Louisiane Verger, CNRS Research Fellow, Rennes Institute of Chemical Sciences, Glass and Ceramics Team

I have been a CNRS researcher in the Glass and Ceramics team at ISCR in Rennes since November 2019. My research focuses on crystallization in chalcogenide glasses for applications in infrared optics and energy storage. Non-oxide chalcogenide glasses are composed of sulfur, selenium, and/or tellurium. They are mainly studied for their extended transparency in the infrared range. Sulfur-based glasses and glass-ceramics are also studied as solid electrolytes in all-solid-state batteries.

In this context, I synthesize new sodium ion-conducting glasses by mechanochemistry, an alternative to conventional glass synthesis by melt-quenching. Mechanochemistry consists of grinding precursors at a sufficiently high energy to induce a chemical reaction. It allows access to glass compositions that cannot be obtained by melt-quenching. I then examine the impact of crystallization on the structure and conductivity properties of the material.

I use NMR to characterize the local environments of sodium and gallium in glasses obtained by mechanochemistry, and their evolution after crystallization. The experiments carried out on the IMEC - ISB - UCCS platform in Lille have notably confirmed the formation of glassy compounds after mechanochemistry and made it possible to quantify the proportion of glass remaining after crystallization.

Learn more: DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c02708

Platform used: RMN, IMEC - ISB - UCCS, Lille