Fast-charge high-voltage layered cathodes for sodium-ion batteries

Sodium-ion batteries have not only garnered substantial attention for grid-scale energy storage owing to the higher abundance of sodium compared with lithium, but also present the possibility of fast charging because of the inherently higher sodium-ion mobility. However, it remains a phenomenal challenge to achieve a combination of these...

Revealing High Na-Content P2-Type Layered Oxides as Advanced Sodium-Ion Cathodes

Layered Na-based oxides with the general composition of NaxTMO2 (TM: transition metal) have attracted significant attention for their high compositional diversity that provides tunable electrochemical performance for electrodes in sodium-ion batteries. The various compositions bring forward complex structural chemistry that is decisive for...

A low-autogenous-shrinkage alkali-activated slag and fly ash concrete

Alkali-activated slag and fly ash (AASF) materials are emerging as promising alternatives to conventional Portland cement. Despite the superior mechanical properties of AASF materials, they are known to show large autogenous shrinkage, which hinders the wide application of these eco-friendly materials in infrastructure. To mitigate the...

Rational design of layered oxide materials for sodium-ion batteries

Sodium-ion batteries have captured widespread attention for grid-scale energy storage owing to the natural abundance of sodium. The performance of such batteries is limited by available electrode materials, especially for sodium-ion layered oxides, motivating the exploration of high compositional diversity. How the composition determines the...

Coherent control of magnon radiative damping with local photon states

A magnon, the collective excitation of ordered spins, can spontaneously radiate a travelling photon to an open system when decaying to the ground state. However, in contrast to electric dipoles, magnetic dipoles by magnons are more isolated from the environment, limiting their radiation and coherent communication with photons. The recent...

The microscopic origin of magnon-photon level attraction by traveling waves: Theory and experiment

The dissipative light-matter coupling can cause the attraction of two energy levels, i.e., level attraction, when competing with the coherent coupling that induces usual Rabi-level splitting. The level attraction shows attractive potential for topological information processing. However, the underlying microscopic quantum mechanism of...