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Crystals
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Structural Investigation of Ceramic Materials
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Structural Investigation of Ceramic Materials

A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Polycrystalline Ceramics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 September 2024) | Viewed by 9939

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Anton Meden

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Interests: crystal structure; magnetic structure; microstructure; defects; diffraction; microscopy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Tadej Rojac

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Electronic Ceramics Department, Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Interests: piezoelectrics; perovskites; ceramic processing; structure–properties relationships
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ceramics is an evergreen class of materials. It was invented thousands of years ago and has seemingly reached a mature state in various technological applications in recent decades. However, as in other fields, new technologies are opening new opportunities for the use of different types of ceramics in numerous new applications, and new analytical tools are providing deeper insights into the structure of ceramic materials. The latter, "Structural Investigation of Ceramic Materials", is the focus of the proposed Special Issue of Crystals. Manuscripts submitted for this Special Issue may address any type of ceramic and focus on the structure of any dimension, from atomic to micrometric, that is relevant to the properties of the ceramic material. Studies on ordered and disordered structures, including the description of various structural defects and the atomic structures of extremely small nanoparticles, are welcome. There is no restriction on the methods used, provided that the methods are capable of supplying reliable structural information that serves as a basis for understanding the structure-property relationship. The Special Issue aims to provide an overview of how deep insights into the structure of ceramics are currently possible and what the challenges in this field are for the near future.

Prof. Dr. Anton Meden
Prof. Dr. Tadej Rojac
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Crystals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • crystal structure
  • magnetic structure
  • microstructure
  • defects
  • diffraction
  • microscopy

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 4773 KiB  
Article
Structure Determination and Analysis of the Ceramic Material La0.987Ti1.627Nb3.307O13 by Synchrotron and Neutron Powder Diffraction and DFT Calculations
by Katarina Stare, Jernej Stare, Srečo Davor Škapin, Matjaž Spreitzer and Anton Meden
Crystals 2023, 13(3), 439; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst13030439 - 3 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1758
Abstract
In this paper, the ternary system La2O3-TiO2-Nb2O5 is studied to find new ternary phases with useful electrical properties. The solid solution La3−xTi5−3xNb10−2xO39.5−12.5x was recently identified, and this [...] Read more.
In this paper, the ternary system La2O3-TiO2-Nb2O5 is studied to find new ternary phases with useful electrical properties. The solid solution La3−xTi5−3xNb10−2xO39.5−12.5x was recently identified, and this study focuses on the structural characterization of this solid solution with x = 0.04. The crystal structure, representing a new structural type, was determined from synchrotron and neutron powder diffraction data. The unit cell parameters are a = 7.332 Å, b = 7.421 Å, c = 10.673 Å, α = 84.15°, ß = 80.16°, γ = 60.37°, and space group P1¯. The titanium and niobium atoms are disordered in five different crystallographic sites coordinated octahedrally by oxygen atoms. The eight-coordinated La atoms are embedded in the octahedral framework. Ti and Nb preferentially occupy different sites, and this feature was studied using periodic density functional theory methods. Energies of possible Ti/Nb distributions were calculated and the results agree well with the site occupancies obtained by combined Rietveld refinement of synchrotron and neutron powder diffraction patterns. The geometries optimized by DFT also agree well with the structural parameters determined by diffraction. The general agreement between the theoretical calculations and the experimental data justifies the quantum chemical methods as reliable complementary tools for the structural investigation of ceramic materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Structural Investigation of Ceramic Materials)
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18 pages, 6842 KiB  
Article
Mechanosynthesis of Mesoporous Bi-Doped TiO2: The Effect of Bismuth Doping and Ball Milling on the Crystal Structure, Optical Properties, and Photocatalytic Activity
by Sofía Estrada-Flores, Catalina M. Pérez-Berumen, Tirso E. Flores-Guia, Luis A. García-Cerda, Joelis Rodríguez-Hernández, Tzipatly A. Esquivel-Castro and Antonia Martínez-Luévanos
Crystals 2022, 12(12), 1750; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst12121750 - 3 Dec 2022
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2386
Abstract
In this work, we reported obtaining mesoporous Bi-doped TiO2 by mechanosynthesis and bismuth loading of 0%, 1%, 3%, 5%, and 10% (milled TiO2, TiO2 Bi 1%, TiO2 Bi 3% TiO2 Bi 5%, and TiO2 Bi 10%, [...] Read more.
In this work, we reported obtaining mesoporous Bi-doped TiO2 by mechanosynthesis and bismuth loading of 0%, 1%, 3%, 5%, and 10% (milled TiO2, TiO2 Bi 1%, TiO2 Bi 3% TiO2 Bi 5%, and TiO2 Bi 10%, respectively). The effect of bismuth doping and ball milling on the crystal structure, optical properties, and photocatalytic performance of Bi-doped TiO2 mesoporous samples under UV, visible, and sun irradiation was investigated. According to the results of the Rietveld refinement, the estimated chemical formulas for the TiO2 Bi 1%, TiO2 Bi 3%, TiO2 Bi 5%, and TiO2 Bi10% samples were Ti0.99Bi0.01O2, Ti0.97Bi0.03O2, Ti0.96Bi0.04O2, and Ti0.91Bi0.09O2 respectively. The incorporation of Bi into the TiO2 lattice causes the crystallite size to decrease and, consequently, the absorption spectrum of TiO2 to extend into the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum, resulting in a lower band gap (Eg) value. Bi-doped TiO2 mesoporous samples had Eg values of 2.90 eV, 2.83 eV, 2.77 eV, and 2.70 eV for the TiO2 Bi 1%, TiO2 Bi 3%, TiO2 Bi 5%, and TiO2 Bi 10% samples, respectively. Photocatalytic removal of methylene blue (MB) data fit well for second-order kinetics. Photocatalytic activity increase followed the order of TiO2 Bi 5% > TiO2 Bi 10% > TiO2 Bi 3% > TiO2 Bi 1% > pristine TiO2. The TiO2 Bi 5% sample exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance for MB photodegradation under natural sunlight (89.2%). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Structural Investigation of Ceramic Materials)
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7 pages, 1270 KiB  
Article
High-Energy Heavy Ion Tracks in Nanocrystalline Silicon Nitride
by Arno Janse van Vuuren, Alisher Mutali, Anel Ibrayeva, Alexander Sohatsky, Vladimir Skuratov, Abdirash Akilbekov, Alma Dauletbekova and Maxim Zdorovets
Crystals 2022, 12(10), 1410; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst12101410 - 5 Oct 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1862
Abstract
At present, silicon nitride is the only nitride ceramic in which latent ion tracks resulting from swift heavy ion irradiation have been observed. Data related to the effects of SHIs on the nanocrystalline form of Si3N4 are sparse. The size [...] Read more.
At present, silicon nitride is the only nitride ceramic in which latent ion tracks resulting from swift heavy ion irradiation have been observed. Data related to the effects of SHIs on the nanocrystalline form of Si3N4 are sparse. The size of grains is known to play a role in the formation of latent ion tracks and other defects that result from SHI irradiation. In this investigation, the effects of irradiation with high-energy heavy ions on nanocrystalline silicon nitride is studied, using transmission electron microscopy techniques. The results suggest that threshold electronic stopping power, Set, lies within the range 12.3 ± 0.8 keV/nm to 15.2 ± 1.0 keV/nm, based on measurements of track radii. We compared the results to findings for polycrystalline Si3N4 irradiated under similar conditions. Our findings suggest that the radiation stability of silicon nitride is independent of grain size. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Structural Investigation of Ceramic Materials)
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10 pages, 2036 KiB  
Article
Chemical Disorder in 6H-SiC Irradiated with Both He and Fe Ions Followed by 1500 °C Annealing: Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy Analysis
by Guoqiang You, Sili Wang, Haiyun Zhang, Weihong Li, Xueli Guo, Shangmin Ru and Bingsheng Li
Crystals 2022, 12(5), 687; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst12050687 - 11 May 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2890
Abstract
A good understanding of the chemical disorder in silicon carbide (SiC) after ion irradiation is crucial for evaluating structural stability in both semiconductor and nuclear power systems. In this study, 6H-SiC single-crystal was irradiated with 500 keV He and 2.5 MeV Fe ions [...] Read more.
A good understanding of the chemical disorder in silicon carbide (SiC) after ion irradiation is crucial for evaluating structural stability in both semiconductor and nuclear power systems. In this study, 6H-SiC single-crystal was irradiated with 500 keV He and 2.5 MeV Fe ions at room temperature, followed by annealing at 1500 °C for 2 h. The chemical disorders were investigated by electron energy-loss spectroscopy with the transmission electron microscopy at 200 kV. Facetted voids were found in the end region of the damaged layer. Compared with the substrate region, the Si at.% was lower, while the values of C and O at.% were higher, in particular in inner voids. SiCOx (x < 1) bonds at the inner surface of the voids were detected. The energy losses of Si, C edges shifted to be lower in the damaged layer. The possible reason is discussed, and the research results will be used for understanding the ion irradiation-induced damage in SiC. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Structural Investigation of Ceramic Materials)
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