Atomic scale reactivity of superconducting nickelates – ACCURATE

The recent observation of superconductivity in thin films of infinite layer nickelates has finally given a happy outcome to more than twenty years of sustained experimental efforts devoted to mimicking the hallmarks of cuprates superconductivity. This discovery has established the nickelates as the new platform to understand the levers of superconductivity and increase the maximum critical temperature.
However, an obstacle remains for the use of this new study platform since the synthesis of these infinite layer nickelates necessitates a topotactic reduction step which is difficult to master.
The objective of the ACCURATE project is to understand, at the atomic scale, the mechanism of the reduction as it is currently carried out, using hydrides, with the aim to make it more reproducible, as well as to explore an alternative route, based on the application of an electric potential. Reactivity studies will be carried out in situ and operando, using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy assisted with electron energy loss spectroscopy, in two types of environments: a gaseous environment in a gas cell, to study the reduction mechanism by hydrides and an electrically biased environment, on a chip, to study the reducing effect of an electrical potential. This latter option represents an opening to an original reduction solution that could prove more reliable than the pathway currently used.
The project, aiming at completely mastering the synthesis of infinite layer nickelates, will enable them to reach their full potential.