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Local Structure Around Nb Site of a Potential Thermoelectric Material La1/3NbO3 from Temperature-Dependent Extended x-ray Absorption Fine Structure Spectroscopy

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Abstract

The effort to find thermoelectric materials suitable for different applications is an intense research topic of a large material science community. In this context, A-site-deficient La1/3NbO3, which shows an irreversible pressure-induced amorphization at above 15 GPa, has attracted recent attention. Here, we present a temperature-dependent Nb K-edge extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) study of La1/3NbO3 in the range 77-500 K probing the Nb-O bond correlations. These results are compared with the Nb-O bond correlations in two related oxides NbO2 and Nb2O5. In comparison with NbO2 and Nb2O5, the Nb-O bond mean square relative displacements in La1/3NbO3 show much weaker temperature dependence revealing its enhanced spring constant. The “A” site deficiency in La1/3NbO3 may allow the oxygen atoms to preserve their local geometry and thus are less responsive to the external stimuli like temperature, which may be important in determining the thermal and electrical conductivity properties of this system.

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Acknowledgments

B.J. acknowledges IISc Bangalore and ICTP Trieste for the IISc-ICTP fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CELLS-ALBA, Carrer de la llum 2-26, Cerdanyola del Valles, 08290, Barcelona, Spain

    Carlo Marini

  2. Department de Fisíca i Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallés, Barcelona, Spain

    Anna M. Diaz-Rovira

  3. School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    B. J. Kennedy

  4. Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste, S.S. 14, Km 163.5 in Area Science Park, Basovizza, 34149, Trieste, Italy

    Boby Joseph

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  1. Carlo Marini
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Correspondence to Boby Joseph.

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Marini, C., Diaz-Rovira, A.M., Kennedy, B.J. et al. Local Structure Around Nb Site of a Potential Thermoelectric Material La1/3NbO3 from Temperature-Dependent Extended x-ray Absorption Fine Structure Spectroscopy. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 27, 6322–6327 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-018-3749-0

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