Unit-cell data of the lead niobate, PbNb2O6

Understanding the Role of Entropy in High Entropy Oxides

The field of high entropy oxides (HEOs) flips traditional materials science paradigms on their head by seeking to understand what properties arise in the presence of profound configurational disorder. This disorder, which originates from multiple elements sharing a single lattice site, can take on a kaleidoscopic character due to the vast numbers of possible elemental combinations. High configurational disorder appears to imbue some HEOs with functional properties that far surpass their nondisordered analogs. While experimental discoveries abound, efforts to characterize the true magnitude of the configurational entropy and understand its role in stabilizing new phases and generating superior functional properties have lagged behind. Understanding the role of configurational disorder in existing HEOs is the crucial link to unlocking the rational design of new HEOs with targeted properties. In this Perspective, we attempt to establish a framework for articulating and beginning to address these questions in pursuit of a deeper understanding of the true role of entropy in HEOs.

Oil saturation effects in lead metaniobate porous piezoceramic: transient material characteristics

Lead metaniobate PbNb2O6 (PN) has a unique combination of high piezoelectric anisotropy; relatively low dielectric permittivity and high Curie temperature; and a low Q-factor, near 20. The very low Q-factor is the most intriguing PN property among the piezoelectric materials, and as shown in this research, this internal high dissipation and damping effect is directly related to the presence of silicon oil in the porous PN structure; consequently, it is dependent on the oil properties. To the contrary, the quality factor of PN not saturated with oil was found to be as high as nearly 400. Full sets of PN electro-mechanical constants, transient resonance and dissipation characteristics, and their temperature dependencies were determined under both conditions: PN conventionally saturated with oil and PN not saturated with oil. As was experimentally shown, at higher temperatures particularly after a 260°C soak for several days, a transition from the "with oil" state to the "no oil" state takes place in the conventional PN properties; this effect is a consequence of the phase transition in the silicon oil from liquid to solid state.

Solid-state (207)Pb NMR studies of lead-group 16 and mixed transition-metal/lead-group 16 element-containing materials

(207)Pb solid-state NMR studies have been conducted on binary lead-group 16 and mixed transition-metal/lead group 16 materials, correlating the NMR chemical shifts of the materials with their structures. The experimental results show that the (207)Pb chemical shifts are strongly influenced by the local electronic structure. Data are reported for lead selenide, lead selenate, calcium plumbate, strontium plumbite, barium plumbite, lead borate, lead zirconate, lead tungstate, lead meta-tantalate, lead niobate, lead molybdate, lead meta-vanadate, lead sulfite, and lead sulfate.