Reducing the positional modulation of NbO6-octahedra in Sr x Ba1–x Nb2O6 by increasing the barium content: A single crystal neutron diffraction study at ambient temperature for x = 0.61 and x = 0.34

A-Site Cation Disorder in SrxBa1-xNb2O6 (x = 0.25, 0.33, 0.50, 0.61) Studied by High-Resolution Resonant X-ray Powder Diffraction

The dielectric and ferroelectric properties of SrxBa1-xNb2O6 (SBN, 0.2 < x < 0.8) are known to be affected by the Sr fraction and can be further controlled by various quenching schemes. Changes in A-site cation configuration are believed to be linked to these changes in properties. In this work, we study the A-site cation disorder in SBN by the use of high-resolution resonant X-ray powder diffraction. The experimental results show that the larger Ba2+ is found exclusively on the larger A2 site, while Sr2+ is found on both the A1 and A2 sites, with an increasing amount on A2 with an increasing Sr fraction. At elevated temperatures, a small migration of Sr2+ from A1 to A2 is observed for SBN50 and SBN61. Linking this change in occupancies to changes in the average cation size on the A1 and A2 sites allows for rationalization of the property changes observed for quenched samples. Furthermore, SBN25 is shown to deviate from the tetragonal P4bm structure and is found to be orthorhombic with a Cmm2 structure.

Active and passive defects in tetragonal tungsten bronze relaxor ferroelectrics

Tetragonal tungsten bronze (TTB) based oxides constitute a large family of dielectric materials which are known to exhibit complex distortions producing incommensurately modulated superstructures as well as significant local deviations from their average symmetry. The local deviations produce diffuse scattering in diffraction experiments. The structure as well as the charge dynamics of these materials are anticipated to be sensitive to defects, such as cation or oxygen vacancies. In this work, in an effort to understand how the structural and charge dynamical properties respond to these two types of vacancy defects, we have performed measurements of dielectric susceptibilities and single crystal diffraction experiments of two types of TTB materials with both 'filled' (Ba₂NdFeNb₄O₁₅and Ba₂PrFeNb₄O₁₅) and 'unfilled' (Sr_0.5Ba_0.5Nb₂O₆) cation sublattices. We also perform these measurements before and after oxygen annealing, which alters the oxygen vacancy concentrations. Surprisingly, we find that many of the diffuse scattering features that are present in the unfilled structure are also present in the filled structure, suggesting that the random fields and disorder that are characteristic of the unfilled structure are not responsible for many of the local structural features that are reflected in the diffuse scattering. Oxygen annealing clearly affected both color and dielectric properties, consistent with a diminishment of the oxygen vacancy concentration, but had little effect on observed diffuse patterns.

Composition and morphology tuning during hydrothermal synthesis of SrxBa1−xNb2O6 tetragonal tungsten bronzes studied by in situ X-ray diffraction

Advanced in situ techniques provide knowledge about crystal growth mechanisms of Sr_xBa_1−xNb₂O₆ facilitating the design of the microstructure and the determination of stoichiometry.

Structural changes of relaxor ferroelectric Sr0.52Ba0.48Nb2O6 (SBN52) on quenching and reheating

Quenching of Sr_0.52Ba_0.48Nb₂O₆ (SBN52) from temperatures above 700°C causes small modifications in the strontium distribution over the large cation sites (Me1 and Me2), changed off-centre shifts of the Nb atoms and slightly increased modulation amplitudes. The higher disorder of cation incorporation can explain the enhanced ferroelectric properties. The quenched structural disorder can be healed by reheating followed by slow cooling. A change of the modulation dimension on quenching such as for Ca_xBa_1-xNb₂O₆ (CBN) mixed crystals was not observed.

A pseudo-tetragonal tungsten bronze superstructure: a combined solution of the crystal structure of K6.4(Nb,Ta)36.3O94 with advanced transmission electron microscopy and neutron diffraction

K_6.4Nb_28.2Ta_8.1O₉₄ has the same framework as literature's K₂Nb₈O₂₁ but a different distribution of cations over different channels.

Incommensurate modulations of relaxor ferroelectric Ca0.24Ba0.76Nb2O6 (CBN24) and Ca0.31Ba0.69Nb2O6 (CBN31)

CBN crystals show a one- and a two-dimensionally modulated modification. The former is isotypic with orthorhombic Ba4Na2Nb10O30 and the latter with the tetragonal tungsten bronze type of crystal structure. The orthorhombic form irreversibly transforms to the tetragonal polymorph at the ferroelectric phase transition near 603 K. Orthorhombic and tetragonal CBN24 slightly differ in the distribution of the Ba and Ca atoms over the incompletely filled Me1 and Me2 sites. The tetragonal symmetry is further broken in orthorhombic CBN24 by different amplitudes of the positional modulations of O atoms which are symmetrically equivalent in the TTB structure. A similar orthorhombic phase of CBN31 could be obtained by quenching from 1473 K.

Unified approach for determining tetragonal tungsten bronze crystal structures

Tetragonal tungsten bronze (TTB) oxides are one of the most important classes of ferroelectrics. Many of these framework structures undergo ferroelastic transformations related to octahedron tilting deformations. Such tilting deformations are closely related to the rigid unit modes (RUMs). This paper discusses the whole set of RUMs in an ideal TTB lattice and possible crystal structures which can emerge owing to the condensation of some of them. Analysis of available experimental data for the TTB-like niobates lends credence to the obtained theoretical predictions.

SBN60, strontium-barium niobate at 100 K

The title compound, Sr0.6Ba0.4Nb2O6 (strontium barium niobium oxide), belongs to the group of strontium-barium niobates with varying composition of Sr and Ba. Their general formula can be written as Sr x Ba1 - x Nb2O6. Below the Curie temperature, T c , these materials indicate ferroelectric properties. The Curie temperature for SBN60 is equal to 346±0.5 K so the structure is in the ferroelectric phase at the measurement temperature of 100 K. Characteristic for this family of compounds is the packing along the z-axis. The NbO6 corner-sharing octa-hedra surround three types of vacancy tunnels with penta-gonal, square and triangular shapes. The Sr(2+) ions partially occupy two unique sites, the first one located inside the penta-gon and the second one in the square tunnels. Consequently, they are situated on the mirror plane and the inter-section of two glide planes, respectively. The site inside the penta-gonal tunnel is additionally disordered so that the same position is shared by Ba(2+) and Sr(2+) ions whereas another part of the Ba(2+) ion occupies a different position (relative occupancies 0.43:0.41:0.16). One of the Nb(V) atoms and three of the O(2-) ions occupy general positions. The second Nb(V) atom is located on the inter-section of the mirror planes. Two remaining O(2-) ions are located on the same mirror plane. Only the Nb(V) atom and one of the O(2-) ions which is located on the mirror plane are not disordered. Each of the remaining O(2-) ions is split between two sites, with relative occupancies of 0.52:0.48 (O(2-) ions in general positions) and 0.64:0.36 (O(2-) ion on the mirror plane).