Is Geometric Frustration-Induced Disorder a Recipe for High Ionic Conductivity?

Ionic conductivity is ubiquitous to many industrially important applications such as fuel cells, batteries, sensors, and catalysis. Tunable conductivity in these systems is therefore key to their commercial viability. Here, we show that geometric frustration can be exploited as a vehicle for conductivity tuning.

Liquid crystal seed nucleates liquid-solid phase change in ceria nanoparticles.

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was used to explore the liquid-solid (crystal) phase change of a ceria nanoparticle. The simulations reveal that the crystalline seed, which spontaneously evolves and nucleates crystallisation, is a liquid rather than a solid. Evidence supporting this concept includes: (a) only 3% of the total latent heat of solidification had been liberated after 25% of the nanoparticle had (visibly) crystallised.