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At least 307 records · Page 17

Molecular H 2 as the Reducing Agent in Low-Temperature Oxide Reduction Using Calcium Hydride

Low-temperature synthesis is crucial for advancing sustainable manufacturing and accessing novel metastable phases. Metal hydrides have shown great potential in facilitating the reduction of oxides at low temperatures, yet the underlying mechanism—whether driven by H - , H 2 , or atomic H—remains unclear. Here, in this study, we employ in situ electrical transport measurements and first- principles calculations to investigate the CaH 2 -driven reduction kinetics in epitaxial α-Fe 2 O 3 thin films. Intriguingly, samples in direct contact with or separated from CaH 2 powders exhibit similar apparent activation energies for H 2 reduction, although direct contact significantly increases the reduction rate. These findings indicate that molecular H 2 is the dominant reducing species in the low-temperature reduction of oxides using CaH 2 , with a key aspect of the hydrides' superior reducing power attributed to their ability to eliminate residual moisture. This work underscores the critical role of moisture control in enabling effective low-temperature oxide reduction for advanced material synthesis.

Wang, Jiayue [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory↗

Formation, chemical evolution and solidification of the dense liquid phase of calcium (bi)carbonate

Metal carbonates, which are ubiquitous in the near-surface mineral record, are a major product of biomineralizing organisms and serve as important targets for capturing anthropogenic CO 2 emissions. However, pathways of carbonate mineralization typically diverge from classical predictions due to the involvement of disordered precursors, such as the dense liquid phase (DLP), yet little is known about DLP formation or solidification processes. Using in situ methods we report that a highly hydrated bicarbonate DLP forms via liquid–liquid phase separation and transforms into hollow hydrated amorphous CaCO 3 particles. Acidic proteins and polymers extend DLP lifetimes while leaving the pathway and chemistry unchanged. Molecular simulations suggest that the DLP forms via direct condensation of solvated Ca 2+ •(HCO 3 – ) 2 complexes that react due to proximity effects in the confined DLP droplets. Furthermore, our findings provide insight into CaCO 3 nucleation that is mediated by liquid–liquid phase separation, advancing the ability to direct carbonate mineralization and elucidating an often-proposed complex pathway of biomineralization.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Dimensional reduction upon calcium incorporation in Cs 0.3 (Ca 0.3 Ln 0.7 )PS 4 and Cs 0.5 (Ca 0.5 Ln 0.5 )PS 4

A series of Ca-containing lanthanide thiophosphates has been obtained and their structural evolution from 3D for LnPS 4 and Cs 0.3 (Ln 0.7 Ca 0.3 )PS 4 to 2D in Cs 0.5 (Ln 0.5 Ca 0.5 )PS 4 was shown as a function of Ca content. The first series with an idealized formula of Cs 0.3 (Ca 0.3 Ln 0.7 )PS 4 crystallizes in the R3¯m with combining macron]m space group and belongs to a new structure type that consists of a channel containing [(Ca 0.3 Ln 0.7 )PS 4 ] 0.3– framework, where the channels are occupied by severely disordered Cs + cations. A second new series with formula Cs 0.5 (Ca 0.5 Ln 0.5 )PS 4 crystallizes in the monoclinic C2/c space group and exhibits a layered structure consisting of [(Ca 0.5 Ln 0.5 )PS 4 ] 0.5– layers with Cs + cations located between the layers for charge balance. Together with the parent structure type, LnPS 4 , these three structure types illustrate how the LnPS 4 structure changes with Cs + cation incorporation, reducing its dimensionality from 3D to 2D. The magnetic properties of Cs 0.3 [(Ca 0.3 Ce 0.7 )PS 4 ] and Cs 0.3 [(Ca 0.3 Pr 0.7 )PS 4 ] were studied and revealed no magnetic transition down to 2 K.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Impact of magnetic and electric fields on the free energy to form a calcium carbonate ion-pair

Electromagnetic fields are used in water treatment and desalination to regulate scale formation and extend the lifetime of membranes. External electric and magnetic fields can promote or suppress mineral nucleation and growth. However, the molecular-scale mechanisms of such processes remain unknown. Computing the free energies needed to form ion pairs under external fields provides important insights into understanding the elemental steps during the initial formation of mineral scales. In this paper, we used molecular dynamics combined with metadynamics simulations to investigate the free energies of forming the [Ca–CO 3 ] 0 ion pair, a fundamental building block of carbonate scales, under a range of magnetic (up to 10 T) and electric (up to 10 V m −1 ) fields in water. The presence of constant magnetic or electric fields favored the ion pairing reaction and lowered the free energies by up to 3% to 6%. The internal energy and entropic components of the free energy showed significant changes and exhibited non-linear behavior with increasing field strength. The [Ca–CO 3 ] 0 ion pairing is an entropy-driven process in the absence of an external field, but the mechanism shifts to an internal energy-driven process under selected external fields, suggesting possible changes in the nucleation pathways.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Structural Characteristics and Phase Evolution of Calcium-Reduced (Sm,Zr)(Fe,Co,Ti) 12 Particles

Magnetic materials are essential for applications in electronics, energy conversion and many other industrial and technological sectors. Among the permanent magnets, rare-earth magnets exhibit the strongest properties and dominate the market shares in related applications. However, due to the increasing cost and unstable supply, the research on reducing the rare-earth elements in magnets attracts significant increasing interest. Rare-earth-lean samarium transition metal (TM) compounds (SmTM 12 or 1:12 for short) have made breakthroughs in 2020 and the (Sm,Zr)(Fe,Co,Ti) 12 monocrystalline particles synthesized by a Ca reduction of elemental oxides at high temperature demonstrated an order of magnitude improvement in coercivity at room temperature. In this study, we made structural analysis of (Sm,Zr)(Fe,Co,Ti) 12 particles to elucidate the impact of synthesis conditions, microstructure and phase transformation on the evolution of magnetic properties.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Chiral interactions and superfluidity in the calcium isotopic chain

We perform ab initio calculations of three-point mass differences in the odd- and even-mass 39−49Ca isotopes to probe nuclear superfluidity via empirical neutron pairing gaps. We also quantify the sensitivity of those gaps to the parameters of the interaction at mean-field level. Recent studies employing accurate chiral nuclear interactions have found these gaps to be too small. We show that experimental values can be reproduced at mean-field level by substantially increasing the attraction of the singlet 𝑆 -wave two-nucleon contact interaction, but doing so induces an unphysical bound state of the dineutron. The sensitivity of these predictions to the full calibration of the nuclear interaction is then studied by performing Bayesian posterior sampling in a delta-full chiral effective field theory at third chiral order. We find that pairing gaps remain largely unaffected, leaving the explanation of nuclear superfluidity as a future task for improved many-body modeling and refined interactions at higher chiral orders.

Hagen, Gaute [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000160191687)↗

Machine learning guided discovery of superconducting calcium borocarbides

Pursuit of superconductivity in light-element systems at ambient pressure is of great experimental and theoretical interest. In this work, we combine a machine learning (ML) method with first-principles calculations to efficiently search for the energetically favorable ternary Ca-B-C compounds. Three layered borocarbides (stable CaBC 5 and metastable Ca 2 BC 11 and CaB 3 C 3 ) are predicted to be phonon-mediated superconductors at ambient pressure. The stable CaBC 5 and the low-energy metastable Ca 2 BC 11 (with formation energy only 9.5 meV/atom above the convex hull) have a superconducting T c of 5.2 and 8.9 K, respectively. While the hexagonal CaB 3 C 3 possesses a T c of 26.1 K, it is metastable with formation energy of 153 meV/atom above the convex hull. The ML-guided approach opens up a way for greatly accelerating the discovery of new high-T c superconductors.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Neutron elastic scattering on calcium isotopes from chiral nuclear optical potentials

We formulate microscopic neutron-nucleus optical potentials from many-body perturbation theory based on chiral two- and three-body forces. The neutron self-energy is first calculated in homogeneous matter to second order in perturbation theory, which gives the central real and imaginary terms of the optical potential. Here, the real spin-orbit term is calculated separately from the density matrix expansion using the same chiral interaction as in the self-energy. Finally, the full neutron-nucleus optical potential is derived within the improved local density approximation utilizing mean-field models consistent with the chiral nuclear force employed. We compare the results of the microscopic calculations to phenomenological models and experimental data up to projectile energies of E = 200 MeV. Experimental elastic differential scattering cross sections and vector analyzing powers are generally well reproduced by the chiral optical potential, but we find that total cross sections are overestimated at high energies.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Novel observation of isospin structure of short-range correlations in calcium isotopes

Short Range Correlations (SRCs) have been identiffed as being responsible for the high momentum tail of the nucleon momentum distribution, n(k). Hard, short-range interactions of nucleon pairs generate the high momentum tail and imprint a universal character on n(k) for all nuclei at large momentum. Triple coincidence experiments have shown a strong dominance of np pairs, but these measurements involve large final state interactions. This paper presents the results from Jefferson Lab experiment E08014 which measured inclusive electron scattering cross-section from Ca isotopes. Here, by comparing the inclusive cross section from 48 Ca to 40 Ca in a kinematic region dominated by SRCs we provide a new way to study the isospin structure of SRCs.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗