文章基本信息

标题：Fast ion conductivity in strained defect-fluorite structure created by ion tracks in Gd2Ti2O7
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作者：Dilpuneet S. Aidhy ; Ritesh Sachan ; Eva Zarkadoula 等
期刊名称：Scientific Reports
电子版ISSN：2045-2322
出版年度：2015
卷号：5
期号：1
DOI：10.1038/srep16297
语种：English
出版社：Springer Nature
摘要：The structure and ion-conducting properties of the defect-fluorite ring structure formed around amorphous ion-tracks by swift heavy ion irradiation of Gd₂Ti₂O₇ pyrochlore are investigated. High angle annular dark field imaging complemented with ion-track molecular dynamics simulations show that the atoms in the ring structure are disordered, and have relatively larger cation-cation interspacing than in the bulk pyrochlore, illustrating the presence of tensile strain in the ring region. Density functional theory calculations show that the non-equilibrium defect-fluorite structure can be stabilized by tensile strain. The pyrochlore to defect-fluorite structure transformation in the ring region is predicted to be induced by recrystallization during a melt-quench process and stabilized by tensile strain. Static pair-potential calculations show that planar tensile strain lowers oxygen vacancy migration barriers in pyrochlores, in agreement with recent studies on fluorite and perovskite materials. In view of these results, it is suggested that strain engineering could be simultaneously used to stabilize the defect-fluorite structure and gain control over its high ion-conducting properties.