Pressure-Driven Isostructural Phase Transition in InNbO4: In Situ Experimental and Theoretical Investigations

[EN] The high-pressure behavior of technologically important visible-light photocatalytic semiconductor In.NbO4, adopting a monoclinic wolframite-type structure at ambient conditions, was investigated using synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopic measurements, and first-principles c...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Garg, Alka B.; Errandonea, Daniel; Popescu, Catalin; Martínez-García, Domingo; Pellicer Porres, Julio; Rodríguez-Hernández, Plácida; Muñoz, Alfonso; Botella, Pablo; Cuenca-Gotor, Vanesa Paula|||0000-0003-0819-8528; Sans-Tresserras, Juan Ángel|||0000-0001-9047-3992
Format: Article
Publication date:2017
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Repository:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/148862
Online Access:https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/148862
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:X-Ray-Diffraction
Initio molecular-dynamics
Total-Energy calculations
Wave basis-set
Ab-Initio
Raman-Scattering
Crystal
Stability
Synchrotron
Efficiency
TEORIA DE LA SEÑAL Y COMUNICACIONES
FISICA APLICADA
Description
Summary:[EN] The high-pressure behavior of technologically important visible-light photocatalytic semiconductor In.NbO4, adopting a monoclinic wolframite-type structure at ambient conditions, was investigated using synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopic measurements, and first-principles calculations. The experimental results indicate the occurrence of a pressure-induced isostructural phase transition in the studied compound beyond 10.8 GPa. The large volume collapse associated with the phase transition and the coexistence of two phases observed over a wide range of pressure shows the nature of transition to be first-order. There is an increase in the oxygen anion coordination number around In and Nb cations from six to eight at the phase transition. The ambient-pressure phase has been recovered on pressure release. The experimental pressure volume data when fitted to a Birch-Murnaghan equation of states yields the value of ambient pressure bulk modulus as 179(2) and 231(4) GPa for the low and high-pressure phases, respectively. The pressure dependence of the Raman mode frequencies and Gruneisen parameters was determined for both phases by experimental and theoretical methods. The same information is obtained for the infrared modes from first-principles calculations. Results from theoretical calculations corroborate the experimental findings. They also provide information on the compressibility of interatomic bonds, which is correlated with the macroscopic properties of InNbO4.