free pathways. The result is a compelling blueprint for closed-loop catalyst discovery: modeling guides prediction, which in turn directs synthesis and mechanistic explanation. While this work centers on methanol oxidation, the approach is broadly applicable to other multi-electron reactions, pointing toward a future of data-driven catalyst design. Paper: https://lnkd.in/dxaZPSpw #HighEntropyAlloys #Electrocatalysis #DFT #MachineLearning #CatalystDesign #MethanolOxidation #WaterActivation #COPoisoning #AIforScience #AIMD #SEIRAS #MaterialsScience #Nanoporous #PtGroupMetals #EnergyConversion

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PhD in Development of Advanced Barrier Coatings for extreme environments with Rolls-Royce at EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Digital Metal (£26,780/year tax-free + tuition fee+ £4,000 Research Training Grant) https://lnkd.in/e8t8WQDy Leveraging a fundamental understanding of material science, coatings technologies and advanced thermal spray deposition systems, this research explores the development of novel protective chemistries that can be deposited in situ to protect TBC systems. By combining advanced digital technologies to evaluate the degradation of the TBC and the nature of the environmental contaminants, the project will develop advanced protective coatings to mitigate damage to these TBCs. Moreover, this project will leverage advanced bespoke continuum robotic systems to demonstrate the feasibility of applying the proposed coatings can be deployed in-situ. #PhD #MaterialsScience #Coatings #TBC

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These three plots showcase Nyquist diagrams from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), a powerful technique used to analyze material and interface properties in electrochemical systems. Panel (a): A classic semicircular Nyquist plot, indicating a dominant charge transfer resistance—commonly observed in batteries and fuel cells. Panel (b): Displays a mixed linear and curved response, highlighting a combination of resistive and capacitive behavior. The point marked at 200 Hz references a characteristic frequency revealing vital system dynamics. Panel (c): Shows a more pronounced linear trend, representing a diffusion-controlled process; the 4 kHz mark pinpoints another critical frequency for system analysis. These plots help researchers and engineers probe and optimize the electrochemical performance of advanced materials and devices. #Electrochemistry #ImpedanceSpectroscopy #AdvancedMaterials #Research

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Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) is a crucial non-destructive technique used to characterize complex electrochemical processes within batteries, vital for parametrizing advanced models. The provided image illustrates typical EIS data through two plots: the Nyquist plot (top) displays the real versus negative imaginary impedance, while the Bode plot (bottom) shows impedance magnitude against frequency. These plots reveal distinct regions corresponding to specific battery phenomena. The high-frequency intercept on the Nyquist plot signifies Series Resistance. Moving clockwise, a semicircle emerges, representing Charge Transfer Kinetics at electrode-electrolyte interfaces. At lower frequencies, further features indicate Electrolyte Diffusion, and a characteristic low-frequency tail corresponds to Particle Diffusion within the active materials. Our research highlights how EIS data is inherently valuable for parametrizing physics-based battery models. We studied various models like the single-particle model (SPM), Doyle-Fuller-Newman (DFN), and, critically, the Single-Particle Model with electrolyte (SPMe). The SPMe emerged as a parsimonious choice, effectively capturing the typical impedance features observed in measured lithium-ion cell data, as depicted. This work involves a grouped-parameter SPMe, analyzing impedance features related to each parameter. We successfully parametrized the SPMe for an LG M50LT cell using measured EIS data across different states-of-charge, validating it on a drive cycle with errors below 15 mV. While challenging, this framework allows for easy model extension to achieve better fits, offering a robust approach for battery characterization and simulation. #EIS #Electrochemistry #BatteryResearch #LithiumIonBatteries #PhysicsBasedModels #BatteryModeling #ImpedanceSpectroscopy #EnergyStorage #ScientificPublication #OpenScience #PyBaMM #PyBOP #OxfordUniversity #FaradayInstitution

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The PRL Ahmedabad colleagues have published very interesting new paper on "Irradiation of condensed CO reveals a new pathway for the formation of aromatic molecules in astrochemical ices", in the journal - Life Sciences in Space Research, https://lnkd.in/dTukQ88D Summary: Given the importance of carbon monoxide in the interstellar medium (ISM) both in the gas and ice phase, the condensed CO has been studied by the irradiation of energetic particles, UV irradiation and the products formed from CO dissociation have been investigated for nearly four decades. However, our understanding on the physical nature of the residue made from CO ice irradiation is limited to-date. Hence we irradiated CO ice with 2 keV electrons and probed the ice in the vacuum ultraviolet / ultraviolet (VUV/UV) spectroscopy techniques. The in-situ VUV/UV spectral analysis of irradiated product provided compelling evidence (peak at ∼ 240 nm) for the presence of a refractory residue made of carbon atoms. The ex-situ analysis carried out using high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) revealed the presence of ordered carbon atoms viz-a-viz graphene, graphitic carbon and graphitic quantum dots. The direct ring closure from carbon atoms released from CO reveal a new pathway to be considered in the bottom-up formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules, on cold dust in the ISM, via the hydrogenation of graphene / graphitic carbon. ISRO - Indian Space Research Organization Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF)

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