Laboratory setup for rapid in situ powder X-ray diffraction elucidating Ni particle formation in supercritical methanol

Exploration of anion effects in solvothermal synthesis using in situ X-ray diffraction

Solvothermal synthesis presents a facile and highly flexible approach to chemical processing and it is widely used for preparation of micro- and nanosized inorganic materials. The large number of synthesis parameters in combination with the richness of inorganic chemistry means that it is difficult to predict or design synthesis outcomes, and it is demanding to uncover the effect of different parameters due to the sealed and complex nature of solvothermal reactors along with the time demands related to reactor cleaning, sample purification, and characterization. This study explores the effect on formation of crystalline products of six common anions in solvothermal treatment of aqueous and ethanolic precursors. Three different cations are included in the study (Mn2+, Co2+, Cu2+) representing chemical affinities towards different regions of the periodic table with respect to the hard soft acid base (HSAB) classification and the Goldschmidt classification. They additionally belong to the commonly used 3d transition metals and display a suitable variety in solvothermal chemistry to highlight anion effects. The results of the solvothermal in situ experiments demonstrate a clear effect of the precursor anions, with respect to whether crystallization occurs or not and the characteristics of the formed phases. Additionally, some of the anions are shown to be redox active and to influence the formation temperature of certain phases which in turn relates to the observed average crystallite sizes.

A reactor for time-resolved X-ray studies of nucleation and growth during solvothermal synthesis

Understanding the nucleation and growth mechanisms of nanocrystals under hydro- and solvothermal conditions is key to tailoring functional nanomaterials. High-energy and high-flux synchrotron radiation is ideal for characterization by powder X-ray diffraction and X-ray total scattering in real time. Different versions of batch-type cell reactors have been employed in this work, exploiting the robustness of polyimide-coated fused quartz tubes with an inner diameter of 0.7 mm, as they can withstand pressures up to 250 bar and temperatures up to 723 K for several hours. Reported here are recent developments of the in situ setups available for general users on the P21.1 beamline at PETRA III and the DanMAX beamline at MAX IV to study nucleation and growth phenomena in solvothermal synthesis. It is shown that data suitable for both reciprocal-space Rietveld refinement and direct-space pair distribution function refinement can be obtained on a timescale of 4 ms.

Synthesis of Phase-Pure Thermochromic VO2 (M1)

A highly reproducible, simple, and inexpensive synthesis method for obtaining phase-pure thermochromic monoclinic VO₂ (M1) is presented. Vanadium(III) oxide and ammonium metavanadate were used as starting materials and no additional reducing agents are required. Heating a mixture of these two components under an argon atmosphere at 750 °C for 2-4 h provides the direct formation of VO₂ (M1) without detectable impurity phases. The formation reaction of VO₂ (M1) was studied using in situ powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), where a pressed pellet of the precursor material was heated during the continuous collection of PXRD data on a two-dimensional detector. The formation takes place via at least two crystalline intermediate phases where the first forms at 170-185 °C (likely an ammonium and oxygen deficient (NH₄)_1-δVO_3-δ phase), and the second at 230 °C (likely a more disordered phase due to the increased background intensity). We assume that the solid-state reaction between the unknown but likely disordered vanadate phase and vanadium(III) oxide starts at 395 °C in concert with the appearance of several other unknown crystalline phases. At 610-750 °C, phase-pure rutile VO₂ (P4₂/mnm) is obtained, which upon cooling converts to monoclinic VO₂ (M1). The product composition, microstructure, and homogeneity are characterized by Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The synthesized VO₂ (M1) has a sharp reversible insulator-to-metal transition at 71.3 °C during heating and 59.5 °C during cooling, as characterized using differential scanning calorimetry, and resistivity and magnetic property measurements.

Classification of crystal structures using electron diffraction patterns with a deep convolutional neural network

Investigations have been made to explore the applicability of an off-the-shelf deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) architecture, residual neural network (ResNet), to the classification of the crystal structure of materials using electron diffraction patterns without prior knowledge of the material systems under consideration. The dataset required for training and validating the ResNet architectures was obtained by the computer simulation of the selected area electron diffraction (SAD) in transmission electron microscopy. Acceleration voltages, zone axes, and camera lengths were used as variables and crystal information format (CIF) files obtained from open crystal data repositories were used as inputs. The cubic crystal system was chosen as a model system and five space groups of 213, 221, 225, 227, and 229 in the cubic system were selected for the test and validation, based on the distinguishability of the SAD patterns. The simulated diffraction patterns were regrouped and labeled from the viewpoint of computer vision, i.e., the way how the neural network recognizes the two-dimensional representation of three-dimensional lattice structure of crystals, for improved training and classification efficiency. Comparison of the various ResNet architectures with varying number of layers demonstrated that the ResNet101 architecture could classify the space groups with the validation accuracy of 92.607%.

The off-the-shelf deep convolutional neural network architecture, ResNet, could classify the space group of materials with cubic crystal structures with the prediction accuracy of 92.607%, using the selected area electron diffraction patterns.

Mapping the redox chemistry of common solvents in solvothermal synthesis through in situ X-ray diffraction

Solvothermal technology shows great promise in "green" materials synthesis, processing, and recycling. The outcome of a specific solvothermal reaction depends strongly on the solvent properties, and the versatility of solvothermal synthesis hinges on the very large changes in solvent properties as a function of temperature and pressure. Here, six simple 3d transition metal nitrate salts (Cu(ii), Ni(ii), Co(ii), Fe(iii), Mn(ii), Cr(iii)) were dissolved in five common solvents (water, ethanol, ethylene glycol, glycerol, and 10% hydrogen peroxide solution) and heated stepwise up to 450 °C at a pressure of 250 bar using an in situ reactor while X-ray scattering data was recorded. A range of crystalline phases were observed in the form of metallic phases, metal oxides, and other ionic compounds. These data by themselves provide simple recipes for synthesis of many technologically important 3d transition metal nanomaterials. However, more generally the oxidation states of the metals in the synthesized materials can be used to map the solvent redox properties under solvothermal conditions. It is found that glycerol and ethylene glycol are strongly reducing, ethanol is moderately reducing, while water is weakly oxidizing. The behavior of the hydrogen peroxide solution is more complex including both oxidization and reduction. Furthermore, it is observed that the reducing powers of ethanol, ethylene glycol, and glycerol are enhanced with increasing temperature. The mapping of the redox properties of these common solvents provides a method for tailoring a given reaction through choice of solvent and reaction temperature. Solvothermal processes represent an environmentally benign alternative to the use of toxic reducing agents in chemical reactions, and quantification of the redox chemistry is a first step in rational materials design.