The 'composite' layered materials for lithium-ion batteries have recently attracted great attention owing to their large discharge capacities. Here, the 0.5Li(2)MnO(3)·0.5LiMn(0.42)Ni(0.42)Co(0.16)O(2)'composite' layered manganese-rich material is prepared and characterized by the synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction (SXPD). The relationship between its electrochemical performance and its 'composite' components, the Li(2)MnO(3) phase activation process during cycling and the cycle stability of this material at room temperature are elucidated based on its kinetic controlled electrochemical properties, dQ/dV curves and Raman scattering spectroscopies associated with different initial charge-discharge current densities (5 mA g(-1), 20 mA g(-1) and 50 mA g(-1)), cut-off voltages (4.6 V and 4.8 V) and cycle numbers (50 cycles and 150 cycles). Furthermore, its reaction pathways are tracked via a firstly introduced integrated compositional phase diagram of four components, Li(2)MnO(3), LiMn(0.42)Ni(0.42)Co(0.16)O(2), MO(2) (M = Mn(1-α-β)Ni(α)Co(β); 0 ≤α≤ 5/12, 0 ≤β≤ 1/6) and LiMnO(2), which turns out to be a very important guiding tool for understanding and utilizing this 'composite' material.

The distortions in the square tellurium nets long known to exist in the structures of the charge-density wave materials, RETe3, have been elucidated. The (Te2)1- nets contain polytelluride oligomers which propagate in a fashion incommensurate from the adjacent (RETe)+ sublattice. The new information sets the stage for a much deeper understanding of these systems.

The local structures of the inorganic component of selected organic–inorganic perovskites (OIPs) are studied by analyzing the X-ray pair distribution function. Whereas the long-range structure of each perovskite is the untilted Pm3̅m phase, all the OIPs showed significant internal distortion of the octahedra. Varying the halide has a significant impact on the lattice constant. There is evidence of local lone-pair distortions for certain compositions. The most complex case of disorder appears to be that of CH3NH3SnBr3.

La 2 Mo 2 O 9 (LAMOX) is a fast oxygen ion conductor which shows high oxygen ion conductivities comparable to those of yttria-sabilized zirconia (YSZ) . LAMOX is subject to a structural phase transition from the non-conductive monoclinic form to the highly-conductive cubic form at about 580°C. The origin of the conductivity in cubic LAMOX has been suggested to be due to a "disorder" in the O sub-lattice without any insight into the real distribution of the oxygen ion. In this paper, thanks to the application of the neutron atomic pair distribution function (PDF) analysis, we provided evidences that the local structure of the cubic polymorph of LAMOX is exactly the same of that of the monoclinic phase thus indicating that the structural phase transition is actually a transition from a static to a dynamic distribution of the oxygen defects. This work represent the first application of the atomic-pair distribution function analysis to the study of an oxygen fast-oxide ion conductor and clearly indicates that a more reliable and detailed description of their local structure, particularly in the highly conductive phases, and can lead to a better comprehension of the structure-property correlation, which is the starting point for the design of new and optimized functional materials.