1. Anion order in perovskite oxynitrides.
- Author
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Yang, Minghui, Oró-Solé, Judith, Rodgers, Jennifer A., Jorge, Ana Belén, Fuertes, Amparo, and Attfield, J. Paul
- Subjects
ANIONS ,PEROVSKITE ,TRANSITION metals ,NEUTRONS ,ELECTRONS ,NITRIDES - Abstract
Transition-metal oxynitrides with perovskite-type structures are an emerging class of materials with optical, photocatalytic, dielectric and magnetoresistive properties that may be sensitive to oxide-nitride order, but the anion-ordering principles were unclear. Here we report an investigation of the representative compounds SrMO
2 N (M = Nb, Ta) using neutron and electron diffraction. This revealed a robust 1O/2(O0.5 N0.5 ) partial anion order (up to at least 750 °C in the apparently cubic high-temperature phases) that directs the rotations of MO4 N2 octahedra in the room-temperature superstructure. The anion distribution is consistent with local cis-ordering of the two nitrides in each octahedron driven by covalency, which results in disordered zigzag M-N chains in planes within the perovskite lattice. Local structures for the full range of oxynitride perovskites are predicted and a future challenge is to tune properties by controlling the order and dimensionality of the anion chains and networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2011
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