Ultrafast solid-liquid intercalation enabled by targeted microwave energy delivery

Ming-Jian Zhang; Yandong Duan; Chong Yin; Maofan Li; Hui Zhong; Eric Dooryhee; Kang Xu; Feng Pan; Feng Wang; Jianming Bai

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abd9472

Ultrafast solid-liquid intercalation enabled by targeted microwave energy delivery

Sci Adv. 2020 Dec 16;6(51):eabd9472. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abd9472. Print 2020 Dec.

Authors

Ming-Jian Zhang^{1

2}, Yandong Duan^{1

2

3}, Chong Yin^{2

4}, Maofan Li¹, Hui Zhong⁵, Eric Dooryhee⁶, Kang Xu⁷, Feng Pan⁸, Feng Wang⁹, Jianming Bai¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ School of Advanced Materials, Peking University, Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, People's Republic of China.
² Sustainable Energy Technologies Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA.
³ School of Science, Hebei University of Science and Technology, Shijiazhuang 050018, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, People's Republic of China.
⁵ Joint Photon Sciences Institute, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11790-2100, USA.
⁶ National Synchrotron Light Source II, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA.
⁷ US Army Research Laboratory, Energy Storage Branch, Sensor & Electron Devices Directorate, Adelphi, MD 20783, USA. conrad.k.xu.civ@mail.mil panfeng@pkusz.edu.cn fwang@bnl.gov jmbai@bnl.gov.
⁸ School of Advanced Materials, Peking University, Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, People's Republic of China. conrad.k.xu.civ@mail.mil panfeng@pkusz.edu.cn fwang@bnl.gov jmbai@bnl.gov.
⁹ Sustainable Energy Technologies Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA. conrad.k.xu.civ@mail.mil panfeng@pkusz.edu.cn fwang@bnl.gov jmbai@bnl.gov.
¹⁰ National Synchrotron Light Source II, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA. conrad.k.xu.civ@mail.mil panfeng@pkusz.edu.cn fwang@bnl.gov jmbai@bnl.gov.

Abstract

In chemical reactions, the breaking and formation of chemical bonds usually need external energy to overcome the activation barriers. Conventional energy delivery transfers energy from heating sources via various media, hence losing efficiency and inducing side reactions. In contrast, microwave (MW) heating is known to be highly energy efficient through dipole interaction with polar media, but how exactly it transmits energy to initiate chemical reactions has been unknown. Here, we report a rigorous determination of energy delivery mechanisms underlying MW-enabled rapid hydrothermal synthesis, by monitoring the structure and temperature of all the involved components as solid-liquid intercalation reaction occurs using in situ synchrotron techniques. We reveal a hitherto unknown direct energy transmission between MW irradiation source and the targeted reactants, leading to greatly reduced energy waste, and so the ultrafast kinetics at low temperature. These findings open up new horizons for designing material synthesis reactions of high efficiency and precision.

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