ELIOT

Electronic and Ionic Transport in Functional Oxides

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Two of the main drivers of worldwide economic growth and scientific development are the semiconductor/IC industry and the need for new energy resources. The need for alternate renewable sources of energy such as sunlight and wind power which are inherently discontinuous, poses new challenges for energy transport and storage. Although many of the materials used in the IC industry and in energy storage are similar, the research in their properties has been separated in two fields with very little interdisciplinary interaction. This proposal aims to cross this barrier and evaluate physical and electrical properties of transition metal oxides in their nanostructured form for non-volatile memory and energy storage applications. For this we will investigate how material production and physical properties influence electronic and ionic transport properties in these oxides. We propose to evaluate transition metal oxides, starting with simple binary oxides such as vanadium oxides and assess how material production and physical properties influence electrical and/or ionic transport properties. A first objective is to identify materials where resistive switching can be ascribed to correlated electron effects rather than oxygen or oxygen vacancy rearrangement. It is interesting to determine how these effects are influenced by size and confinement. This is done keeping in mind possible applications as switch/ memory elements. Some oxides are expected to show relatively high ionic mobility making them good candidates for alternate battery materials. For this, screening of ionic mobility of the intrinsic oxide and of Li in the oxide is to be investigated. Correlating oxygen mobility in the lattice with Li mobility can help better engineer materials for highly performing batteries.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Two main drivers of global innovation and economic growth are the semiconductor/integrated chip (IC) market and renewable energy. Deeper understanding of the mechanisms of charge transport in advanced materials could advance both fields substantially.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Many of the functional oxide materials important to the IC industry are also critical for the energy storage systems necessary if intermittent sources such as wind and the Sun are to be effective. Despite this overlap, research on materials' properties related to the two fields has generally been separated.

The EU-funded project ELIOT (Electronic and ionic transport in functional oxides) formed a bridge, investigating how material production and physical properties affect charge transport in these oxides.

Scientists chose to study transition metal oxides, their electrochemical and physicochemical properties, and the effects of materials deposition techniques and conditions on charge transport. They targeted applications in non-volatile memory and energy storage with a focus on electronic and ionic mobility, respectively. Establishing mechanisms could lead to the engineering of better materials for both fields.

One promising alternative to flash memory devices to overcome imminent barriers in capacity and speed exploits metal oxides that exhibit resistive switching. The first objective of the project was to identify materials for which the large scalable change in resistance to applied pulsed voltages is due to correlated electron effects.

Transition metal oxides with high ionic mobility but low electrical conductivity are interesting as solid electrolytes for fuel cell applications. Materials with high lithium storage capacity (low mobility) and good electrical conductivity are potential candidates for electrode applications.

Studies covered simple binary oxides such as vanadium or titanium dioxide (VO2 and TiO2, respectively). They also evaluated more complex oxides such as samarium nickelate (SmNiO3) and lithium manganese oxide (LiMn2O4).

VO2 and SmNiO3 showed a metal to insulator transition, from good charge conductivity to low conductivity, with temperature. TiO2 and LiMn2O4 were identified as promising electrode materials for batteries, while a lithium magnesium oxide showed potential for use as a solid electrolyte.

enhanced knowledge about the factors affecting electronic and ionic mobility of transition metal oxides could lead to important breakthroughs in socioeconomically important areas such as volatile memory and energy storage. ELIOT has pointed the way to rational engineering of advanced materials for these and other applications.