Temperature dependent diffuse reflectance spectroscopy measurements were carried out on polycrystalline samples of BaTiO3 across the tetragonal to cubic structural phase transition temperature (TP). The values of various optical parameters such as band gap (Eg), Urbach energy (Eu), and Urbach focus (E0) were estimated in the temperature range of 300 K to 480 K. It was observed that with increasing temperature, Eg decreases and shows a sharp anomaly at TP. First principle studies were employed in order to understand the observed change in Eg due to the structural phase transition. Near TP, there exist two values of E0, suggesting the presence of electronic heterogeneity. Further, near TP, Eu shows metastability, i.e., the value of Eu at temperature T is not constant but is a function of time (t). Interestingly, it is observed that the ratio of Eu (t=0)/Eu (t = tm), almost remains constant at 300 K (pure tetragonal phase) and at 450 K (pure cubic phase), whereas this ratio decreases close to the transition temperature, which confirms the presence of electronic metastability in the pure BaTiO3. The time dependence of Eu, which also shows an influence of the observed metastability can be fitted with the stretched exponential function, suggesting the presence of a dynamic heterogeneous electronic disorder in the sample across TP. First principle studies suggest that the observed phase coexistence may be due to a very small difference between the total cohesive energy of the tetragonal and the cubic structure of BaTiO3. The present work implies that the optical studies may be a sensitive probe of disorder/heterogeneity in the sample.

The major challenges faced by candidate electrode materials in lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) include their low electronic and ionic conductivities. 2D van der Waals materials with good electronic conductivity and weak interlayer interaction have been intensively studied in the electrochemical processes involving ion migrations. In particular, molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2) has emerged as a new material for energy storage applications. Though 2H‐MoTe2 with hexagonal semiconducting phase is expected to facilitate more efficient ion insertion/deinsertion than the monoclinic semi‐metallic phase, its application as an anode in LIB has been elusive. Here, 2H‐MoTe2, prepared by a solid‐state synthesis route, has been employed as an efficient anode with remarkable Li+ storage capacity. The as‐prepared 2H‐MoTe2 electrodes exhibit an initial specific capacity of 432 mAh g−1 and retain a high reversible specific capacity of 291 mAh g−1 after 260 cycles at 1.0 A g−1. Further, a full‐cell prototype is demonstrated by using 2H‐MoTe2 anode with lithium cobalt oxide cathode, showing a high energy density of 454 Wh kg−1 (based on the MoTe2 mass) and capacity retention of 80% over 100 cycles. Synchrotron‐based in situ X‐ray absorption near‐edge structures have revealed the unique lithium reaction pathway and storage mechanism, which is supported by density functional theory based calculations.

Room temperature optical absorption spectroscopy (OAS) and Raman spectroscopy measurements have been carried out in order to understand the effect of structural disorder on the electronic and phononic states. For this purpose, polycrystalline samples of Cr doped PrFeO3 have been prepared via wet chemical route. OAS analysis suggests the systematic scaling of electronic disorder with Cr doping; whereas, shifting in Raman line shapes and an increase in Raman line width has been observed with Cr doping. X-ray diffraction analysis clearly suggests the increase in structural disorders in the form of crystallographic strain with Cr doping, which is consistent with the broadening in Raman line shapes. The major contribution to Raman line width has been understood in terms of temperature independent terms i.e. structural disorder induced by doping. The generation of a new phonon mode at ~510 cm−1 has been observed and understood as a disorder phonon mode due to strain induced structural disorder. Moreover, a systematic correlation between crystallographic strain, Raman line width, disordered parameter (σ) and Urbach energy has been observed, which implies that structural disorder affects phononic as well as electronic states of the system. Such comparative study allows us to find the correlation between densities of tail states, structural disorders and anharmonic effects probed by Raman spectroscopy.