Metallic ferromagnet with square-lattice CoO2 sheets

Screening highly active perovskites for hydrogen-evolving reaction via unifying ionic electronegativity descriptor

Facile and reliable screening of cost-effective, high-performance and scalable electrocatalysts is key for energy conversion technologies such as water splitting. ABO_3-δ perovskites, with rich constitutions and structures, have never been designed via activity descriptors for critical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here, we apply coordination rationales to introduce A-site ionic electronegativity (AIE) as an efficient unifying descriptor to predict the HER activities of 13 cobalt-based perovskites. Compared with A-site structural or thermodynamic parameter, AIE endows the HER activity with the best volcano trend. (Gd_0.5La_0.5)BaCo₂O_5.5+δ predicted from an AIE value of ~2.33 exceeds the state-of-the-art Pt/C catalyst in electrode activity and stability. X-ray absorption and computational studies reveal that the peak HER activities at a moderate AIE value of ~2.33 can be associated with the optimal electronic states of active B-sites via inductive effect in perovskite structure (~200 nm depth), including Co valence, Co-O bond covalency, band gap and O 2p-band position.

Facile and reliable screening of efficient electrocatalysts is important for energy conversion technologies such as water splitting. Here, authors introduce A-site ionic electronegativity as a descriptor to understand the hydrogen-evolution activities of cobalt-based perovskites.

Atomic-scale visualization of oxide thin-film surfaces

The interfaces of complex oxide heterostructures exhibit intriguing phenomena not observed in their constituent materials. The oxide thin-film growth of such heterostructures has been successfully controlled with unit-cell precision; however, atomic-scale understandings of oxide thin-film surfaces and interfaces have remained insufficient. We examined, with atomic precision, the surface and electronic structures of oxide thin films and their growth processes using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. Our results reveal that oxide thin-film surface structures are complicated in contrast to the general perception and that atomically ordered surfaces can be achieved with careful attention to the surface preparation. Such atomically ordered oxide thin-film surfaces offer great opportunities not only for investigating the microscopic origins of interfacial phenomena but also for exploring new surface phenomena and for studying the electronic states of complex oxides that are inaccessible using bulk samples.

Relation between the Co-O bond lengths and the spin state of Co in layered Cobaltates: a high-pressure study

The pressure-response of the Co-O bond lengths and the spin state of Co ions in a hybrid 3d-5d solid-state oxide Sr₂Co_0.5Ir_0.5O₄ with a layered K₂NiF₄-type structure was studied by using hard X-ray absorption and emission spectroscopies. The Co-K and the Ir-L₃ X-ray absorption spectra demonstrate that the Ir⁵⁺ and the Co³⁺ valence states at ambient conditions are not affected by pressure. The Co Kβ emission spectra, on the other hand, revealed a gradual spin state transition of Co³⁺ ions from a high-spin (S = 2) state at ambient pressure to a complete low-spin state (S = 0) at 40 GPa without crossing the intermediate spin state (S = 1). This can be well understood from our calculated phase diagram in which we consider the energies of the low spin, intermediate spin and high spin states of Co³⁺ ions as a function of the anisotropic distortion of the octahedral local coordination in the layered oxide. We infer that a short in-plane Co-O bond length (<1.90 Å) as well as a very large ratio of Co-O_apex/Co-O_in-plane is needed to stabilize the IS Co³⁺, a situation which is rarely met in reality.

Magnetization and magneto-transport staircaselike behavior in layered perovskite Sr2CoO4 at low temperature

Polycrystalline layered perovskite Sr2CoO4 sample was synthesized by high temperature and high pressure method. The staircaselike behavior has been observed in the magnetization and resistivity versus field curves of Sr2CoO4 at low temperature. The main features of the steps can be obtained from the measured results: (i) the positions of the external magnetic field at which steps occur are varying in different measurement runs, (ii) the steps only appear at low temperature and disappear with a slight increase of the temperature, (iii) the steps are dependent on the temperature and field sweep rate. Based on the features of the magnetization and magneto-transport staircaselike behavior in Sr2CoO4, the unusual phenomenon can be ascribed to an avalanche of flipping domains in terms of the random field theory.

A complete high-to-low spin state transition of trivalent cobalt ion in octahedral symmetry in SrCo0.5Ru0.5O(3-δ)

The complex metal oxide SrCo0.5Ru0.5O(3-δ) possesses a slightly distorted perovskite crystal structure. Its insulating nature infers a well-defined charge distribution, and the six-fold coordinated transition metals have the oxidation states +5 for ruthenium and +3 for cobalt as observed by X-ray spectroscopy. We have discovered that Co(3+) ion is purely high-spin at room temperature, which is unique for a Co(3+) in an octahedral oxygen surrounding. We attribute this to the crystal field interaction being weaker than the Hund's-rule exchange due to a relatively large mean Co-O distances of 1.98(2) Å, as obtained by EXAFS and X-ray diffraction experiments. A gradual high-to-low spin state transition is completed by applying high hydrostatic pressure of up to 40 GPa. Across this spin state transition, the Co Kβ emission spectra can be fully explained by a weighted sum of the high-spin and low-spin spectra. Thereby is the much debated intermediate spin state of Co(3+) absent in this material. These results allow us to draw an energy diagram depicting relative stabilities of the high-, intermediate-, and low-spin states as functions of the metal-oxygen bond length for a Co(3+) ion in an octahedral coordination.

Synthesis of cubic SrCoO3 single crystal and its anisotropic magnetic and transport properties

A large-size single crystal of nearly stoichiometric SrCoO(3) was prepared with a two-step method combining the floating-zone technique and subsequent high oxygen pressure treatment. SrCoO(3) crystallizes in a cubic perovskite structure with space group Pm3m, and displays an itinerant ferromagnetic behavior with the Curie temperature of 305 K. The easy magnetization axis is found to be along the [111] direction, and the saturation moment is 2.5 µ(B)/f.u., in accord with the picture of the intermediate spin state. The resistivity at low temperatures (T) is proportional to T(2), indicative of the possible effect of orbital fluctuation in the intermediate spin ferromagnetic metallic state. Unusual anisotropic magnetoresistance is also observed and its possible origin is discussed.

Variation of the electronic structure in systematically synthesized Sr2MO4 (M = Ti, V, Cr, Mn, and Co)

We have systematically synthesized single-crystalline thin films of layered perovskites Sr2MO4 (M = Ti, V, Cr, Mn, and Co) which cannot be obtained in a form of bulk crystal apart from M = Mn. The two-dimensional electronic structure of these M4+ oxides, ranging from a correlated insulator to a ferromagnetic metal, has been investigated by using their optical conductivity spectra with polarizations E is perpendicular to c and E is parallel to c, which reveal systematic variation of the correlated charge gap, Mott-Hubbard gap, or charge-transfer gap. Temperature dependence of the gap-transition spectra is argued in the light of possible spin and/or orbital ordering.