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Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11574276, 51302249, and 11405028) and the Fundamental Research Fund for the Central Universities, China
A solid solution of (HfSc)0.83W2.25P0.83O12−δ is synthesized by the high-temperature, solid-state reaction and fast-quenching method. It is shown that it possesses an orthorhombic structure with space group Pmmm (47) and exhibits negative thermal expansion (NTE) property with low anisotropy in thermal expansion. The coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) for a, b, and c axes are 1.41 × 10−6 K−1, −2.23× 10−6 K−1, and −1.87 × 10−6 K−1, respectively. This gives rise to volume and linear CTEs of −3.10 × 10−6 K−1 and −1.03 × 10−6 K−1, respectively. Besides, it exhibits also intense photoluminescence from 360 nm to about 600 nm. The mechanism of NTE and the correlation of the PL with axial thermal expansion property are discussed.
Expansions on heating are general phenomena for gases, liquids, and solids but there are a few exceptions for liquids and solids such as water below 277 K and ZrW2O8 below 1050 K. Thermal expansion of gases has widely been used for energy conversion. Nevertheless, thermal expansions of solids in most cases have negative effects on devices such as deterioration in performance, and even failure when temperature is changed suddenly or greatly. Due to the fact that the vast majority of materials expand on heating and have different coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs), thermal expansion and mismatch in CTES could cause serious problems, for example, thermal lensing effect or even cracking lenses used in high power lasers, center wavelength shifting in fiber Bragg gratings. In order to prevent these problems from being caused by thermal expansion, precision devices or instruments require a relatively constant temperature environment, or complex structure design to compensate for thermal expansion. Enough gap or space between two adjacent parts is usually obliged to be reserved in engineering. Materials with negative thermal expansion (NTE) can be used individually or as compositions to tailor CTEs of materials to zero or desired values. Due to the scientific curiosity and technical requirements, the discovery of NTE of ZrW2O8 in a large temperature range aroused much interest in NTE materials and related physics and chemistry behind the NTE phenomena.[1–10] Different mechanisms contributing to NTE were revealed for different categories of materials: magneto-volume effects in magnetic metals and alloys such as Invar and antiperovskite Mn3AX (A = transition metals or semiconducting element; X = C or N);[11–13] charge-transfer-induced ionic radius contractions such as in LaCu3Fe4O12[14] and BiNiO3;[15] ferroelectric ordering-induced volume contractions such as in PbTiO3;[3,16] and translational and librational vibration-induced contractions in framework structures such as ZrW2O8,[1,5,17] ZrV2O7,[18–20] A2M3O12 (A = transition metal or rare earth, M = W or M),[7,8,21–24] ScF3,[6,25] cyanides,[4,9] etc.
The advantages of A2M3O12 family of materials are they exhibit NTEs in a relatively large temperature range and chemical flexibility in choosing the new substitutes for elements. The A3+ cation can be substituted by not only trivalent ions but also tetravalent and bivalent ones, while the M6+ can be not only W and/or Mo but also pentavalent cations. With such substitutions, thermal expansions and other physical properties can be tailored and even near zero thermal expansion materials can be designed.[26,27] Particularly, the success in the syntheses of ABM3O12 (A = Zr, Hf; B = Mg, Mn; M = W, Mo),[28–34] and even more recently ABM2XO12 (A = Zr, Hf; B = Sc; M = W, Mo; X = P, V)[35–38] have enriched the members of NTE materials as well as their functions such as high ionic conductivity[39] and intense photoluminescence (PL).[35–38] Most of the A2M3O12 family of materials either exhibit monoclinic-to-orthorhombic phase transition (with smaller A3+ cation) well above room temperature (RT) or are highly hygroscopic (with larger A3+ cation) and their NTEs are observed only above the phase transition temperature or after the complete removal of crystal water. Even in the newly designed materials, HfMgW3O12[29] and ZrMnMo3O12[34] transform from monoclinic structure to orthorhombic structure above 400 K and 363 K, respectively, and ZrMgW3O12[31] is hygroscopic and HfMgMo3O12[32] shows low positive thermal expansion (PTE). To develop the NTE, the materials without phase transition above RT or hygroscopicity are desirable.
Inspired by the above developments in A2M3O12 family of materials, we aim to design a novel NTE material with the formula of HfScW3PO15 in this paper. The x-ray diffraction (XRD) and elemental analyses suggest that the synthesized material crystallizes in a pure single phase with elemental compositions as designed but it possesses a structure similar to HfScW2PO12,[37] instead of La2Mo4O15.[40] Combining the structural information and the result of elemental analysis, it is more reasonable to write its chemical formula as (HfSc)0.83W2.25P0.83O12-δ rather than HfScW3PO15. Further studies show that the solid solution of (HfSc)0.83W2.25P0.83O12-δ exhibits NTEs in all three axes, leading to a very low anisotropy in thermal expansion. Besides, it exhibits also intense PL in the visible region. These properties make it possible to be used in optical devices such as light emitting diodes. This work might pave the way for developing NTE materials with low thermal expansion anisotropies, which favor thermal shock resistances.[41]
Analytical reagents HfO2, Sc2O3, WO3, and NH4H2PO4 with a molar ratio of 1.0:0.5:3.15:1.0 were used as starting materials. They were mixed and ground in an agate mortar for 2 h and pressed into pellets by cold pressing. The pellets were sintered in a furnace at 1473 K for 2 h and then at 1573 K for 2.5 h with intermediate grinding. After sintering at 1573 K, the samples were taken out from the furnace and put into cold water quickly and then dried in an oven. Some of the pellets were ground into powder for x-ray diffraction (XRD) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses.
The surface morphology was observed with a Quanta 250 scanning electron micrograph (SEM, USA FEI). The temperature-dependent XRD data were collected on a Rigaku (SmartLab 3KW) diffractometer with Cu Kα radiation from 94 K to 573 K. The compositions of the sample were analyzed by XPS (Axis Ultra, Kratos, U.K.). A HORIBA Jobin-Yvon Lab RAM HR Evolution Raman spectrometer with 633-nm laser wavelength excitation was used for Raman spectral analysis. The absorption spectrum was measured with a SHIMADZU UV3600 UV-Vis-IR spectrophotometer. PL spectra from RT to 10 K were recorded by a Fluoromax-4 spectrofluorometer (HORIBA Jobin Yvon) with a Lake Shore 325 temperature controller. The linear CTEs for the low and high temperature ranges were measured with LINSEIS L75 and LINSEIS DIL L76 dilatometers, respectively.
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In the orthorhombic structure, each HfO6/ScO6 octahedron shares its corners with WO4/PO4 tetrahedra or vice visa. According to previous studies on the orthorhombic structure of HfMgW3O12, and HfMgW1.5Mo1.5O12, energetically the most stable configuration is that Hf and Mg are alternately aligned along the long axis[39] while W and Mo are mostly alternately arranged around each octahedron.[42] The material presented here can be regarded as the substitution of Mg by Sc and partial substitution of W by P in HfMgW3O12. Since its long axis is along the c-axis direction, we depict schematically the structure in Fig.
Figure
Thermal expansion anisotropy is defined as the largest difference in axial thermal expansion coefficients. The solid solution (HfSc)0.83W2.25P0.83O12−δ has a very low anisotropy in thermal expansion (2.04), even much lower than the lowest values of 5.12 (Y2Mo3O12),[23] 6.5 (ZrMgMo3O12),[33] and 5.17 (HfScW2PO12)[37] for A2M3O12, AMgM3O12, and ABMXO12 family of materials, suggesting a high thermal shock resistance which is inversely proportional to the absolute value of CTE.[41] The very low anisotropy of thermal expansion in the present material is attributed to simultaneous contractions and low NTEs in all three axes.
Figure
Figures
Figure
A solid solution of (HfSc)0.83W2.25P0.83O12−δ is synthesized by high temperature solid state reaction and fast quenching method. It possesses an orthorhombic structure with space group Pmmm (47) at room temperature with lattice constants a = 9.2439 Å, b = 9.4040 Å, and c = 12.9011 Å. The CTEs for the a, b, and c axes and volume are calculated to be −1.41×10−6 K−1, −2.23×10−6 K−1, −1.87×10−6 K−1, and −3.10×10−6 K−1, respectively. This gives rise to a linear CTE of −1.03×10−6 K−1. It displays also much lower thermal expansion anisotropy than the A2M3O12 family of materials ever reported. Besides, it has intense photoluminescence from 360 nm to about 600 nm. The shifts of the PL peaks are closely correlated with axial thermal expansion property. The low CTEs with very low anisotropy in thermal expansion and intense PL of the solid solution may find applications in optical devices such as white-light LEDs and in solid-state oxide fuel cells, etc.
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