Solid state compounds which exhibit non-centrosymmetric crystal structures are of great interest due to the physical properties they can exhibit. The ‘hybrid improper’ mechanism – in which two non-polar distortion modes couple to, and stabilize, a further polar distortion mode, yielding an acentric crystal structure – offers opportunities to prepare a range of novel non-centrosymmetric solids, but examples of compounds exhibiting acentric crystal structures stabilized by this mechanism are still relatively rare. Here we describe a series of bismuth-containing layered perovskite oxide phases, RbBiNb 2 O 7 , LiBiNb 2 O 7 and NaBiNb 2 O 7 , which have structural frameworks compatible with hybrid-improper ferroelectricity, but also contain Bi 3+ cations which are often observed to stabilize acentric crystal structures due to their 6s 2 electronic configurations. Neutron powder diffraction analysis reveals that RbBiNb 2 O 7 and LiBiNb 2 O 7 adopt polar crystal structures (space groups I 2 cm and B 2 cm respectively), compatible with stabilization by a trilinear coupling of non-polar and polar modes. The Bi 3+ cations present are observed to enhance the magnitude of the polar distortions of these phases, but are not the primary driver for the acentric structure, as evidenced bymore »
Magnetic transitions in exotic perovskites stabilized by chemical and physical pressure
Exotic perovskites significantly enrich materials for multiferroic and magnetoelectric applications. However, their design and synthesis is a challenge due to the mostly required recipe conditions at extremely high pressure. Herein, we presented the Ca 2−x Mn x MnTaO 6 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) solid solutions stabilized by chemical pressure assisted with intermediate physical pressure up to 7 GPa. The incorporation of Mn 2+ into the A-site neither drives any cationic ordering nor modifies the orthorhombic Pbnm structure, namely written as (Ca 1−x/2 Mn x/2 )(Mn 1/2 Ta 1/2 )O 3 with disordered A and B site cationic arrangements. The increment of x is accompanied by a ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition around x = 0.2, which is attributed to the double-exchange interactions between A-site Mn 2+ and B-site Mn 3+ . Partial charge disproportionation of the B-site Mn 3+ into Mn 2+ and Mn 4+ occurs for x above 0.8 samples as manifested by X-ray spectrum and magnetic behaviors. The coexistence of B-site Mn 3+ (Jahn–Teller distortion ion) and B′-site Ta 5+ (second-order Jahn–Teller distortion ion) could be energetically responsible for the absence of A-site columnar ordering as observed in other quadruple perovskites with half of the A-sites occupied by more »
- Award ID(s):
- 1809931
- Publication Date:
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10279616
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Materials Chemistry C
- Volume:
- 8
- Issue:
- 15
- Page Range or eLocation-ID:
- 5082 to 5091
- ISSN:
- 2050-7526
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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