Suchergebnisse

The structural state and crystal structure of Lu(1−x)ScxFeO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) compounds prepared by a chemical route based on a modified sol–gel method were investigated using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, as well as scanning electron microscopy. It was observed that chemical doping with Sc ions led to a structural phase transition from the orthorhombic structure to the hexagonal structure via a wide two-phase concentration region of 0.1 < x < 0.45. An increase in scandium content above 80 mole% led to the stabilization of the non-perovskite bixbyite phase specific for the compound ScFeO3 . The concentration stability of the different structural phases, as well as grain morphology, were studied depending on the chemical composition and synthesis conditions. Based on the data obtained for the analyzed samples, a composition-dependent phase diagram was constructed. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. ; Funding: This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 778070—TransFerr— H2020-MSCA-RISE-2017. G.N. gratefully acknowledges the Center of Spectroscopic Characterization of Materials and Electronic/Molecular Processes (SPECTROVERSUM Infrastructure) for use of Raman spectrometer. A.L.Z. and A.P.T. acknowledge BRFFR (project № T21RM-040) and RFBR (project № 20-52-04011) respectively. M.V.S. acknowledges Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation within the framework of state support for the creation and development of World-Class Research Centers "Digital biodesign and personalized healthcare" № 075-15-2020-926. D.A. acknowledges the project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, UIDB/50011/2020 & UIDP/50011/2020, financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC and when appropriate co-financed by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement.

Single phase barium titanate–bismuth ferrite ((1-x)BaTiO3-(x)BiFeO3, BTO-BFO) solid solutions were prepared using citric acid and ethylene glycol assisted sol-gel synthesis method. Depending on the dopant content the samples are characterized by tetragonal, tetragonal-pseudocubic, pseudocubic and rhombohedral structure as confirmed by Raman spectroscopy and XRD measurements. An increase of the BFO content leads to a reduction in the cell parameters accompanied by a decrease in polar distortion of the unit cell wherein an average particle size increases from 60 up to 350 nm. Non zero piezoresponse was observed in the compounds with pseudocubic structure while no polar distortion was detected in their crystal structure using X-ray diffraction method. The origin of the observed non-negligible piezoresponse was discussed assuming a coexistence of nanoscale polar and non-polar phases attributed to the solid solutions with high BFO content. A coexistence of the nanoscale regions having polar and non-polar character is considered as a key factor to increase macroscopic piezoresponse in the related compounds due to increased mobility of the domain walls and phase boundaries. © 2020 Elsevier B.V. ; The work has been done in frame of the project TransFerr. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 778070 . The scanning probe microscopy study was funded by RFBR (grant No. 19-52-04015 ) and BRFFR (grant No. F19RM-008 ). The equipment of the Ural Center for Shared Use "Modern nanotechnology" UrFU was used. Sample structural characterization was funded by RFBR (grant № 18-38-20020 mol_a_ved). M.S. also acknowledges Russian academic excellence project "5–100″ for Sechenov University. This work was developed within the scope of the project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, refs. UIDB/50011/2020 & UIDP/50011/2020, financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC .

The physical nature of the ferroelectric (FE), ferrielectric (FEI) and antiferroelectric (AFE) phases, their coexistence and spatial distributions underpins the functionality of antiferrodistortive (AFD) multiferroics in the vicinity of morphotropic phase transitions. Using Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire (LGD) phenomenology and a semi-microscopic four sublattice model (FSM), we explore the behavior of different AFE, FEI, and FE long-range orderings and their coexistence at the morphotropic phase boundaries in FE-AFE-AFD multiferroics. These theoretical predictions are compared with the experimental observations for dense Bi1-yRyFeO3 ceramics, where R is Sm or La atoms with the fraction 0 ≤ y ≤ 0.25, as confirmed by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (PFM). These complementary measurements were used to study the macroscopic and nanoscopic transformation of the crystal structure with doping. The comparison of the measured and calculated AFE/FE phase fractions demonstrate that the LGD-FSM approach well describes the experimental results obtained by XRD and PFM for Bi1-yRyFeO3. Hence, this combined theoretical and experimental approach provides further insight into the origin of the morphotropic boundaries and coexisting FE and AFE states in model rare-earth doped multiferroics. © 2021 ; Authors acknowledge Dr. Bobby Sumpter (ORNL) and Reviewers for very useful suggestions and ideas. This material is based upon work (S.V.K.) supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, and performed at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, a US Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility. A portion of FEM was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility (CNMS Proposal ID: 257). A.N.M. work is supported by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (the Target Program of Basic Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine "Prospective basic research and innovative development of nanomaterials and nanotechnologies for 2020 - 2024″, Project № 1/20-Н, state registration number: 0120U102306). A.N.M., D.V.K., A.D.Y., O.M.F., T.S., V.V.S. and A.L.K. received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 778070. A.N.M. acknowledges the National Research Foundation of Ukraine. M.V.S. acknowledges financial support from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation within the framework of state support for the creation and development of World-Class Research Centers "Digital biodesign and personalized healthcare" №075–15–2020–926. Part of the work (A.L.K.) was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation in the framework of the Increase Competitiveness Program of NUST «MISiS» (No. K2–2019–015). V.V.S. and A.L.K. were additionally supported by RFBR and BRFBR, project numbers 20–58–0061 and T20R-359, respectively. Part of this work (A.L.K.) was developed within the scope of the project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, refs. UIDB/50011/2020 and UIDP/50011/2020, financed by national funds through the FCT/MCTES.

Samarium substituted bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) ceramics prepared by sol-gel synthesis method were studied using both local scale and microscopic measurement techniques in order to clarify an evolution of the crystal structure of the compounds across the morphotropic phase boundary region. X-ray diffraction analysis, transmission and scanning electron microscopies, XPS, EDS/EDX experiments and piezoresponse force microscopy were used to study the structural transitions from the polar active rhombohedral phase to the anti-polar orthorhombic phase and then to the non-polar orthorhombic phase, observed in the Bi1−xSmxFeO3 compounds within the concentration range of 0.08 ≤ x ≤ 0.2. The results obtained by microscopic techniques testify that the compounds in the range of 0.12 ≤ x ≤ 0.15 are characterized by two phase structural state formed by a coexistence of the rhombohedral and the anti-polar orthorhombic phases; two phase structural state observed in the compounds with 0.15