Michael W. Lufaso

Prediction of the crystal structures of perovskites using the software program SPuDS

The software program SPuDS has been developed to predict the crystal structures of perovskites, including those distorted by tilting of the octahedra. The user inputs the composition and SPuDS calculates the optimal structure in ten different Glazer tilt systems. This is performed by distorting the structure to minimize the global instability index, while maintaining rigid octahedra. The location of the A-site cation is chosen so as to maximize the symmetry of its coordination environment. In its current form SPuDS can handle up to four different A-site cations in the same structure, but only one octahedral ion. Structures predicted by SPuDS are compared with a number of previously determined structures to illustrate the accuracy of this approach. SPuDS is also used to examine the prospects for synthesizing new compounds in tilt systems with multiple A-site coordination geometries (a(+)a(+)a(+), a(0)b(+)b(+), a(0)b(-)c(+)).

Structure Determination of A2M3+TaO6 and A2M3+NbO6 Ordered Perovskites: Octahedral Tilting and Pseudosymmetry

The room-temperature crystal structures of six A(2)M(3+)M(5+)O(6) ordered perovskites have been determined from neutron and X-ray powder diffraction data. Ba(2)YNbO(6) adopts the aristotype high-symmetry cubic structure (space group Fm\overline 3m, Z = 4). The symmetries of the remaining five compounds were lowered by octahedral tilting distortions. Out-of-phase rotations of the octahedra about the c axis were observed in Sr(2)CrTaO(6) and Sr(2)GaTaO(6), which lowers the symmetry to tetragonal (space group = I4/m, Z = 2, Glazer tilt system = a(0)a(0)c(-)). Octahedral tilting analogous to that seen in GdFeO(3) occurs in Sr(2)ScNbO(6), Ca(2)AlNbO(6) and Ca(2)CrTaO(6), which lowers the symmetry to monoclinic (space group P2(1)/n, Z = 2, Glazer tilt system = a(-)a(-)c(+)). The Sr(2)MTaO(6) (M = Cr, Ga, Sc) compounds have unit-cell dimensions that are highly pseudo-cubic. Ca(2)AlNbO(6) and Ca(2)CrTaO(6) have unit-cell dimensions that are strongly pseudo-orthorhombic. This high degree of pseudosymmetry complicates the space-group assignment and structure determination. The space-group symmetries, unit-cell dimensions and cation ordering characteristics of an additional 13 compositions, as determined from X-ray powder diffraction data, are also reported. An analysis of the crystal structures of 32 A(2)MTaO(6) and A(2)MNbO(6) perovskites shows that in general the octahedral tilt system strongly correlates with the tolerance factor.

Relaxations in Ba2BiSbO6 Double Complex Perovskite Ceramics

The electric properties of the complex double perovskite Ba2BiSbO6 have been investigated using impedance spectroscopy in the frequency range from 1 Hz up to 1 MHz and in the temperature range from room temperature up to 560 K. There are two contributions to the electrical properties due to the grain and grain boundary. The oxygen vacancies play an important role in the conductivity and strongly increase the dielectric constant at high temperatures. The analysis of the frequency dependence of the conductivity clearly shows the structural phase transition of this compound near 515 K.

Spin-phonon coupling in Gd(Co1/2Mn1/2)O3 perovskite

We have investigated the temperature-dependent Raman-active phonons and the magnetic properties of Gd(Co1/2Mn1/2)O3 perovskite ceramics in the temperature range from 40 K to 300 K. The samples crystallized in an orthorhombic distorted simple perovskite, whose symmetry belongs to the Pnma space group. The data reveal spin-phonon coupling near the ferromagnetic transition occurring at around 120 K. The correlation of the Raman and magnetization data suggests that the structural order influences the magnitude of the spin-phonon coupling.

REACTIONS OF OXYGEN ATOMS WITH VAN DER WAALS COMPLEXES : THE EFFECT OF COMPLEX FORMATION ON THE INTERNAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTION IN THE PRODUCTS

Reactions of atomic oxygen with complexes containing HCl are investigated and the OH product state distributions are compared to those observed for the corresponding reactions of HCl monomers. In previous studies of reactions of O(3P) with HCl and hydrocarbon complexes, rotationally colder OH product state distributions were observed, when compared to the corresponding reactions of monomers. In contrast, we find that reactions of O(1D) with HCl clusters yield OH rotational distributions that are unaffected by the incorporation of HCl into a van der Waals complex. Quasiclassical trajectories are run on collisions of oxygen with HCl and Ar⋯HCl at 1 eV collision energies to investigate the differences in the dynamics of the O(1D) and O(3P) reactions. It is found that when the van der Waals complex is longer lived than the collision complex, rotational and vibrational cooling are observed. In contrast, when the dissociation of the van der Waals complex is prompt, compared to the collision complex lifetime, th...

NITRATION OF CYCLOPENTENECARBOXALDEHYDE : STUDIES TOWARD 1-AMINO-2-NITROCYCLOPENTANECARBOXYLIC ACID

Abstract The formation of 2,2-dinitrocyclopentanone oxime is described during an attempted nitroacetamidation of cyclopentenecarboxaldehyde using ceric ammonium nitrate and sodium nitrite in acetonitrile. Progress towards the total synthesis of 1-amino-2-nitrocyclopentanecarboxylic acid is also discussed.

Ba4KFe3O9: a novel ferrite containing discrete 6-membered rings of corner-sharing FeO4 tetrahedra.

Single crystals of a new iron-containing oxide, Ba(4)KFe(3)O(9), were grown from a hydroxide melt, and the crystal structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. This ferrite represents the first complex oxide containing isolated 6-membered rings of corner-sharing FeO(4) tetrahedra. Mössbauer measurements are indicative of two tetrahedral high-spin Fe(3+) coordination environments. The observed magnetic moment (~3.9 μ(B)) at 400 K is significantly lower than the calculated spin-only (~5.2 μ(B)) value, indicating the presence of strong antiferromagnetic interactions in the oxide. Our density functional theory calculations confirm the strong antiferromagnetic coupling between adjacent Fe(3+) sites within each 6-membered ring and estimate the nearest-neighbor spin-exchange integral as ~200 K; next-nearest-neighbor interactions are shown to be negligible. The lower than expected effective magnetic moment for Ba(4)KFe(3)O(9) calculated from χT data is explained as resulting from the occupation of lower-lying magnetic states in which more spins are paired. X-band (9.5 GHz) electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of a powder sample consist of a single line at g ~ 2.01 that is characteristic of Fe(3+) ions in a tetrahedral environment, thus confirming the Mössbauer results. Further analysis of the EPR line shape reveals the presence of two types of Fe(6) magnetic species with an intensity ratio of ~1:9. Both species have Lorentzian line shapes and indistinguishable g factors but differ in their peak-to-peak line widths (δB(pp)). The line-width ratio δB(pp)(major)/δB(pp)(minor) ~ 3.6 correlates well with the ratio of the Weiss constants, θ(minor)/θ(major) ~ 4.

Electron diffraction study of the sillenites Bi12SiO20, Bi25FeO39 and Bi25InO39: Evidence of short-range ordering of oxygen-vacancies in the trivalent sillenites

We present an electron diffraction study of three sillenites, Bi12SiO20, Bi25FeO39, and Bi25InO39 synthesized using the solid-state method. We explore a hypothesis, inspired by optical studies in the literature, that suggests that trivalent sillenites have additional disorder not present in the tetravalent compounds. Electron diffraction patterns of Bi25FeO39 and Bi25InO39 show streaks that confirm deviations from the ideal sillenite structure. Multi-slice simulations of electron-diffraction patterns are presented for different perturbations to the sillenite structure - partial substitution of the M site by Bi3+, random and ordered oxygen-vacancies, and a frozen-phonon model. Although comparison of experimental data to simulations cannot be conclusive, we consider the streaks as evidence of short-range ordered oxygen-vacancies.

Using Bond Valences to Model the Structures of Ternary and Quaternary Oxides

The bond valence method is implemented in the modeling of crystal structures with the software program SPuDS. The approach is investigated for the perovskite, pyrochlore, spinel, and garnet structure types. Crystal structures of selected compositions were calculated and compared to experimental structures that were determined using X-ray or neutron diffraction. Bond valence sums (BVSs) of the ions and the global instability indices (G) are investigated to provide insight into the structures of these four structural classes of materials. The predictive ability is examined in the context of understanding the structures of existing compounds. The accuracy and possible uses of the crystal structures obtained from modeling using bond valences are explored.

Effects of complex formation on reactions of oxygen with HCl and Ar-HCl

Abstract Classical trajectory simulations are used to investigate reactions of HCl and Ar–HCl with atomic oxygen in its ground and first excited states. We focus on the effects of complex formation on reaction cross sections and product state distributions over a range of collision energies. At low collision energies, the argon atom inhibits the formation of the H–O–Cl collision complex and lowers the reaction cross sections. At higher collision energies, the argon atom removes energy from the collision complex, thereby lowering the effective collision energy and increasing the cross sections for reaction. In general, the product state distributions, resulting from reactions of complexes, are shifted to lower energies than the product state distributions of corresponding O+HCl reactions.