Related papers: Local Structure and Macroscopic Properties in PMN-…
Environmentally benign (1-x)Ba(Ti$_{0.8}$Zr$_{0.2}$)O$_3$-x(Ba$_{0.7}$Ca$_{0.3}$)TiO$_3$ (BZT-BCT) ceramics are promising materials due to their remarkable high piezoresponse [Liu and Ren, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{103}, 257602 (2009)]. In…
The local atomic structure of SnSe was characterized across its orthorhmbic-to-orthorhombic structural phase transition using x-ray pair distribution function analysis. Substantial Sn off-centering distortions persist in the high symmetry…
We performed x-ray diffraction studies on a series of (1-$x$)Pb(Zn$_{1/3}$Nb$_{2/3}$)O$_3$-$x$PbTiO$_3$ (PZN-$x$PT) single crystals with different incident photon energies, and therefore different penetration depths. Our results show that…
Neutron elastic diffuse scattering experiments performed on Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 (PZN) and on its solid solution with PbTiO3(PT), known as PZN-xPT, with x=4.5% and 9% around many reflections show that diffuse scattering is observed around…
The influence of zinc ions on the thermochromic properties of polycrystalline Cu$_{1-x}$Zn$_x$MoO$_4$ ($x$=0.10, 0.50, 0.90) solid solutions was studied by X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Cu, Zn and Mo K-edges. Detailed structural…
The antipolar $Pbcn$ phase of HfO$_2$ has been suggested to play an important role in the phase transition and polarization switching mechanisms in ferroelectric hafnia. In this study, we perform a comprehensive benchmark of density…
Lead zirconate titanate (PbZr1-xTixO3, PZT) exhibits excellent piezoelectric properties in the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) region of its temperature-composition phase diagram. However, the microscopic origin of its high piezoelectric…
Relaxor ferroelectrics have been a focus of intense attention due to their anomalous dielectric characteristics, diffuse phase transitions, and strong piezoelectricity. Understanding the structure and dynamics of relaxors has been one of…
Electroluminescence properties of epitaxially grown n-ZnO/p-GaN pn-heterojunctions are investigated as functions of applied bias and temperature. The study reveals the existence of indirect interfacial excitons at sufficiently low…
The structural stability of thermoelectric materials is a subject of growing importance for their energy harvesting applications. Here, we study the microscopic mechanisms governing the structural stability change of zinc antimony at its…
Dislocations in crystalline materials are widely exploited to tailor the thermal conductivity of semiconductors and thermoelectrics, yet a critical gap persists: direct measurement of local thermal resistance at individual buried…
Pd-Zn intermetallic catalysts show encouraging combinations of activity and selectivity on well-defined active site ensembles. Thermodynamic description of the Pd-Zn system, delineating phase boundaries, and enumerating site occupancies…
There is a general perception that large piezoelectric response in ferroelectric alloys requires tuning the system towards a morphotropic phase boundary (MPB), i.e., a composition driven inter-ferroelectric instability. Here we show that…
Ceramic solid solutions of PbZr(1-x)TixO3 (PZT) with compositions of about x= 0.50 are well-known for their extraordinarily large piezoelectric responses. The latter are highly anisotropic, and it was recently shown that, for the…
In the present paper, the dielectric behaviour of the PbLixNb3xZr0.51Ti0.49-4xO3 ( PLNZT) system is analyzed. It is shown that the decrease in the dielectric constant with respect to an increase of the impurity content may be due to an…
The local atomic disorder and the electronic structure in the environment of manganese atoms in LaMnO_3 has been studied by x-ray absorption spectroscopy, over a temperature range (300K to 870K) covering the orbital ordering transition…
The temperature dependence of the local structure of PbSe has been investigated using pair distribution function (PDF) analysis of x-ray and neutron powder diffraction data and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Observation of…
Ternary transition metal nitrides (TMNs) promise to significantly expand the material design space by opening new functionality and enhancing existing properties. However, most systems have only been investigated computationally and limited…
Y-doped BaZrO$_3$ is a promising proton conductor for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells. In this work, a combination of static DFT calculations and DFT based molecular dynamics (DFT-MD) was used to study proton conduction in…
Pb(Zn$_{1/3}$Nb$_{2/3}$)O$_{3}$ is one of the simplest representatives of the lead ferroelectric relaxors. Its solid solution with PbTiO$_{3}$, at concentrations near the morphotropic phase boundary, is especially important. In this paper,…