Issue 13, 2021

Linking far-from-equilibrium defect structures in ceramics to electromagnetic driving forces

Abstract

Electromagnetic (EM) field exposure during materials synthesis offers the opportunity to engineer novel atomic structures and modify reaction kinetics beyond the capabilities of conventional routes. We demonstrate the first experimental evidence that even low energy EM fields can influence atomic structural arrangements, resulting in rapid low-temperature crystallization and phase transitions in ceramic oxides. Synchrotron X-ray characterization, coupled with first-principles calculations, show that phase stability is mediated by oxygen vacancy-induced structural distortions. These distortions are dependent on the local electric field intensity, validating a longstanding hypothesis that high local field strengths (exceeding 106 V m−1) act as a driving force in field-driven materials synthesis. This information linking field strength with atomic structure lays the foundation to deploy EM fields to explore regions of phase space and material properties not readily accessible in nature.

Graphical abstract: Linking far-from-equilibrium defect structures in ceramics to electromagnetic driving forces

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Jan 2021
Accepted
11 Mar 2021
First published
12 Mar 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021,9, 8425-8434

Linking far-from-equilibrium defect structures in ceramics to electromagnetic driving forces

N. Nakamura, L. Su, H. Wang, N. Bernstein, S. K. Jha, E. Culbertson, H. Wang, S. J. L. Billinge, C. S. Hellberg and B. Reeja-Jayan, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021, 9, 8425 DOI: 10.1039/D1TA00486G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements