In situ studies of a platform for metastable inorganic crystal growth and materials discovery.

ABSTRACT: Rapid shifts in the energy, technological, and environmental demands of materials science call for focused and efficient expansion of the library of functional inorganic compounds. To achieve the requisite efficiency, we need a materials discovery and optimization paradigm that can rapidly reveal all possible compounds for a given reaction and composition space. Here we provide such a paradigm via in situ X-ray diffraction measurements spanning solid, liquid flux, and recrystallization processes. We identify four new ternary sulfides from reactive salt fluxes in a matter of hours, simultaneously revealing routes for ex situ synthesis and crystal growth. Changing the flux chemistry, here accomplished by increasing sulfur content, permits comparison of the allowable crystalline building bloc

SUBMITTER: Shoemaker DP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4121826 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature