Accelerated Lanthanide Intercalation into Graphite Catalyzed by Na.

Lanthanides () are notoriously difficult to intercalate into graphite. We investigated the possibility of using Na to catalyze the formation of -intercalated graphite and successfully synthesized C ( = Sm, Eu, and Yb) significantly rapidly in high yields. The synthesis process involves the formation of the reaction intermediate NaC, through the mixing of Na and C, which subsequently reacts with upon heating to form C.

Azithromycin-resistant mph(A)-positive Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi in the United States.

Objectives: The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducts active surveillance for typhoid fever cases caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (Typhi). Here we describe the characteristics of the first two cases of mph(A)-positive azithromycin-resistant Typhi identified through US surveillance.

Methods: Isolates were submitted to public health laboratories, sequenced, and screened for antimicrobial resistance determinants and plasmids, as part of CDC PulseNet's routine genomic surveillance.

Anisotropic atomic displacements, local orthorhombicity and anomalous local magnetic moment in BaKFeAs superconductor.

We have investigated the in-plane local structure of the BaKFeAs superconductor by polarized Fe K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements with temperature. The near neighbor bond distances and their stiffness, measured by polarized EXAFS in two orthogonal directions, are different suggesting in-plane anisotropy of the atomic displacements and local orthorhombicity in the title system. The X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectra reveal anisotropy of valence electronic structure that changes anomalously below ∼100 K.

Smectic pair-density-wave order in EuRbFeAs.

The pair density wave (PDW) is a superconducting state in which Cooper pairs carry centre-of-mass momentum in equilibrium, leading to the breaking of translational symmetry. Experimental evidence for such a state exists in high magnetic field and in some materials that feature density-wave orders that explicitly break translational symmetry. However, evidence for a zero-field PDW state that exists independent of other spatially ordered states has so far been elusive.

Dramatically Accelerated Formation of Graphite Intercalation Compounds Catalyzed by Sodium.

Graphite intercalation compounds (GICs) have a variety of functions due to their rich material variations, and thus, innovative methods for their synthesis are desired for practical applications. It is discovered that Na has a catalytic property that dramatically accelerates the formation of GICs. It is demonstrated that LiC (n = 1, 2), KC , KC (n = 2, 3, 4), and NaC are synthesized simply by mixing alkali metals and graphite powder with Na at room temperature (≈25 °C), and A C (A  = Ca, Sr, Ba) are synthesized by heating Na-added reagents at 250 °C only for a few hours.