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The effect of redox-active Cr substitution on the electrochemistry and voltage fade of a lithium-rich “layered–layered” composite cathode material has been investigated. A series of Cr-substituted 0.5Li2MnO3·0.5LiNi1/2Mn1/2O2 powder samples (i.e., Li1.2Ni0.2−2/xMn0.6−2/xCrxO2, where x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2) was synthesized via the sol–gel method. X-ray diffraction data confirmed the incorporation of Cr ions into the lattice structure. While similar initial charge capacities (∼300 mA h g−1) were obtained for all of the cathode samples, the capacity contribution from the Li2MnO3 activation plateau (at 4.5 V vs. Li) decreased with increasing Cr content. This finding suggests suppressed oxygen loss that triggers cation migration and voltage fade in subsequent cycles. Continued investigation revealed that the Cr substitution mitigates the voltage fade on charge but not discharge. The resulting insignificant effect of Cr substitution on mitigating voltage fade, in spite of decreased Li2MnO3 activation, is attributed to the additional instability caused by Cr6+ migration to a tetrahedral site, as evidenced by ex situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Our results provide the framework for a future redox active cation substitution strategy by highlighting the importance of the structural stability of the substituent itself.

Resonance Raman (RR) spectroscopy has several advantages over the normal Raman spectroscopy (RS) widely used for in situ characterization of solid catalysts and catalytic reactions. Compared with RS, RR can provide much higher sensitivity and selectivity in detecting catalytically-significant surface metal oxides. RR can potentially give useful information on the nature of excited states relevant to photocatalysis and on the anharmonic potential of the ground state. In this critical review a detailed discussion is presented on several types of RR experimental systems, three distinct sources of so-called Raman (fluorescence) background, detection limits for RR compared to other techniques (EXAFS, PM-IRAS, SFG), and three well-known methods to assign UV-vis absorption bands and a band-specific unified method that is derived mainly from RR results. In addition, the virtues and challenges of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) are discussed for detecting molecular adsorbates at catalytically relevant interfaces. Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS), which is a combination of SERS and near-field scanning probe microscopy and has the capability of probing molecular adsorbates at specific catalytic sites with an enormous surface sensitivity and nanometre spatial resolution, is also reviewed (300 references).