Separation-Controlled Redox Reactions

A focus on penetration index - a new descriptor of chemical bonding

Electron clouds surrounding atoms interpenetrate in a molecule, due to weak van der Waals interactions or formation of a genuine chemical bond. Now, Alvarez and Echeverría (S. Alvarez, J. Echeverría, Chem. Sci., 2023, https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SC02238B) suggest a simple descriptor of how deep this interpenetration is, calling it a penetration index, i [Å]. This property may easily be related to a combined thickness of the van der Waals regions of two bond-forming atoms, thus giving rise to a dimensionless penetration index, pAB [%]. How far this new index may take us will be discussed in this article.

Unexpected Coexisting Solid Solutions in the Quasi-Binary Ag(II) F2 /Cu(II) F2 Phase Diagram

High-temperature solid-state reaction between orthorhombic AgF2 and monoclinic CuF2 (y=0.15, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5) in a fluorine atmosphere resulted in coexisting solid solutions of Cu-poor orthorhombic and Cu-rich monoclinic phases with stoichiometry Ag1-x Cux F2 . Based on X-ray powder diffraction analyses, the mutual solubility in the orthorhombic phase (AgF2  : Cu) appears to be at an upper limit of Cu concentration of 30 mol % (Ag0.7 Cu0.3 F2 ), while the monoclinic phase (CuF2  : Ag) can form a nearly stoichiometric Cu : Ag=1 : 1 solid solution (Cu0.56 Ag0.44 F2 ), preserving the CuF2 crystal structure. Experimental data and DFT calculations showed that AgF2  : Cu and CuF2  : Ag solid solutions deviate from the classical Vegard's law. Magnetic measurements of Ag1-x Cux F2 showed that the Néel temperature (TN ) decreases with increasing Cu content in both phases. Likewise, theoretical DFT+U calculations for Ag1-x Cux F2 showed that the progressive substitution of Ag by Cu decreases the magnetic interaction strength |J2D | in both structures. Electrical conductivity measurements of Ag0.85 Cu0.15 F2 showed a modest increase in specific ionic conductivity (3.71 ⋅ 10-13 ±2.6 ⋅ 10-15  S/cm) as compared to pure AgF2 (1.85 ⋅ 10-13± 1.2 ⋅ 10-15  S/cm), indicating the formation of a vacancy- or F adatom-free metal difluoride sample.

Charge doping to flat AgF2 monolayers in a chemical capacitor setup

Flat monolayers of silver(II) fluoride, which could be obtained by epitaxial deposition on an appropriate substrate, have been recently predicted to exhibit very strong antiferro-magnetic superexchange and to have large potential for ambient pressure superconductivity if doped to an optimal level. It was shown that AgF₂ could become a magnetic glue-based superconductor with a critical superconducting temperature approaching 200 K at optimum doping. In the current work we calculate the optimum doping to correspond to 14% of holes per formula unit, i.e. quite similar to that for oxocuprates(II). Furthermore, using DFT calculations we show that flat [AgF₂] single layers can indeed be doped to a controlled extent using a recently proposed "chemical capacitor" setup. Hole doping associated with the formation of Ag(III) proves to be difficult to achieve in the setup explored in this work as it falls at the verge of charge stability of fluoride anions and does not affect the d(x² - y²) manifold. However, in the case of electron doping, manipulation of different factors - such as the number of dopant layers and the thickness of the separator - permits fine tuning of the doping level (and concomitantly T_C) all the way from the underdoped to overdoped regime (in a similar manner to chemical doping for the Nd₂CuO₄ analogue).