Filling vacancies in a Prussian blue analogue using mechanochemical post-synthetic modification
Professor Mauro Pasta, together with Mr Samuel Wheeler and Mr Kevin Hurlbutt of his research group, and collaborators within the University of Oxford, reducedby approximately one third the hexacyanometallate vacancy fraction in a modified Prussian blue analogue (PBA) by combining inductively-coupled plasma and X-ray powder.
Their paper, published in ChemRxiv sets out how the mechanochemically-driven incorporation of Co(CN)6 ions onto the initially vacant sites, coupled with intercalation of charge-balancing K ions within the PBA cavities. This unlocked a new methodology for the synthesis of low vacancy PBAs, and thereby unlocks novel, high capacity PBA battery materials.
