Browsing by Author "Ye, AJ"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    CAVD, towards better characterization of void space for ionic transport analysis
    (Springer Nature, 2020-05-22) He, B; Ye, AJ; Chi, ST; Mi, PH; Ran, YB; Zhang, LW; Zou, XX; Pu, BW; Zhao, Q; Zou, Z; Wang, D; Zhang, WQ; Zhao, JT; Avdeev, M; Shi, S
    Geometric crystal structure analysis using three-dimensional Voronoi tessellation provides intuitive insights into the ionic transport behavior of metal-ion electrode materials or solid electrolytes by mapping the void space in a framework onto a network. The existing tools typically consider only the local voids by mapping them with Voronoi polyhedra vertices and then define the mobile ions pathways using the Voronoi edges connecting these vertices. We show that in some structures mobile ions are located on Voronoi polyhedra faces and thus cannot be located by a standard approach. To address this deficiency, we extend the method to include Voronoi faces in the constructed network. This method has been implemented in the CAVD python package. Its effectiveness is demonstrated by 99% recovery rate for the lattice sites of mobile ions in 6,955 Li-, Na-, Mg- and Al-containing ionic compounds extracted from the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database. In addition, various quantitative descriptors of the network can be used to identify and rank the materials and further used in materials databases for machine learning. © 2020, The Author(s)
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    A database of ionic transport characteristics for over 29 000 inorganic compounds
    (Wiley, 2020-06-25) Zhang, LW; He, B; Zhao, Q; Zou, ZY; Chi, ST; Mi, PH; Ye, AJ; Li, YJ; Wang, D; Avdeev, M; Adams, S; Shi, S
    Transport characteristics of ionic conductors play a key role in the performance of electrochemical devices such as solid-state batteries, solid-oxide fuel cells, and sensors. Despite the significance of the transport characteristics, they have been experimentally measured only for a very small fraction of all inorganic compounds, which limits the technological progress. To address this deficiency, a database containing crystal structure information, ion migration channel connectivity information, and 3D channel maps for over 29 000 inorganic compounds is presented. The database currently contains ionic transport characteristics for all potential cation and anion conductors, including Li+, Na+, K+, Ag+, Cu(2)+, Mg2+, Zn2+, Ca2+, Al3+, F−, and O2−, and this number is growing steadily. The methods used to characterize materials in the database are a combination of structure geometric analysis based on Voronoi decomposition and bond valence site energy (BVSE) calculations, which yield interstitial sites, transport channels, and BVSE activation energy. The computational details are illustrated on several typical compounds. This database is created to accelerate the screening of fast ionic conductors and to accumulate descriptors for machine learning, providing a foundation for large-scale research on ion migration in inorganic materials.© 1999-2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    High-throughput screening platform for solid electrolytes combining hierarchical ion-transport prediction algorithms
    (Springer Nature, 2020-05-21) He, B; Chi, ST; Ye, AJ; Mi, PH; Zhang, LW; Pu, B; Zou, Z; Ran, YB; Zhao, Q; Wang, D; Zhang, WQ; Zhao, JT; Adams, S; Avdeev, M; Shi, S
    The combination of a materials database with high-throughput ion-transport calculations is an effective approach to screen for promising solid electrolytes. However, automating the complicated preprocessing involved in currently widely used ion-transport characterization algorithms, such as the first-principles nudged elastic band (FP-NEB) method, remains challenging. Here, we report on high-throughput screening platform for solid electrolytes (SPSE) that integrates a materials database with hierarchical ion-transport calculations realized by implementing empirical algorithms to assist in FP-NEB completing automatic calculation. We first preliminarily screen candidates and determine the approximate ion-transport paths using empirical both geometric analysis and the bond valence site energy method. A chain of images are then automatically generated along these paths for accurate FP-NEB calculation. In addition, an open web interface is actualized to enable access to the SPSE database, thereby facilitating machine learning. This interactive platform provides a workflow toward high-throughput screening for future discovery and design of promising solid electrolytes and the SPSE database is based on the FAIR principles for the benefit of the broad research community. © 2020, The Author(s)
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    A highly efficient and informative method to identify ion transport networks in fast ion conductors
    (Elsevier, 2021-01-15) He, B; Mi, PH; Ye, AJ; Chi, ST; Jiao, Y; Zhang, LW; Pu, BW; Zou, Z; Zhang, WQ; Avdeev, M; Adams, S; Zhao, JT; Shi, S
    High-throughput analysis of the ion transport pathways is critical for screening fast ion conductors. Currently, empirical methods, such as the geometric analysis and bond valence site energy (BVSE) methods, are respectively used for the task. Geometric analysis method can only extract geometric and topological pathway properties without considering the interatomic interactions, while the BVSE method alone does not yield a geometric classification of the sites and interstices forming the pathway. Herein, we propose a highly efficient and informative method to identify interstices and connecting segments constructing an ion transport network by combining topological pathway network and BVSE landscape, which enables to obtain both the geometry and energy profiles of nonequivalent ion transport pathways between adjacent lattice sites. These pathways can be further used as the input for first-principles nudged elastic band calculations with automatically generated chains of images. By performing high-throughput screening of 48,321 Li-, Na-, Mg- and Al-containing ionic compounds from the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database based on the filter combining geometric analysis and BVSE methods, we obtain 1,270 compounds with connected ionic migration pathways of suitable sizes and low migration energy barriers, which include both previously reported fast ion conductors, and new promising materials to be explored further. © 2020 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Identifying descriptors for Li+ conduction in cubic Li-argyrodites via hierarchically encoding crystal structure and inferring causality
    (Elsevier, 2021-09-01) Zhao, Q; Zhang, LW; He, B; Ye, AJ; Avdeev, M; Chen, LQ; Shi, S
    Identifying descriptors linked to Li+ conduction enables rational design of solid state electrolytes (SSEs) for advanced lithium ion batteries, but it is hindered by the diverse and confounding descriptors. To address this, by integrating global and local effects of Li+ conduction environment, we develop a generic method of hierarchically encoding crystal structure (HECS) and inferring causality to identify descriptors for Li+ conduction in SSEs. Taking the cubic Li-argyrodites as an example, 32 HECS-descriptors are constructed, encompassing composition, structure, conduction pathway, ion distribution, and special ions derived from the unit cell information. Partial correlation analysis reveals that the smaller anion size plays a significant role in achieving lower activation energy, which results from the competing effects between the lattice space and bottleneck size controlled by framework site disorder. Moreover, the promising candidates are suggested, in which Li6-xPS5-xCl1+x (e.g., Li5.5PS4.5Cl1.5 with the room ionic conductivity of 9.4mS cm−1 and the activation energy of 0.29eV) have been experimentally evaluated as excellent candidates for practical SSEs and the rest are novel compositions waiting for validation. Our work establishes a rational correlation between the HECS-descriptors and Li+ conduction and the proposed approach can be extended to other types of SSE materials. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Identifying migration channels and bottlenecks in monoclinic NASICON-type solid electrolytes with hierarchical ion-transport algorithms
    (Wiley, 2021-09-07) Zou, Z; Ma, N; Wang, AP; Ran, YB; Song, T; He, B; Ye, AJ; Mi, PH; Zhang, LW; Zhou, H; Jiao, Y; Liu, JP; Wang, D; Li, YJ; Avdeev, M; Shi, S
    Monoclinic natrium superionic conductors (NASICON; Na3Zr2Si2PO12) are well-known Na-ion solid electrolytes which have been studied for 40 years. However, due to the low symmetry of the crystal structure, identifying the migration channels of monoclinic NASICON accurately still remains unsolved. Here, a cross-verified study of Na+ diffusion pathways in monoclinic NASICON by integrating geometric analysis of channels and bottlenecks, bond-valence energy landscapes analysis, and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations is presented. The diffusion limiting bottlenecks, the anisotropy of conductivity, and the time and temperature dependence of Na+ distribution over the channels are characterized and strategies for improving both bulk and total conductivity of monoclinic NASICON-type solid electrolytes are proposed. This set of hierarchical ion-transport algorithms not only shows the efficiency and practicality in revealing the ion transport behavior in monoclinic NASICON-type materials but also provides guidelines for optimizing their conductive properties that can be readily extended to other solid electrolytes. © 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Oil-in-water emulsion system stabilized by emulsion droplets coated with whey protein microgels
    (Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE), 2020-11-11) Cheng, LR; Ye, AJ; Hemar, Y; Single, H; Gilbert, EP; de Campo, L; Whitten, AE
    Structurally designed emulsions are a developing group that is likely to find increasing utilization within the food industry because of their potential advantages over conventional emulsions. A novel droplet-stabilized (DS) emulsion system emulsified with casein micelles has been previously reported [1]. However, the mechanism of DS emulsion formation, physicochemical properties, and stability are not yet been fully explored. In the present study, heat-induced whey protein microgel (WPM) particles were used as an alternative emulsifying agent. The structure of WPM particles on the formation and physicochemical properties of the primary (PE) and the DS emulsions was investigated [2]. WPM particles were prepared by heating 4 wt% whey protein isolate solution in the presence (PB) or absence (NPB) of 10 mM phosphate buffer at pH 5.9, 85°C for 45 min, followed by washing, centrifugation, and micro-fluidization. The PE coated with WPM was homogenized using 3 passes at the pressure of 250/50 bar. DS emulsions were prepared by mixing (at 30000 rev/min for 2 min) 10 wt% oil with 10, 30, or 60 wt% PE. The structure of WPM particles and emulsions were analyzed by dynamic light scattering, confocal light scattering microscopy (CLSM), transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), and the combination of small and ultra-small angle neutron scattering (SANS and USANS). The results showed that the WPM particles produced in the absence of phosphate buffer (WPM-NPB) were smooth spherical particles, giving a surface fractal dimension of 2.0 and a hydrodynamic diameter of 270 nm. However, WPM particles made in the presence of phosphate buffer (WPM-PB) were rough spherical particles with a surface fractal dimension of 2.3 and a hydrodynamic diameter of 290 nm. Particle fragments present in the WPM-PB dispersion, resulted in their competitive adsorption onto the surface of the DS emulsions; reducing the adsorption of PE droplets. For the PE coated with WPM-NPB particles (PE-NPB), flocculation due to protein bridging and protein intramolecular interaction, lead to a network with a fractal dimension of 2.7. For the DS emulsions stabilized by PE-NPB, the interfacial layer thickness of DS emulsion droplets increased with the increase in the concentration of PE as observed by CLSM, whereas the size of DS emulsion droplets decreased. A fractal network consisting of adsorbed PE droplets on the interfacial layer of DS emulsion was observed by TEM and measured by USANS with a fractal dimension of 3.0, suggesting a very rough interface. These results suggest that both the structure of the interfacial layer and the size of the DS emulsion is dependent on the concentration of the PE used.