Polyacrylonitrile/graphene (PAN/GNS) composites have been synthesized via an in situ polymerization method for the first time, which serve as a precursor to prepare a cathode material for high-rate rechargeable Li-S batteries. It is observed from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) that the PAN nanoparticles, less than 100 nm in size, are anchored on the surface of the GNS and this unique structure is maintained in the sulfur composite cathode material. The electrochemical properties of the pyrolyzed PAN-S/GNS (pPAN-S/GNS) composite cathode have been evaluated by cyclic voltammograms, galvanostatic discharge-charge cycling and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results show that the pPAN-S/GNS nanocomposite, with a GNS content of ca. 4 wt.%, exhibits a reversible capacity of ca. 1500 mA hg À1 sulfur or 700 mA hg À1 composite in the first cycle, corresponding to a sulfur utilization of ca. 90%. The capacity retention is relatively stable at 0.1 C. Even up to 6 C, a competitive capacity of ca. 800 mA hg À1 sulfur is obtained. The superior performance of pPAN-S/GNS is attributed to the introduction of the GNS and the even composite structure. The GNS in the composite materials works as a three-dimensional (3-D) nano current collector, which could act not only as an electronically conductive matrix, but also as a framework to improve the electrochemical performance.

The low-temperature states of bosonic fluids exhibit fundamental quantum effects at the macroscopic scale: the best-known examples are Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) and superfluidity, which have been tested experimentally in a variety of different systems. When bosons are interacting, disorder can destroy condensation leading to a so-called Bose glass. This phase has been very elusive to experiments due to the absence of any broken symmetry and of a finite energy gap in the spectrum.Here we report the observation of a Bose glass of field-induced magnetic quasiparticles in a doped quantum magnet (Br-doped dichloro-tetrakis-thiourea-Nickel, DTN).The physics of DTN in a magnetic field is equivalent to that of a lattice gas of bosons in the grand-canonical ensemble; Br-doping introduces disorder in the hoppings and interaction strengths, leading to localization of the bosons into a Bose glass down to zero field, where it acquires the nature of an incompressible Mott glass. The transition from the Bose glass (corresponding to a gapless spin liquid) to the BEC (corresponding to a magnetically ordered phase) is marked by a novel, universal exponent governing the scaling on the critical temperature with the applied field, in excellent agreement arXiv:1109.4403v2 [cond-mat.str-el] 21 Sep 2011 2 with theoretical predictions. Our study represents the first, quantitative account of the universal features of disordered bosons in the grand-canonical ensemble.PACS numbers: 03.75. Lm, 71.23.Ft, 68.65.Cd, 72.15.Rn Introduction. Disorder can have a very strong impact on quantum fluids. Due to their wave-like nature, quantum particles are subject to destructive interference when scattering against disordered potentials. This leads to their quantum localization (or Anderson localization), which prevents e.g.electrons from conducting electrical currents in strongly disordered metals [1], and non-interacting bosons from condensing into a zero-momentum state [2]. Yet interacting bosons represent a matter wave with arbitrarily strong non-linearity, whose localization properties in a random environment cannot be deduced from the standard theory of Anderson localization. For strongly interacting bosons it is known that Anderson localization manifests itself in the Bose glass: in this phase the collective modes of the system -and not the individual particles -are Anderson-localized over arbitrarily large regions, leading to a gapless energy spectrum, and a finite compressibility of the fluid [3, 4]. Moreover nonlinear bosonic matter waves can undergo a localization-delocalization quantum phase transition in any spatial dimension when the interaction strength is varied [3, 4]; the transition brings the system from a non-interacting Anderson insulator to an interacting superfluid condensate, or from a superfluid to a Bose glass. Such a transition is relevant for a large variety of physical systems, including superfluid helium in porous media [6], Cooper pairs in disordered superconductors [7], and cold atoms in random optical potenti...

Precision photoionization cross sections for He have been measured from threshold to 120 eV with an accuracy ranging from 1 to 2%. In addition, a critical review of the published data has been made and recommended photoionization cross sections from the ionization threshold to 8 keV are presented with an estimated uncertainty of +or-10% above 500 eV. The effect of coherent (Rayleigh) and incoherent (Compton) scattering is discussed.

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approach to realize new functionalities through facile van der Waals coupled 2D layers. [6] Owing to the large dielectric mismatch between the inorganic and organic layers, the quasi-2D RPPs naturally form quantum well structures, in which, the inorganic and organic layers serve as potential wells and barriers, respectively. [7] Moreover, these quantum confined structures impart the appealing characteristics of improved environmental stability and enhanced exciton confinement. [2] These make the quasi-2D RPPs promising for solar cell and light-emitting diode (LED) applications. [5,[8][9][10] Recently, the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and lasing behaviors of 2D RPPs have been demonstrated. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] However, the lasing is mostly obtained from solution-processed spin-coated thin films, in which multiple RPP components inevitably form with different bandgaps that drive cascade carrier transfer and may reshape the build-up of population inversion. [11,14,15,18] Also, the development of continuous-wave or electrically driven RPP lasers central for practical applications is still challenging. The exploitation of homologous RPP lasers is of great importance to gain further insights into the intrinsic lasing mechanisms of these quantum well-like structures as well as the design of low-threshold 2D 2D Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites (RPPs) have aroused growing attention in light harvesting and emission applications owing to their high environmental stability. Recently, coherent light emission of RPPs was reported, however mostly from inhomologous thin films that involve cascade intercompositional energy transfer. Lasing and fundamental understanding of intrinsic laser dynamics in homologous RPPs free from intercompositional energy transfer is still inadequate. Herein, the lasing and loss mechanisms of homologous 2D (BA) 2 (MA) n −1 Pb n I 3n+1 RPP thin flakes mechanically exfoliated from the bulk crystal are reported. Multicolor lasing is achieved from the large-n RPPs (n ≥ 3) in the spectral range of 620-680 nm but not from small-n RPPs (n ≤ 2) even down to 78 K. With decreasing n, the lasing threshold increases significantly and the characteristic temperature decreases as 49, 25, and 20 K for n = 5, 4, and 3, respectively. The n-engineered lasing behaviors are attributed to the stronger Auger recombination and exciton-phonon interaction as a result of the enhanced quantum confinement in the smaller-n perovskites. These results not only advance the fundamental understanding of loss mechanisms in both inhomologous and homologous RPP lasers but also provide insights into developing low-threshold, substrate-free, and multicolor 2D semiconductor microlasers.2D Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites (RPPs), with the general chemical formula of L 2 (MA) n−1 M n X 3n+1 , are composed of welldefined inorganic layers with corner connected [MX 6 ] 4− octahedra and long organic chains (L + ) intercalated between these inorganic fragments. [1][2][3][4][5] This structure promises a viable

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Calcium-ion batteries (CIBs) are under investigation as next-generation energy storage devices due to their theoretically high operating potentials and lower costs tied to the high natural abundance of calcium. However, the development of CIBs has been limited by the lack of available positive electrode materials. Here, for the first time, we report two functional polyanionic phosphate materials as high-voltage cathodes for CIBs at room temperature. NaV2(PO4)3 electrodes were found to reversibly intercalate 0.6 mol of Ca2+ (81 mA h g–1) near 3.2 V (vs Ca2+/Ca) with stable cycling performance at a current density of 3.5 mA g–1. The olivine framework material FePO4 reversibly intercalates 0.2 mol of Ca2+ (72 mA h g–1) near 2.9 V (vs Ca2+/Ca) at a current density of 7.5 mA g–1 in the first cycle. Structural, electronic, and compositional changes are consistent with reversible Ca2+ intercalation into these two materials.