Low dimensional nanostructures of fast ion conducting lithium nitride

Tapia-Ruiz, Nuria; Gordon, Alexandra G.; Jewell, Catherine M.; Edwards, Hannah K.; Dunnill, Charles W.; Blackman, James M.; Snape, Colin P.; Brown, Paul D.; MacLaren, Ian; Baldoni, Matteo; Besley, Elena; Titman, Jeremy J.; Gregory, Duncan H.

Abstract

© 2020, The Author(s). As the only stable binary compound formed between an alkali metal and nitrogen, lithium nitride possesses remarkable properties and is a model material for energy applications involving the transport of lithium ions. Following a materials design principle drawn from broad structural analogies to hexagonal graphene and boron nitride, we demonstrate that such low dimensional structures can also be formed from an s-block element and nitrogen. Both one- and two-dimensional nanostructures of lithium nitride, Li3N, can be grown despite the absence of an equivalent van der Waals gap. Lithium-ion diffusion is enhanced compared to the bulk compound, yielding materials with exceptional ionic mobility. Li3N demonstrates the conceptual assembly of ionic inorganic nanostructures from monolayers without the requirement of a van der Waals gap. Computational studies reveal an electronic structure mediated by the number of Li-N layers, with a transition from a bulk narrow-bandgap semiconductor to a metal at the nanoscale.

Citation

Tapia-Ruiz, N., Gordon, A. G., Jewell, C. M., Edwards, H. K., Dunnill, C. W., Blackman, J. M., Snape, C. P., Brown, P. D., MacLaren, I., Baldoni, M., Besley, E., Titman, J. J., & Gregory, D. H. (2020). Low dimensional nanostructures of fast ion conducting lithium nitride. Nature Communications, 11(1), Article 4492. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17951-6

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 28, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Sep 8, 2020
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Sep 15, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 15, 2020
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-1723
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 4492
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17951-6
• Keywords: General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; General Physics and Astronomy; General Chemistry
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4901394
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17951-6