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S.Y. Yang (*) Plastic tubes and hollow rods can be fabricated using gas-assisted injection molding technology with reduced cost. The residual wall thickness around dimensional transitions and curved sections is [...]

Abstract: Crystal habits of LiMn2O4 prepared through a sol–gel method using different starting materials (metal acetates and metal nitrates) are studied using a crystal shape algorithm. Density functional theory (DFT) as implemented in VASP is employed to study the thermodynamic stabilities and the electronic structure of the different hkl planes of LiMn2O4, as identified by the crystal shape algorithm. The crystal habit of lithium manganate prepared through the metal acetate route, LiMn2O4 (A), seems to possess a higher thermodynamic stability compared to the metal nitrate route viz. LiMn2O4 (N). Electrochemical cycling measurements show that the capacity retention in LiMn2O4 (A) is better than LiMn2O4 (N) at low (C/10) as well as at higher (5C) rates. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Rutile iridium dioxide (IrO2) surfaces were studied by cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy (XSTM). Atomically flat surfaces prepared by in situ ultra high vacuum cleaving of crystalline platelets of thicknesses <50μm were successfully demonstrated. In addition to (110) surface, several vicinal planes, e.g., (120), (130) and , were also examined. The cleaved planes are close to bulk-terminated surfaces with predominant [001]-oriented bridge oxygen rows. Unlike TiO2, bright oxygen rows are imaged and oxygen defects appear as dim species. Our studies show that XSTM is a viable technique to study oxide surfaces that are otherwise difficult to prepare. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]