arXiv subjects

S. N. Achary

Publications and source records attributed to S. N. Achary.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Pressure-induced decomposition of Bi14WO24

We present a study of the high-pressure behaviour Bi14WO24, a high oxide ion conductor member of the Bi2O3-WO3 binary system. The tetragonal polymorph of Bi14WO24 was studied under high-pressure conditions using synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction. It was found that in contrast to isostructural Bi14CrO24 and Bi14MoO24 which experience a phase transition around 5 GPa, in our study Bi14WO24 undergoes an irreversible chemical decomposition into Bi2O3 and WO3 at 2.85(5) GPa. The pressure dependence of the unit-cell parameters of Bi14WO24 was also determined, and hence the linear compressibility along different axes and room-temperature pressure-volume equation of state were derived. Bulk modulus of tetragonal Bi14WO24 was found to be 49.8(2.6) GPa, and the linear compressibility of the two crystallographic axes, \k{appa}a and \k{appa}c were 6.94(2) 10-3 GPa-1 and = 3.73(1) 10-3 GPa-1, respectively. The pressure induced decomposition can be attributed to the favourable increasing density of the system to accommodate the pressure induced stress.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Comparative study of the high-pressure behavior of ZnV2O6, Zn2V2O7, and Zn3V2O8

We report a study of the high-pressure structural behavior of ZnV2O6, Zn2V2O7, and Zn3V2O8, which has been explored by means of synchrotron powder x-ray diffraction. We found that ZnV2O6 and Zn3V2O8 remain in the ambient-pressure structure up to 15 GPa. In contrast, in the same pressure range, Zn2V2O7 undergoes three phase transitions at 0.7, 3.0, and 10.8 GPa, respectively. Possible crystal structures for the first and second high-pressure phases are proposed. Reasons for the distinctive behavior of Zn2V2O7 are discussed. The compressibility of the different polymorphs has been determined. The response to pressure is found to be anisotropic in all the considered compounds and the room-temperature equations of state have been determined. The bulk moduli of ZnV2O6 (129(2) GPa) and Zn3V2O8 (120(2) GPa) are consistent with a structural framework composed of compressible ZnO6 octahedra and uncompressible VO4 tetrahedra. In contrast, Zn2V2O7 is highly compressible with a bulk modulus of 58(9) GPa, which is almost half of the bulk modulus of the other two vanadates. The large compressibility of Zn2V2O7 and its sequence of structural transitions are related to the fact that this material is less dense than the other zinc vanadates and to the penta-coordination of Zn atoms by oxygen atoms in Zn2V2O7. A comparison to the high-pressure behavior of related compounds is presented.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Exploring the high-pressure behavior of the three known polymorphs of BiPO4: Discovery of a new polymorph

We have studied the structural behavior of bismuth phosphate under compression. We performed x-ray powder diffraction measurements up to 31.5 GPa and ab initio calculations. Experiments were carried out on different polymorphs; trigonal (phase I) and monoclinic (phases II and III). Phases I and III, at low pressure (0.2-0.8 GPa), transform into phase II, which has a monazite-type structure. At room temperature, this polymorph is stable up to 31.5 GPa. Calculations support these findings and predict the occurrence of an additional transition from the monoclinic monazite-type to a tetragonal scheelite-type structure (phase IV). This transition was experimentally found after the simultaneous application of pressure (28 GPa) and temperature (1500 K), suggesting that at room temperature the transition might by hindered by kinetic barriers. Calculations also predict an additional phase transition at 52 GPa, which exceeds the maximum pressure achieved in the experiments. This transition is from phase IV to an orthorhombic barite-type structure (phase V). We also studied the axial and bulk compressibility of BiPO4. Room-temperature pressure-volume equations of state are reported. BiPO4 was found to be more compressible than isomorphic rare-earth phosphates. The discovered phase IV was determined to be the less compressible polymorph of BiPO4. On the other hand, the theoretically predicted phase V has a bulk modulus comparable with that of monazite-type BiPO4. Finally, the isothermal compressibility tensor for the monazite-type structure is reported at 2.4 GPa showing that the direction of maximum compressibility is in the (010) plane at approximately 15 (21) degrees to the a axis for the case of our experimental (theoretical) study.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Inelastic Neutron Scattering Studies of Phonon Spectra and Simulations in Tungstates, AWO4 (A = Ba, Sr, Ca and Pb)

Lattice dynamics and high pressure phase transitions in AWO4 (A = Ba, Sr, Ca and Pb) have been investigated using inelastic neutron scattering experiments, ab-initio density functional theory calculations and extensive molecular dynamics simulations. The vibrational modes that are internal to WO4 tetrahedra occur at the highest energies consistent with the relative stability of WO4 tetrahedra. The neutron data and the ab-initio calculations are found to be in excellent agreement. The neutron and structural data are used to develop and validate an interatomic potential model. The model is used for classical molecular dynamics simulations to study their response to high pressure. We have calculated the enthalpies of the scheelite and fergusonite phases as a function of pressure, which confirms that the scheelite to fergusonite transition is second order in nature. With increase in pressure, there is a gradual change in the AO8 polyhedra, while there is no apparent change in the WO4 tetrahedra. We found that that all the four tungstates amorphize at high pressure. This is in good agreement with available experimental observations which show amorphization at around 45 GPa in BaWO4 and 40 GPa in CaWO4. On amorphization, there is an abrupt increase in the coordination of the W atom while the bisdisphenoids around A atom are considerably distorted. The pair correlation functions of the various atom pairs corroborate these observations. Our observations aid in predicting the pressure of amorphization in SrWO4 and PbWO4, which have not been experimentally reported.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Phonons and Thermodynamics of LiMPO4 (M=Mn, Fe)

Lithium transition metal phospho-olivines are useful electrode materials, owing to their stability, high safety, low cost and cyclability. We report phonon studies using neutron inelastic scattering experiments, ab-initio density functional theory calculations and potential model calculations on LiMPO4 (M=Mn, Fe) at ambient and high temperature to understand the microscopic picture of Li sub-lattice. The experiments are in good agreement with calculations. The lattice dynamics calculations indicate instability of a zone-centre as well as zone-boundary modes along (100) at volume corresponding to high temperature. The unstable phonon modes show mainly large vibration of Li atoms in the x-z plane of the orthorhombic structure (space group Pbnm). Molecular dynamics simulations with increasing temperature indicate large mean square displacement of Li as compared to other constituent atoms. The computed pair-correlations between various atom pairs show that there is local disorder occurring in the lithium sub-lattice with increasing temperature, while other pairs show minimal changes. The results find the two compounds to be thermally stable up to high temperatures, which is a desirable trait for its battery applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Phonons and Colossal Thermal Expansion Behavior of Ag3Co(CN)6 and Ag3Fe(CN)6

Recently colossal positive volume thermal expansion has been found in the framework compounds Ag3Co(CN)6 and Ag3Fe(CN)6. Phonon spectra have been measured using the inelastic neutron scattering technique as a function of temperature and pressure. The data has been analyzed using ab-initio calculations. We find that the bonding is very similar in both compounds. At ambient pressure modes in the intermediate frequency part of the vibrational spectra in the Co compound are shifted to slightly higher energies as compared to the Fe compound. The temperature dependence of the phonon spectra gives evidence for large explicit anharmonic contribution to the total anharmonicity for low-energy modes below 5 meV. We found that modes are mainly affected by the change in the size of unit cell, which in turn changes the bond lengths and vibrational frequencies. Thermal expansion has been calculated via the volume dependence of phonon spectra. Our analysis indicates that Ag phonon modes in the energy range from 2 to 5 meV are strongly anharmonic and major contributors to thermal expansion in both compounds. The application of pressure hardens the low-energy part of the phonon spectra involving Ag vibrations and confirms the highly anharmonic nature of these modes.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

High-Temperature Phonon Spectra of Multiferroic BiFeO3 from Inelastic Neutron Spectroscopy

We report inelastic neutron scattering measurements of the phonon spectra in a pure powder sample of the multiferroic material BiFeO3. A high-temperature range was covered to unravel the changes in the phonon dynamics across the Neel (T_N ~ 650 K) and Curie (T_C ~ 1100 K) temperatures. Experimental results are accompanied by ab-initio lattice dynamical simulations of phonon density of states to enable microscopic interpretations of the observed data. The calculations reproduce well the observed vibrational features and provide the partial atomic vibrational components. Our results reveal clearly the signature of three different phase transitions both in the diffraction patterns and phonon spectra. The phonon modes are found to be most affected by the transition at the T_C. The spectroscopic evidence for the existence of a different structural modification just below the decomposition limit (T_D ~ 1240 K) is unambiguous indicating strong structural changes that may be related to oxygen vacancies and concomitant Fe3+ to Fe2+ reduction and spin transition.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

New high-pressure phase and equation of state of Ce2Zr2O8

In this paper we report a new high-pressure rhombohedral phase of Ce2Zr2O8 observed from high-pressure angle-dispersive x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy studies up to nearly 12 GPa. The ambient-pressure cubic phase of Ce2Zr2O8 transforms to a rhombohedral structure beyond 5 GPa with a feeble distortion in the lattice. Pressure evolution of unit-cell volume showed a change in compressibility above 5 GPa. The unit-cell parameters of the high-pressure rhombohedral phase at 12.1 GPa are ah = 14.6791(3) Å, ch = 17.9421(5) Å, V = 3348.1(1) Å3. The structure relation between the parent cubic (P2_13) and rhombohedral (P3_2) phases were obtained by group-subgroup relations. All the Raman modes of the cubic phase showed linear evolution with pressure with the hardest one at 197 cm-1. Some Raman modes of the high-pressure phase have a non-linear evolution with pressure and softening of one low-frequency mode with pressure is found. The compressibility, equation of state, and pressure coefficients of Raman modes of Ce2Zr2O8 are also reported.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Zircon to monazite phase transition in CeVO4

X-ray diffraction and Raman-scattering measurements on cerium vanadate have been performed up to 12 and 16 GPa, respectively. Experiments reveal that at 5.3 GPa the onset of a pressure-induced irreversible phase transition from the zircon to the monazite structure. Beyond this pressure, diffraction peaks and Raman-active modes of the monazite phase are measured. The zircon to monazite transition in CeVO4 is distinctive among the other rare-earth orthovanadates. We also observed softening of external translational Eg and internal B2g bending modes. We attributed it to mechanical instabilities of zircon phase against the pressure-induced distortion. We additionally report lattice-dynamical and total-energy calculations which are in agreement with the experimental results. Finally, the effect of non-hydrostatic stresses on the structural sequence is studied and the equations of state of different phases are reported.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2010

High-pressure x-ray diffraction study of bulk and nanocrystalline PbMoO4

We studied the effects of high-pressure on the crystalline structure of bulk and nanocrystalline scheelite-type PbMoO4. We found that in both cases the compressibility of the materials is highly non-isotropic, being the c-axis the most compressible one. We also observed that the volume compressibility of nanocrystals becomes higher that the bulk one at 5 GPa. In addition, at 10.7(8) GPa we observed the onset of an structural phase transition in bulk PbMoO4. The high-pressure phase has a monoclinic structure similar to M-fergusonite. The transition is reversible and not volume change is detected between the low- and high-pressure phases. No additional structural changes or evidence of decomposition are found up to 21.1 GPa. In contrast nanocrystalline PbMoO4 remains in the scheelite structure at least up to 16.1 GPa. Finally, the equation of state for bulk and nanocrystalline PbMoO4 are also determined.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2010

Experimental and theoretical investigations on ThGeO4 at high pressure

We report here the combined results of angle-dispersive x-ray diffraction experiments performed on ThGeO4 up to 40 GPa and total-energy density-functional theory calculations. Zircon-type ThGeO4 is found to undergo a pressure-driven phase transition at 11 GPa to the tetragonal scheelite structure. A second phase transition to a monoclinic M-fergusonite type is found beyond 26 GPa. The same transition has been observed in samples that crystallize in the scheelite phase at ambient pressure. No additional phase transition or evidence of decomposition of ThGeO4 has been detected up to 40 GPa. The unit-cell parameters of the monoclinic high-pressure phase are a = 4.98(2) A, b = 11.08(4) A, c = 4.87(2) A, and beta = 90.1(1), Z = 4 at 28.8 GPa. The scheelite-fergusonite transition is reversible and the zircon-scheelite transition non-reversible. From the experiments and the calculations, the room temperature equation of state for the different phases is also obtained. The anisotropic compressibility of the studied crystal is discussed in terms of the differential compressibility of the Th-O and Ge-O bonds.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2009

High-pressure structural investigation of several zircon-type orthovanadates

Room temperature angle-dispersive x-ray diffraction measurements on zircon-type EuVO4, LuVO4, and ScVO4 were performed up to 27 GPa. In the three compounds we found evidence of a pressure-induced structural phase transformation from zircon to a scheelite-type structure. The onset of the transition is near 8 GPa, but the transition is sluggish and the low- and high-pressure phases coexist in a pressure range of about 10 GPa. In EuVO4 and LuVO4 a second transition to a M-fergusonite-type phase was found near 21 GPa. The equations of state for the zircon and scheelite phases are also determined. Among the three studied compounds, we found that ScVO4 is less compressible than EuVO4 and LuVO4, being the most incompressible orthovanadate studied to date. The sequence of structural transitions and compressibilities are discussed in comparison with other zircon-type oxides.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗