Crystal chemistry of the orthorhombic Ln2TiO5 compounds with Ln=La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb and Dy.

The crystal structures of seven samples of orthorhombic ( Pnma ) Ln 2 TiO 5 compounds with Ln =La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb and Dy were refined by Rietveld analysis of synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction (S-XRD) data. With increasing size of the lanthanide cation, the lattice parameters increase systematically: c by only ~1.5% whereas both a and b by ~6% from Dy 2 TiO 5 to La 2 TiO 5 . The mean Ti–O bond length only increases by ~1% with increasing radius of the Ln cation from Gd to La, primarily due to expansion of the pair of Ti–O 3 bonds to opposite corners of the Ti–O 5 square based pyramid polyhedra. For Dy 2 TiO 5 and Tb 2 TiO 5 , a significant variation in Ti–O 1 and Ti–O 4 bond lengths results in an increased deformation of the Ti–O 5 base. The particular configuration consists of large rhombic shaped tunnels and smaller triangular tunnels along the b axis, which have implications for defect formation and migration caused by radiation damage or the ionic conductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]