Dalton Transactions Blog

Radostina Stoyanova and co-workers have carried out detailed analysis of the zero-field splitting parameters (ZFS) of Mn⁴⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions in LiAlO₂ with a layered structure are analyzed both experimentally and theoretically by using high-frequency electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, Neuman superposition model (NSM), DFT and multiconfigurational calculations and reported their work in the recent Dalton Transactions Hot Article.

But why are they doing this analysis you might ask? Well, oxide-based materials, like doped layered LiAlO₂, are important components of lithium ion batteries. In order to optimise materials like this for energy storage applications it is necssary to look at their atomic arrangement on a very small scale as Stoyanova and colleagues successfully carry out and report in this paper, which you can read for free until the 5th September.

Local structure of Mn⁴⁺ and Fe³⁺ spin probes in layered LiAlO₂ oxide by modelling of zero-field splitting parameters
Radostina Stoyanova, Anne-Laure Barra, Meglena Yoncheva, Elitza Kuzmanova and Ekaterina Zhecheva
Dalton Trans., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1DT10929D