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Two-dimensional MXenes have shown great promise for many different applications, but in order to fully utilize their potential, control of their termination groups is essential. Here we demonstrate hydrolyzation with a continuous gas flow as a method to remove F-terminations from multilayered V 2 C T x particles, in order to prepare nearly F-free and partly bare vanadium carbide MXene. Density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the substitution of F-terminations is thermodynamically feasible and presents partly nonterminated V 2 CO as the dominating hydrolyzation product. Hydrolyzation at elevated temperatures reduced the F content but only subtly changed the O content, as inferred from spectroscopic data. The ideal hydrolyzation temperature was found to be 300 °C, as a degradation of the V 2 C T x phase and a transition to vanadium oxycarbides and V 2 O 3 were observed at higher temperature. When tested as electrodes in Li-ion batteries, the hydrolyzed MXene demonstrated a reduced polarization compared with the pristine MXene, but no change in intercalation voltage was observed. Annealing in dry Ar did not result in the same F reduction, and the importance of water vapor was concluded, demonstrating hydrolyzation as a new and efficient method to control the surface terminations of multilayered V 2 C T x post etching. These results also provide new insights on the thermal stability of V 2 C T x MXene in hydrated atmospheres., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

To handle energetic materials safely, it is important to have knowledge about their sensitivity. Density functional theory (DFT) has proven a valuable tool in the study of energetic materials, and in the current work, DFT is employed to study the thermal unimolecular decomposition of 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (picric acid, PA), 3-methyl-2,4,6-trinitrophenol (methyl picric acid, mPA), and 3,5-dimethyl-2,4,6-trinitrophenol (dimethyl picric acid, dmPA). These compounds have similar molecular structures, but according to the literature, mPA is far less sensitive to impact than the other two compounds. Three pathways believed important for the initiation reactions are investigated at 0 and 298.15 K. We compare the computed energetics of the reaction pathways with the objective of rationalizing the unexpected sensitivity behavior. Our results reveal a few if any significant differences in the energetics of the three molecules, and thus do not reflect the sensitivity deviations observed in experiments. These findings point toward the potential importance of crystal structure, crystal morphology, bimolecular reactions, or combinations thereof on the impact sensitivity of nitroaromatics.

The present challenge with all-oxide thermoelectric modules is their poor durability at high temperatures caused by the instability of the metal-oxide interfaces at the hot side. This work explains a new module concept based on a hybrid p-n junction, fabricated in one step by spark plasma co-sintering of Ca 3 Co 4- x O 9+δ (CCO, p-type) and CaMnO 3-δ /CaMn 2 O 4 (CMO, n-type). Different module (unicouple) designs were studied to obtain a thorough understanding of the role of the in situ formed hybrid p-n junction of Ca 3 CoMnO 6 (CCMO, p-type) and Co-oxide rich phases (p-type) at the p-n junction (>700 °C) in the module performance. A time-enhanced performance of the modules attributed to this p-n junction formation was observed due to the unique electrical properties of the hybrid p-n junction being sufficiently conductive at high temperatures (>700 °C) and nonconductive at moderate and low temperatures. The alteration of module design resulted in a variation of the power density from 12.4 (3.1) to 28.9 mW/cm 2 (7.2 mW) at Δ T ∼ 650 °C after 2 days of isothermal hold (900 °C hot side). This new concept provides a facile method for the fabrication of easily processable, cheap, and high-performance high-temperature modules., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2020 American Chemical Society.)

All-oxide thermoelectric modules for energy harvesting are attractive because of high-temperature stability, low cost, and the potential to use nonscarce and nontoxic elements. Thermoelectric modules are mostly fabricated in the conventional π-design, associated with the challenge of unstable metallic interconnects at high temperature. Here, we report on a novel approach for fabrication of a thermoelectric module with an in situ formed p-p-n junction made of state-of-the-art oxides Ca 3 Co 4- x O 9+δ (p-type) and CaMnO 3 -CaMn 2 O 4 composite (n-type). The module was fabricated by spark plasma co-sintering of p- and n-type powders partly separated by insulating LaAlO 3 . Where the n- and p-type materials originally were in contact, a layer of p-type Ca 3 CoMnO 6 was formed in situ. The hence formed p-p-n junction exhibited Ohmic behavior and a transverse thermoelectric effect, boosting the open-circuit voltage of the module. The performance of the module was characterized at 700-900 °C, with the highest power output of 5.7 mW (around 23 mW/cm 2 ) at 900 °C and a temperature difference of 160 K. The thermoelectric properties of the p- and n-type materials were measured in the temperature range 100-900 °C, where the highest zT of 0.39 and 0.05 were obtained at 700 and 800 °C, respectively, for Ca 3 Co 4- x O 9+δ and the CaMnO 3 -CaMn 2 O 4 composite., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Reaction kinetics between dense, polycrystalline pellets of La2O3 and CoO were investigated at temperatures of 1370-1673 K and oxygen partial pressures of 40 Pa - 50 kPa. At high oxygen partial pressures, single phase LaCoO3 was formed. The growth of the LaCoO3 phase followed the parabolic rate law. The location of Pt markers demonstrated that diffusion of Co3+ cations in LaCoO3 dominated over diffusion of La3+. The diffusion coefficient of Co3+ was determined from the parabolic rate constant, and an activation energy of (250 +/- 10) kJ mol-1 was found. The diffusion coefficient of Co3+ in LaCoO3 decreased with decreasing oxygen partial pressure. At the lowest oxygen partial pressure investigated, two product phases, LaCoO3 and La2CoO4, were observed. The diffusion coefficient of Co cations in La2CoO4 was estimated. Results were discussed in relation to cation diffusion in other LnBO3 oxides (B = Cr3+, Mn3+, Fe3+). A correlation between diffusion of the B cation and the melting point was found for LnBO3 materials.