DFT study of La$_2$Ce$_2$O$_7$: disordered fluorite vs pyrochlore structure

التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
العنوان: DFT study of La$_2$Ce$_2$O$_7$: disordered fluorite vs pyrochlore structure
المؤلفون: Vanpoucke, D. E. P., Bultinck, P., Cottenier, S., Van Speybroeck, V., Van Driessche, I.
المصدر: Phys. Rev. B 84, 054110 (2011)
سنة النشر: 2013
المجموعة: Condensed Matter
مصطلحات موضوعية: Condensed Matter - Materials Science, Condensed Matter - Other Condensed Matter, Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons
الوصف: The crystal structure of Lanthanum Cerium Oxide (La$_2$Ce$_2$O$_7$) is investigated using \textit{ab initio} density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The relative stability of fluorite- and pyrochlore-like structures is studied through comparison of their formation energies. These formation energies show the pyrochlore structure to be favored over the fluorite structure, apparently contradicting the conclusions based on experimental neutron and X-ray diffraction (XRD). By calculating and comparing XRD spectra for a set of differently ordered and random structures, we show that the pyrochlore structure is consistent with diffraction experiments. For these reasons, we suggest the pyrochlore structure as the ground state crystal structure for La$_2$Ce$_2$O$_7$. %we show that among the structures considered in this work, the pyrochlore geometry is clearly favorable over the disordered fluorite geometry.
Comment: 10 pages, 5 tables, 5 figures
نوع الوثيقة: Working Paper
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.84.054110
URL الوصول: http://arxiv.org/abs/1311.3555
رقم الأكسشن: edsarx.1311.3555
قاعدة البيانات: arXiv
الوصف
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.84.054110