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Inorganics
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Modern Methods, Modern Users, and Modern Materials: Solid-State Materials Synthesis...
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Modern Methods, Modern Users, and Modern Materials: Solid-State Materials Synthesis and Crystal Growth Methods

A special issue of Inorganics (ISSN 2304-6740). This special issue belongs to the section "Inorganic Solid-State Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 August 2023) | Viewed by 5113

Special Issue Editors

Dr. W. Adam Phelan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
Interests: advanced synthesis; pressure methods; electronics; nuclear materials
Dr. Mariya Zhuravleva

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Scintillation Materials Research Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Interests: melt crystal growth; scintillators; high entropy oxides
Dr. Satya Kushwaha

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Chemistry, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
2. William H. Miller III Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Interests: quantum materials; design and development of bulk materials; materials in extreme environments

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The history of solid-state materials synthesis and crystal growth methods is riddled with examples of modern ideas and innovations that lead to important materials discoveries, advances in industrial societies, and even defined time eras. Such examples include but are not limited to Bednorz and Müller’s discovery of high-temperature superconductivity hosted in ceramics, Jan Czochralski’s serendipitous observation of the formation of a single-crystal whisker produced upon mistakenly dipping his pin in the molten tin, and early BCE civilizations alloying copper leading to the bronze era. Today, scientists, engineers, and industrial entrepreneurs are defining a different modern era in materials synthesis and crystals growth, whereupon “Modern Methods, Modern Users, and Modern Materials” comprise extreme state variable synthesis, automated and high-throughput growth methods beyond silicon, synthetic user facilities, and quantum materials that will lead humanity beyond the current technological revolution. For example, machine learning/artificial intelligence advancements are taking inorganic materials synthesis to a new level by understanding reactions at the atomic level, which leads to more controlled routes for synthesis and even hastened materials discovery. In this Special Issue, we seek to comprehensively cover this and other “modern” topics.

Dr. W. Adam Phelan
Dr. Mariya Zhuravleva
Dr. Satya K. Kushwaha
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Inorganics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • extreme state variable/environment synthesis
  • automated methods
  • informatic/high-throughput materials growth
  • material synthesis user facilities
  • industrial products and materials
  • quantum materials

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 1772 KiB  
Article
The Synthesis and Crystal Structure of Six Quaternary Lithium-Alkaline Earth Metal Alumo-Silicides and Alumo-Germanides, A2LiAlTt2 (A = Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba; Tt = Si, Ge)
by Paraskevi Kontomaris, Gregory M. Darone, Laura C. Paredes-Quevedo and Svilen Bobev
Inorganics 2023, 11(9), 351; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics11090351 - 26 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1440
Abstract
Reported are the synthesis and structural characterization of a series of quaternary lithium-alkaline earth metal alumo-silicides and alumo-germanides with the base formula A2LiAlTt2 (A = Ca, Sr, Ba; Tt = Si, Ge). To synthesize each compound, a mixture [...] Read more.
Reported are the synthesis and structural characterization of a series of quaternary lithium-alkaline earth metal alumo-silicides and alumo-germanides with the base formula A2LiAlTt2 (A = Ca, Sr, Ba; Tt = Si, Ge). To synthesize each compound, a mixture of the elements with the desired stoichiometric ratio was loaded into a niobium tube, arc welded shut, enclosed in a silica tube under vacuum, and heated in a tube furnace. Each sample was analyzed by powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and the crystal structure of each compound was confirmed and refined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. The structures, despite the identical chemical formulae, are different, largely dependent on the nature of the alkaline earth metal. The differing cation determines the structure type—the calcium compounds are part of the TiNiSi family with the Pnma space group, the strontium compounds are isostructural with Na2LiAlP2 with the Cmce space group, and the barium compounds crystallize with the PbFCl structure type in the P4/nmm space group. The anion (silicon or germanium) only impacts the size of the unit cell, with the silicides having smaller unit cell volumes than the germanides. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modern Methods, Modern Users, and Modern Materials: Solid-State Materials Synthesis and Crystal Growth Methods)
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12 pages, 1937 KiB  
Article
Machine-Guided Design of Oxidation-Resistant Superconductors for Quantum Information Applications
by Carson Koppel, Brandon Wilfong, Allana Iwanicki, Elizabeth Hedrick, Tanya Berry and Tyrel M. McQueen
Inorganics 2023, 11(3), 117; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics11030117 - 11 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1329
Abstract
Decoherence in superconducting qubits has long been attributed to two-level systems arising from the surfaces and interfaces present in real devices. A recent significant step in reducing decoherence was the replacement of superconducting niobium by superconducting tantalum, resulting in a tripling of transmon [...] Read more.
Decoherence in superconducting qubits has long been attributed to two-level systems arising from the surfaces and interfaces present in real devices. A recent significant step in reducing decoherence was the replacement of superconducting niobium by superconducting tantalum, resulting in a tripling of transmon qubit lifetimes (T1). The identity, thickness, and quality of the native surface oxide, is thought to play a major role, as tantalum only has one oxide whereas niobium has several. Here we report the development of a thermodynamic metric to rank materials based on their potential to form a well-defined, thin, surface oxide. We first computed this metric for known binary and ternary metal alloys using data available from the Materials Project and experimentally validated the strengths and limits of this metric through the preparation and controlled oxidation of eight known metal alloys. Then we trained a convolutional neural network to predict the value of this metric from atomic composition and atomic properties. This allowed us to compute the metric for materials that are not present in the Materials Project, including a large selection of known superconductors, and, when combined with Tc, allowed us to identify new candidate superconductors for quantum information science and engineering (QISE) applications. We tested the oxidation resistance of a pair of these predictions experimentally. Our results are expected to lay the foundation for the tailored and rapid selection of improved superconductors for QISE. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modern Methods, Modern Users, and Modern Materials: Solid-State Materials Synthesis and Crystal Growth Methods)
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15 pages, 4068 KiB  
Article
Bulk Physical Properties of a Magnetic Weyl Semimetal Candidate NdAlGe Grown by a Laser Floating-Zone Method
by Naoki Kikugawa, Taichi Terashima, Takashi Kato, Momoko Hayashi, Hitoshi Yamaguchi and Shinya Uji
Inorganics 2023, 11(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics11010020 - 01 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1549
Abstract
In this study, we report the successful growth of single crystals of a magnetic Weyl semimetal candidate NdAlGe with the space group I41md. The crystals were grown using a floating-zone technique, which used five laser diodes, with a total [...] Read more.
In this study, we report the successful growth of single crystals of a magnetic Weyl semimetal candidate NdAlGe with the space group I41md. The crystals were grown using a floating-zone technique, which used five laser diodes, with a total power of 2 kW, as the heat source. To ensure that the molten zone was stably formed during the growth, we employed a bell-shaped distribution profile of the vertical irradiation intensity. After the nominal powder, crushed from an arc-melted ingot, was shaped under hydrostatic pressure, we sintered the feed and seed rods in an Ar atmosphere under ultra-low oxygen partial pressure (<10−26 atm) generated by an oxygen pump made of yttria-stabilized zirconia heated at 873 K. Single crystals of NdAlGe were successfully grown to a length of 50 mm. The grown crystals showed magnetic order in bulk at 13.5 K. The fundamental physical properties were characterized by magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, specific heat, thermal expansion, and electrical resistivity measurements. This study demonstrates that the magnetic order induces anisotropic magnetoelasticity, magneto-entropy, and charge transport in NdAlGe. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modern Methods, Modern Users, and Modern Materials: Solid-State Materials Synthesis and Crystal Growth Methods)
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