Pressure-induced tuning of lattice distortion in a high-entropy oxide

As a new class of multi-principal component oxides with high chemical disorder, high-entropy oxides (HEOs) have attracted much attention. The stability and tunability of their structure and properties are of great interest and importance, but remain unclear. By using in situ synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible absorption spectroscopy, and ex situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, here we show the existence of lattice distortion in the crystalline (Ce$_{0.2}$La$_{0.2}$Pr$_{0.2}$Sm$_{0.2}$Y$_{0.2}$)O$_{2−δ }$ HEO according to the deviation of bond angles from the ideal values, and discover a pressureinduced continuous tuning of lattice distortion (bond angles) and band gap. As continuous bending of bond angles, pressure eventually induces breakdown of the long-range connectivity of lattice and causes amorphization. The amorphous state can be partially recovered upon decompression, forming glass–nanoceramic composite HEO. These results reveal the unexpected flexibility of the structure and properties of HEOs, which could promote the fundamental understanding and applications of HEOs

BiVO4 based high k microwave dielectric materials: a review

The BiVO4material has attracted much attention in recent years due to its active photocatalytic properties under visible light, bright yellow color as a nontoxic pigment, and its high relative permittivity (ϵr) and Qf (quality factor, Q × resonant frequency, f) as a potential microwave dielectric ceramic. In this review, we introduce the origin, synthesis, crystal structure and phase transitions of the four polymorphic phases of BiVO4: orthorhombic (pucherite), zircon (dreyerite), scheelite monoclinic (clinobisvanite) and scheelite tetragonal. We then precis recent studies on doped BiVO4ceramics in terms of A site, B site and A/B site complex substitutions. Low sintering temperature (<800 °C) and high ϵrvalues could be obtained in some solid solution ceramics and near zero temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (TCF/τf) values could be achieved in layered or granulated particle composite ceramics. Besides, a series of temperature stable high ϵrmicrowave dielectric ceramics can also be obtained for many co-fired composite ceramics, such as BiVO4-TiO2, and BiVO4-TiO2-Bi2Ti4O11. The high ϵr, high Qf value, low sintering temperature and chemical compatibility with some base metals suggest that BiVO4-based materials are strong candidates for both LTCC and other microwave device applications in current 4G and future 5G technologies

High-Pressure Induced Phase Transitions in High-Entropy Alloys: A Review

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) as a new class of alloy have been at the cutting edge of advanced metallic materials research in the last decade. With unique chemical and topological structures at the atomic level, HEAs own a combination of extraordinary properties and show potential in widespread applications. However, their phase stability/transition, which is of great scientific and technical importance for materials, has been mainly explored by varying temperature. Recently, pressure as another fundamental and powerful parameter has been introduced to the experimental study of HEAs. Many interesting reversible/irreversible phase transitions that were not expected or otherwise invisible before have been observed by applying high pressure. These recent findings bring new insight into the stability of HEAs, deepens our understanding of HEAs, and open up new avenues towards developing new HEAs. In this paper, we review recent results in various HEAs obtained using in situ static high-pressure synchrotron radiation x-ray techniques and provide some perspectives for future research

Morphology Tuned Pressure Induced Amorphization in VO₂(B) Nanobelts

Pressure-induced amorphization (PIA) has drawn great attention since it was first observed in ice. This process depends closely on the crystal structure, the size, the morphology and the correlated pressurization environments, among which the morphology-tuned PIA remains an open question on the widely concerned mesoscale. In this work, we report the synthesis and high-pressure research of VO2(B) nanobelts. XRD and TEM were performed to investigate the amorphization process. The amorphization pressure in VO2(B) nanobelts(~30 GPa) is much higher than that in previous reported 2D VO2(B) nanosheets(~21 GPa), the mechanism is the disruption of connectivity at particular relatively weaker bonds in the (010) plane. These results suggest a morphology-tuned pressure-induced amorphization, which could promote the fundamental understanding of PIA

Morphology-Tuned Phase Transitions of Horseshoe Shaped BaTiO₃ Nanomaterials under High Pressure

Exploring new physical properties of nanomaterials with special morphology have been important topics in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Here we report a morphology-tuned structural phase transition under high pressure in the horseshoe shaped BaTiO₃ nanomaterials with an average diameter of 26 ± 4 nm. A direct structural phase transition from the tetragonal to the cubic phase without local rhombohedral distortion was observed at about 7.7 GPa by in situ high-pressure X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy, which is clearly different from the phase transition processes of the BaTiO₃ bulks and nanoparticles. Additionally, bulk modulus of the tetragonal and cubic phases were determined to be 125.0 and 211.7 GPa, respectively, obviously smaller than the estimated values for BaTiO₃ nanoparticles with the same grain size. Further analysis shows that the unique phase transition process and the enhanced structural stability of the tetragonal horseshoe shaped BaTiO₃ nanomaterials, may be attributed to the similar axes compressibility. Comparing with the high-pressure study on BaTiO₃ nanoparticles, this study suggests that the morphology plays an important role in the pressure-induced phase transition of BaTiO₃ nanomaterials

Pressure-induced metallization and amorphization in VO2(A) nanorods

A metallic state enabled by the metal-insulator transition (MIT) in single crystal VO2(A) nanorods is demonstrated, which provides important physical foundation in experimental understanding of MIT in VO2. The observed tetragonal metallic state at ∼28 GPa should be interpreted as a distinct metastable state, while increasing pressure to ∼32 GPa, it transforms into a metallic amorphous state completely. The metallization is due to V 3d orbital electrons delocalization, and the amorphization is attributed to the unique variation of V-O-V bond angle. A metallic amorphous VO2 state is found under pressure, which is beneficial to explore the phase diagram of VO2. Furthermore, this work proves the occurrence of both the metallization and amorphization in octahedrally coordinated materials