Magnetism and ion diffusion in honeycomb layered oxide K 2Ni 2TeO 6
Journal article, 2020

In the quest for developing novel and efficient batteries, a great interest has been raised for sustainable K-based honeycomb layer oxide materials, both for their application in energy devices as well as for their fundamental material properties. A key issue in the realization of efficient batteries based on such compounds, is to understand the K-ion diffusion mechanism. However, investigation of potassium-ion (K+) dynamics in materials using e.g. NMR and related techniques has so far been very challenging, due to its inherently weak nuclear magnetic moment, in contrast to other alkali ions such as lithium and sodium. Spin-polarised muons, having a high gyromagnetic ratio, make the muon spin rotation and relaxation (μ+SR) technique ideal for probing ions dynamics in these types of energy materials. Here we present a study of the low-temperature magnetic properties as well as K+ dynamics in honeycomb layered oxide material K 2Ni 2TeO 6 using mainly the μ+SR technique. Our low-temperature μ+SR results together with complementary magnetic susceptibility measurements find an antiferromagnetic transition at TN≈ 27 K. Further μ+SR studies performed at higher temperatures reveal that potassium ions (K+) become mobile above 200 K and the activation energy for the diffusion process is obtained as Ea= 121 (13) meV. This is the first time that K+ dynamics in potassium-based battery materials has been measured using μ+SR. Assisted by high-resolution neutron diffraction, the temperature dependence of the K-ion self diffusion constant is also extracted. Finally our results also reveal that K-ion diffusion occurs predominantly at the surface of the powder particles. This opens future possibilities for potentially improving ion diffusion as well as K-ion battery device performance using nano-structuring and surface coatings of the particles.

Author

Nami Matsubara

Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)

E. Nocerino

Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)

Ola Kenji Forslund

Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)

Anton Zubayer

Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)

Konstantinos Papadopoulos

Chalmers, Physics, Materials Physics

Daniel Andreica

Babeș-Bolyai University

Jun Sugiyama

Comprehensive Research Organization for Science and Society (CROSS)

Rasmus Palm

Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)

Zurab Guguchia

Paul Scherrer Institut

Stephen P. Cottrell

STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

Takashi Kamiyama

High Energy Accelerator Research Organization

Takashi Saito

High Energy Accelerator Research Organization

Alexei Kalaboukhov

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Quantum Device Physics

Yasmine Sassa

Chalmers, Physics, Materials Physics

Titus Masese

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)

Kyoto University

Martin Månsson

Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)

Scientific Reports

2045-2322 (ISSN) 20452322 (eISSN)

Vol. 10 1 18305

Subject Categories

Inorganic Chemistry

Materials Chemistry

Condensed Matter Physics

DOI

10.1038/s41598-020-75251-x

PubMed

33110126

More information

Latest update

5/20/2021