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Zhou B, Bai B, Zhu X, Guo J, Wang Y, Chen J, Peng Y, Si W, Ji S, Li J. Insights into effects of grain boundary engineering in composite metal oxide catalysts for improving catalytic performance. J Colloid Interface Sci 2024; 653:1177-1187. [PMID: 37788585 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.09.148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Revised: 09/14/2023] [Accepted: 09/24/2023] [Indexed: 10/05/2023]
Abstract
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) have long been a threat to human health. However, designing economical and efficient transition metal composite oxide catalysts for VOCs purification remains a challenge. Herein, this study demonstrates the enormous potential of grain boundary engineering in facilitating VOCs decomposition over ordered mesoporous composite oxide denoted as 3D-MnxCoy (x, y = 1, 3, 5, 7, 9). Specifically, the three-dimensional (3D) Mn7Co1 catalyst shows 100% ethyl acetate removal efficiency for a continuous airflow containing 1000 ppm ethyl acetate over 60000 h-1 space velocity at 160 °C. Mechanism study suggests that the high catalytic performance originates from the lattice distortion caused by the introduction of heteroatoms, along with the size effect of nanopore walls, which leads to the formation of various grain boundaries on the catalyst surface. The presence of grain boundaries facilitates the generation of oxygen vacancies, thus promoting the migration and activation of oxygen species. Furthermore, the near-atmospheric pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (NAP- XPS) monitoring results reveal that the bimetallic synergy enhanced by grain boundary accelerates the catalytic reaction rate of VOCs through Mn3++Co3+↔Mn4++Co2+ redox cycle. This study may shed light on the great potential of ordered mesoporous bimetallic oxide catalysts in VOCs pollution control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Zhou
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Bingyang Bai
- State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Eco-Industry, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
| | - Xiaofeng Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Jingjie Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Yu Wang
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Yancheng Institute of Technology, Yancheng 224051, China
| | - Jianjun Chen
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Yue Peng
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Wenzhe Si
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
| | - Shengfu Ji
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Junhua Li
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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Li X, Han B, Zhu R, Shi R, Wu M, Sun Y, Li Y, Liu B, Wang L, Zhang J, Tan C, Gao P, Bai X. Dislocation-tuned ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism of the BiFeO 3/SrRuO 3 interface. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2213650120. [PMID: 36940334 PMCID: PMC10068816 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2213650120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Accepted: 02/05/2023] [Indexed: 03/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Misfit dislocations at a heteroepitaxial interface produce huge strain and, thus, have a significant impact on the properties of the interface. Here, we use scanning transmission electron microscopy to demonstrate a quantitative unit-cell-by-unit-cell mapping of the lattice parameters and octahedral rotations around misfit dislocations at the BiFeO3/SrRuO3 interface. We find that huge strain field is achieved near dislocations, i.e., above 5% within the first three unit cells of the core, which is typically larger than that achieved from the regular epitaxy thin-film approach, thus significantly altering the magnitude and direction of the local ferroelectric dipole in BiFeO3 and magnetic moments in SrRuO3 near the interface. The strain field and, thus, the structural distortion can be further tuned by the dislocation type. Our atomic-scale study helps us to understand the effects of dislocations in this ferroelectricity/ferromagnetism heterostructure. Such defect engineering allows us to tune the local ferroelectric and ferromagnetic order parameters and the interface electromagnetic coupling, providing new opportunities to design nanosized electronic and spintronic devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaomei Li
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
- School of Integrated Circuits, East China Normal University, Shanghai200241, China
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100190, China
| | - Bo Han
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
| | - Ruixue Zhu
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
| | - Ruochen Shi
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
| | - Mei Wu
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
| | - Yuanwei Sun
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
| | - Yuehui Li
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
| | - Bingyao Liu
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
| | - Lifen Wang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100190, China
- School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100049, China
| | - Jingmin Zhang
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
| | - Congbing Tan
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Intelligent Sensors and Advanced Sensor Materials, School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan411201, China
| | - Peng Gao
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
- Frontiers Science Center for Nano-optoelectronics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
- Interdisciplinary Institute of Light-Element Quantum Materials and Research Center for Light-Element Advanced Materials, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
- Hefei National Laboratory, Hefei230088, China
| | - Xuedong Bai
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100190, China
- School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100049, China
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Wu M, Zhang X, Li X, Qu K, Sun Y, Han B, Zhu R, Gao X, Zhang J, Liu K, Bai X, Li XZ, Gao P. Engineering of atomic-scale flexoelectricity at grain boundaries. Nat Commun 2022; 13:216. [PMID: 35017521 PMCID: PMC8752668 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27906-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2021] [Accepted: 12/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Flexoelectricity is a type of ubiquitous and prominent electromechanical coupling, pertaining to the electrical polarization response to mechanical strain gradients that is not restricted by the symmetry of materials. However, large elastic deformation is usually difficult to achieve in most solids, and the strain gradient at minuscule is challenging to control. Here, we exploit the exotic structural inhomogeneity of grain boundary to achieve a huge strain gradient (~1.2 nm-1) within 3-4-unit cells, and thus obtain atomic-scale flexoelectric polarization of up to ~38 μC cm-2 at a 24° LaAlO3 grain boundary. Accompanied by the generation of the nanoscale flexoelectricity, the electronic structures of grain boundaries also become different. Hence, the flexoelectric effect at grain boundaries is essential to understand the electrical activities of oxide ceramics. We further demonstrate that for different materials, altering the misorientation angles of grain boundaries enables tunable strain gradients at the atomic scale. The engineering of grain boundaries thus provides a general and feasible pathway to achieve tunable flexoelectricity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mei Wu
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Xiaowei Zhang
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Xiaomei Li
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China
| | - Ke Qu
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Yuanwei Sun
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Bo Han
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Ruixue Zhu
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Xiaoyue Gao
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Jingmin Zhang
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Kaihui Liu
- State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
- Collaborative Innovation Centre of Quantum Matter, Beijing, 100871, China
- Interdisciplinary Institute of Light-Element Quantum Materials and Research Center for Light-Element Advanced Materials, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Xuedong Bai
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China
| | - Xin-Zheng Li
- State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
- Collaborative Innovation Centre of Quantum Matter, Beijing, 100871, China.
- Frontiers Science Center for Nano-optoelectronics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
- Peking University Yangtze Delta Institute of Optoelectronics, Nantong, 226010, Jiangsu, China.
| | - Peng Gao
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
- Collaborative Innovation Centre of Quantum Matter, Beijing, 100871, China.
- Interdisciplinary Institute of Light-Element Quantum Materials and Research Center for Light-Element Advanced Materials, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
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Xing W, Zhang Y, Cui J, Liang S, Meng F, Zhu J, Yu R. Atomic structures of twin boundaries in CoO. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2021; 23:25590-25596. [PMID: 34783799 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp04112f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
The twinning plane of crystals with a face-centered-cubic (FCC) structure is usually the (111) plane, as found in FCC metals and oxides with FCC sublattices of oxygen, like rock-salt-type NiO and spinel-type Fe3O4. Surprisingly, we found in this work that the twinning plane of rock-salt-type CoO is the (112) plane, although Co is adjacent to Ni in the periodic table. The atomic and electronic structures of the CoO(112) twin boundary with in-plane shift vector 1/2[111] have been studied combining aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), electron-energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS), and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. It was found that the atoms at the twin boundary have nominal oxidation states, and the twin boundary remains insulating and antiferromagnetically coupled. Importantly, through the electronic structures and the crystal orbital Hamilton population (COHP) analyses, the (112) twin boundary is found to be more stable than the (111) twin boundary.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wandong Xing
- National Center for Electron Microscopy in Beijing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials of Ministry of Education of China, State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
| | - Yang Zhang
- National Center for Electron Microscopy in Beijing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials of Ministry of Education of China, State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
| | - Jizhe Cui
- National Center for Electron Microscopy in Beijing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials of Ministry of Education of China, State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
| | - Shiyou Liang
- National Center for Electron Microscopy in Beijing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials of Ministry of Education of China, State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
| | - Fanyan Meng
- Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
| | - Jing Zhu
- National Center for Electron Microscopy in Beijing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials of Ministry of Education of China, State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
| | - Rong Yu
- National Center for Electron Microscopy in Beijing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials of Ministry of Education of China, State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
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Han B, Zhu R, Li X, Wu M, Ishikawa R, Feng B, Bai X, Ikuhara Y, Gao P. Two-Dimensional Room-Temperature Giant Antiferrodistortive SrTiO_{3} at a Grain Boundary. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2021; 126:225702. [PMID: 34152191 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.126.225702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2020] [Accepted: 04/23/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The broken symmetry at structural defects such as grain boundaries (GBs) discontinues chemical bonds, leading to the emergence of new properties that are absent in the bulk owing to the couplings between the lattice and other parameters. Here, we create a two-dimensional antiferrodistortive (AFD) strontium titanate (SrTiO_{3}) phase at a Σ13(510)/[001] SrTiO_{3} tilt GB at room temperature. We find that such an anomalous room-temperature AFD phase with the thickness of approximate six unit cells is stabilized by the charge doping from oxygen vacancies. The localized AFD originated from the strong lattice-charge couplings at a SrTiO_{3} GB is expected to play important roles in the electrical and optical activity of GBs and can explain past experiments such as the transport properties of electroceramic SrTiO_{3}. Our study also provides new strategies to create low-dimensional anomalous elements for future nanoelectronics via grain boundary engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bo Han
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory and International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Ruixue Zhu
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory and International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Xiaomei Li
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
| | - Mei Wu
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory and International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Ryo Ishikawa
- Institute of Engineering Innovation, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
- Japan Science and Technology Agency, PRESTO, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan
| | - Bin Feng
- Institute of Engineering Innovation, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
| | - Xuedong Bai
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
| | - Yuichi Ikuhara
- Institute of Engineering Innovation, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
- Nanostructures Research Laboratory, Japan Fine Ceramic Center, Nagoya 456-8587, Japan
- WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
| | - Peng Gao
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory and International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100871, China
- Interdisciplinary Institute of Light-Element Quantum Materials and Research Center for Light-Element Advanced Materials, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
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Liu X, Wu M, Qu K, Gao P, Mi W. Atomic-Scale Mechanism of Grain Boundary Effects on the Magnetic and Transport Properties of Fe 3O 4 Bicrystal Films. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2021; 13:6889-6896. [PMID: 33499585 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c21705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
In strongly correlated materials, change of the local lattice configuration is expected to tune or even generate new properties otherwise in the ideal bulk materials. For highly spin-polarized materials, the spin-dependent transport is sensitive to the local magnetic structure. Here, the artificial grain boundaries (GBs) with different tilt angles are produced in Fe3O4 films using SrTiO3 bicrystal substrates. The saturation magnetization of Fe3O4 bicrystal films is enhanced. The detailed atomic structural results combining with density functional theory calculations reveal that the elongated FeA-O bond length at GBs resulting in the reduction of charge transfer reduces the FeA magnetic moments, which enhances the total magnetic moments of Fe3O4. The in-plane rotation of the Fe3O4 lattice on bicrystal substrates alters the magnetization processes. Especially, the Fe3O4 bicrystal film with a tilt angle of 22.6° shows strong in-plane magnetic anisotropy due to the zigzag GBs. The altered magnetic anisotropy of Fe3O4 bicrystal films enhances the anisotropic magnetoresistance. The findings reveal the mechanism of GBs on the magnetic and transport properties and manifest that the strategy of utilizing GBs can tune the physical properties in highly spin-polarized materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiang Liu
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Materials Physics and Processing Technology, School of Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300354, China
| | - Mei Wu
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Ke Qu
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Peng Gao
- International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Wenbo Mi
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Materials Physics and Processing Technology, School of Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300354, China
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuichi Ikuhara
- Institute of Engineering Innovation, The University of Tokyo, Japan
- Nanostructure Research Laboratory, Japan Fine Ceramics Center, Japan
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