Disclosed is a sulfide solid electrolyte of high robustness in its production step and of high lithium ion conductivity, the sulfide solid electrolyte including Li, P, S, Br, I, and N as its constituent elements.

A device formation method may include printing a chalcogenide glass ink onto a surface to form a chalcogenide glass layer, where the chalcogenide glass ink comprises chalcogenide glass and a fluid medium. The method may further include sintering the chalcogenide glass layer at a first temperature for a first duration. The method may also include annealing the chalcogenide glass layer at a second temperature for a second duration. A device may include a substrate and a printed chalcogenide glass layer on the substrate, where the printed chalcogenide glass layer includes annealed chalcogenide glass, and where the printed chalcogenide glass layer is free from cracks.

A method for producing a sulfide solid electrolyte material, which is configured to allow the crystallization of a sulfide glass at low temperature. Provided is a method for producing a sulfide solid electrolyte material, the method comprising: amorphizing a raw material composition containing Li.sub.2S, P.sub.2S.sub.5, LiI, LiBr, a potassium-containing compound and Li.sub.3N to obtain a sulfide glass, and crystallizing the sulfide glass by hot-pressing the sulfide glass, wherein, when a first crystallization temperature of the sulfide glass is determined as X, and a second crystallization temperature of the sulfide glass is determined as Y, the first crystallization temperature X of the sulfide glass is 171 C. or less, and a temperature difference (YX) between the second crystallization temperature Y and the first crystallization temperature X is 75 C. or more.

The present invention provides for synthesizing high optical quality multicomponent chalcogenide glasses without refractive index perturbations due to striae, phase separation or crystal formation using a two-zone furnace and multiple fining steps. The top and bottom zones are initially heated to the same temperature, and then a temperature gradient is created between the top zone and the bottom zone. The fining and cooling phase is divided into multiple steps with multiple temperature holds.

A method for preparing a sulfide solid electrolyte material exhibiting Li ion conductivity. The sulfide solid electrolyte material contains an organic compound having a molecular weight within a range of 30 to 300, and the organic compound is present in an amount of 0.8 wt % or less. The method includes: (i) performing mechanical milling to a mixture of a raw material composition and the organic compound to convert the raw material composition to an amorphous state, thereby synthesizing a sulfide glass; and (ii) drying the sulfide glass such that at least some of the organic compound remains in the sulfide solid electrolyte material.

A class of improved solid-state electrolytes and methods for forming such electrolytes are discussed herein. The improved electrolytes may be a sodium oxy-sulfide, such as with a nominal composition of Na.sub.3PS.sub.4 _xOx (0<x2). The electrolytes can be synthesized from using a simple one-step ball-milling method. The ball-milling may be performed at high rotation speeds. The resulting ball-milled materials may further be optionally pressed. The pressing may be performed at low or room temperatures and/or relatively low pressure, and the resulting electrolytes achieve high relative densities. The solid-state electrolyte forms a highly dense layer that approaches a continuous glass that is nearly flawless, is mainly amorphous, and/or maintains a stable low-resistance interface with Na metal and Na-alloy electrodes.

A single-band upconversion luminescent material includes an amorphous ceramic host; and lanthanide ions doped into the ceramic host.

An optical nanocomposite containing optically active crystals and suitable to be drawn into fiber form, dissolved into solution and subsequently deposited as a thin film, or used as a bulk optical component. This invention integrates compositional tailoring to enable matching of optical properties (index, dispersion, do/dT), specialized dispersion methods to ensure homogeneous physical dispersion of NCs within the glass matrix during preparation, while minimizing agglomeration and mismatch of coefficient of thermal expansion. By tailoring the base glass composition's viscosity versus temperature profile, the resulting bulk nanocomposite can be further formed to create an optical fiber, while maintaining physical dispersion of NCs, avoiding segregation of the NCs.

Disclosed is a sulfide solid electrolyte of high robustness in its production step and of high lithium ion conductivity, the sulfide solid electrolyte including Li, P, S, Br, I, and N as its constituent elements.

Provided is a glass having excellent infrared transmittance and being suitable for use in infrared sensors. A chalcogenide glass material has an oxygen content of 100 ppm or less.