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In this work, LiCoPO4 nanoparticles were synthesized by supercritical fluid method using cobalt nitrate hexahydrate (Co(NO3)2 6H2O) and cobalt acetate tetrahydrate (C4H6CoO4 4H2O) as starting materials. The effect of starting materials on particle morphology, size, and the crystalline phase were investigated. The as-synthesized samples were systematically characterized by XRD, TEM, STEM, EDS, BET, and TG and charge-discharge measurements. In addition, Rietveld refinement analysis was performed. The electrochemical measurements of LiCoPO4 nanoparticles have shown differences in capacities depending on the starting materials used in the synthesis and the results have been discussed in this paper.

Structural defects, including point defects, dislocation and planar defects, significantly affect the physical and chemical properties of low-dimensional materials, such as layered compounds. In particular, inversion domain boundary is an intrinsic defect surrounded by a 60° grain boundary, which significantly influences electronic transport properties. We study atomic structures of the inversion domain grain boundaries (IDBs) in layered transition metal dichalcogenides (MoSe 2 and MoS 2 ) obtained by an exfoliation method, based on the aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy observation and density functional theory (DFT) calculation. The atomic-scale observation shows that the grain boundaries consist of two different types of 4-fold ring point shared and 8-fold ring edge shared chains. The results of DFT calculations indicate that the inversion domain grain boundary behaves as a metallic one-dimensional chain embedded in the semiconducting MoSe 2 matrix with the occurrence of a new state within the band gap., Competing Interests: There is no conflicts of interest to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)