English

Copper ion dynamics and phase segregation in Cu-rich tetrahedrite: an NMR study

Materials Science 2020-02-03 v2

Abstract

63^{63}Cu NMR measurements are reported for the Cu-rich phase of \ch{Cu_{12+x}Sb4S13} (x2x \lesssim 2) and compared to \ch{Cu12Sb4S13}. We identify the NMR signatures of the phase segregation into Cu-poor (x0x \approx 0) and Cu-rich (x2x \lesssim 2) phases, with the metal-insulator transition observed in \ch{Cu12Sb4S13} suppressed in the Cu-rich phase. Based on NMR T1T_1 and T2T_2 measurements, the results demonstrate Cu-ion hopping below room temperature with an activation energy of \sim150 meV for the Cu-rich phase, consistent with superionic behavior. The NMR results also demonstrate the effects of Cu-ion mobility in the \ch{Cu12Sb4S13} phase, but with a larger activation barrier. We identify a small difference in NMR Knight shift for the metallic phase of \ch{Cu12Sb4S13}, compared to the Cu-rich phase, and when compared to DFT calculations the results indicate a mix of hyperfine contributions to the metallic shift.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1911.06923,
  title  = {Copper ion dynamics and phase segregation in Cu-rich tetrahedrite: an NMR study},
  author = {Nader Ghassemi and Yefan Tian and Xu Lu and Yanci Yan and Xiaoyuan Zhou and Joseph H. Ross},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1911.06923},
  year   = {2020}
}