In previous work, perturbed angular correlation spectroscopy (PAC) was used to determine jump rates of 111Cd, the daughter of the 111In radiotracer, in the series of phases RIn3 (R = rare-earth element) through nuclear quadrupole relaxation. Greater relaxation, indicating faster Cd jump rates, was observed in heavy rare-earths for compositions more deficient in indium, as would be expected for diffusion mediated by vacancies on the In sublattice. On the other hand, greater relaxation was observed for light rare-earths (R = La, Ce, and Pr) for compositions with excess indium, suggesting Cd diffusion is mediated there by a different mechanism. In this work, computer simulations were carried out to better understand the nature of the relaxation observed for the light rare-earths and the origin of the change in behavior across the rare-earth series. As a first step, formation enthalpies of intrinsic defects were calculated using density functional theory (DFT) for series end-members LaIn3 and LuIn3. Both compounds were found to exhibit Schottky thermal disorder. Additional DFT simulations show that the binding enthalpy between In- and R-vacancies is larger in LaIn3 than in LuIn3, suggesting that diffusion in LaIn3 might be mediated by divacancies. Site enthalpies of Cd also were calculated, and it was found more favorable energetically for Cd to occupy the In sublattice than the R sublattice in both end-member phases.
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Diffusional Relaxation of Quadrupole Interactions of 111In/ Cd Probes in IrIn3 and Related Phases Having FeGa3 Structure
Nuclear relaxation caused by diffusion of 111 In/Cd probe atoms was measured in four phases having the tetragonal FeGa 3 structure (tP16) using perturbed angular correlation spectroscopy (PAC) and used to gain insight into diffusion processes in phases having more than one diffusion sublattice. The three indide phases studied in this work have two inequivalent and interpenetrating In-sublattices, labeled In1 and In2, and nuclear quadrupole interactions were resolved for probes on each sublattice. The phases are line-compounds with narrow field-widths. Diffusional relaxations, fitted using an exponential damping ansatz , were measured at the two opposing boundary compositions as a function of temperature. “High” and “low” relaxation regimes were observed that are attributed to In-poorer and In-richer compositions, under the reasonable assumption that the atomic motion occurs via an indium-vacancy diffusion mechanism. Relaxation was observed to be greater for tracer atoms starting on In2 sites in the indides immediately following decay of 111 In into 111 Cd, which is attributed to a preference of daughter Cd-tracer atoms and/or indium vacancies to occupy In1 sites. Activation enthalpies for relaxation are compared with enthalpies for self-diffusion in indium metal.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1809531
- PAR ID:
- 10420857
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Defect and Diffusion Forum
- Volume:
- 420
- ISSN:
- 1662-9507
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 73 to 90
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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