Combined Theoretical and Experimental Studies of Sodium Battery Materials.

Owing to developments in theoretical chemistry and computer power, the combination of calculations and experiments is now standard practice in understanding and developing new materials for battery systems. Here, we briefly review our recent combined studies based on density functional theory and molecular dynamics calculations for electrode and electrolyte materials for sodium-ion batteries. These findings represent case studies of successful combinations of experimental and theoretical methods.

Intermediate honeycomb ordering to trigger oxygen redox chemistry in layered battery electrode.

Sodium-ion batteries are attractive energy storage media owing to the abundance of sodium, but the low capacities of available cathode materials make them impractical. Sodium-excess metal oxides Na2MO3 (M: transition metal) are appealing cathode materials that may realize large capacities through additional oxygen redox reaction. However, the general strategies for enhancing the capacity of Na2MO3 are poorly established.

A 3.8-V earth-abundant sodium battery electrode.

Rechargeable lithium batteries have ushered the wireless revolution over last two decades and are now matured to enable green automobiles. However, the growing concern on scarcity and large-scale applications of lithium resources have steered effort to realize sustainable sodium-ion batteries, Na and Fe being abundant and low-cost charge carrier and redox centre, respectively. However, their performance is limited owing to low operating voltage and sluggish kinetics.

Polymorphs of LiFeSO4F as cathode materials for lithium ion batteries - a first principle computational study.

We have investigated polymorphs of LiFeSO4F, tavorite and triplite, which have been reported as cathode materials for lithium ion batteries. The predicted voltages are 3.64 and 3.

A Novel Anionic Gold-Indium Cluster Compound: Synthesis and Molecular and Electronic Structure.

The insertion of InBr into the Au-Br bond of [(Ph(3)P)AuBr] in tetrahydrofuran (thf) in the presence of [(CH(2)PPh(2))(2)] (dppe) leads to the formation of an orange complex [(dppe)(2)Au](+)[(dppe)(2)Au(3)In(3)Br(7)(thf)](-), 2. Analytical, spectroscopic, and X-ray structural investigations showed that this product is an anionic analogue of a neutral chloride complex [(dppe)(2)Au(3)In(3)Cl(6)(thf)(3)], 1, prepared recently. Both complexes have an Au(3)In(3) cluster core of approximate C(2)(v)() symmetry with one extremely short Au-Au bond [Au1-Au3 2.