Crystal structure and short-range oxygen defects in La- and Nd-modified ZrO2

摘要

The crystal structure of rare-earth modified zirconia and the associated oxygen defects were studied by neutron diffraction. A Rietveld analysis of the neutron powder patterns of heat treated samples of La- and Nd- 10mol%-ZrO(sub 2) revealed the composition of a major tetragonal phase (space group P4(sub 2)/nmc) and a minor cubic phase (space group Fm3m). The sort-range oxygen defects structure was examined by a Fourier-filtering technique. A real-space correlation function, obtained from a Fourier transform of the filtered residual diffuse scattering, showed evidence of static, oxygen-vacancy induced atomic displacements along the and other directions of the pseudocubic cell.