ChemInform Abstract: Structural Phase Transitions in EuNbO3Perovskite

The crystal structures of europium niobate, EuNbO3, have been examined over a wide temperature range between 20 and 500 K using synchrotron X-ray diffraction. We have observed two successive structural phase transitions at 360 and 460 K. Below 350 K, EuNbO3 adopts an orthorhombic perovskite structure (space group Imma), which is characterized by NbO6 octahedral tilting about the pseudocubic two-fold axis. The result differs from previous reports in which EuNbO3 was assigned to a cubic aristotype (space group Pm 3 ¯ m) of perovskite at room temperature. At around 360 K, EuNbO3 undergoes a first-order phase transition to a tetragonal symmetry (space group I4/mcm) with the NbO6 octahedral tilting about the pseudocubic four-fold axis. As the temperature is further increased, the I4/mcm tetragonal phase changes into the Pm 3 ¯ m cubic aristotype at 460 K. The tetragonal-to-cubic transformation is characterized as a continuous phase transition.