Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 349-357 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Acta Crystallographica Section B: Structural Science, Crystal Engineering and Materials |
| Volume | 71 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Abstract
The M 2O-Al2O3-WO3 (M = alkaline metals) system has attracted the attention of the scientific community because some of its members showed potential applications as single crystalline media for tunable solid-state lasers. These materials behave as promising laser host materials due to their high and continuous transparency in the wide range of the near-IR region. A systematic investigation of these phases is nonetheless hampered because it is impossible to produce large crystals and only in a few cases a pure synthetic product can be achieved. Despite substantial advances in X-ray powder diffraction methods, structure investigation on nanoscale is still challenging, especially when the sample is polycrystalline and the structures are affected by pseudo-symmetry. Electron diffraction has the advantage of collecting data from single nanoscopic crystals, but it is frequently limited by incompleteness and dynamical effects. Automated diffraction tomography (ADT) recently emerged as an alternative approach able to collect more complete three-dimensional electron diffraction data and at the same time to significantly reduce dynamical scattering. ADT data have been shown to be suitable for ab initio structure solution of phases with large cell parameters, and for detecting pseudo-symmetry that was undetected in X-ray powder data. In this work we present the structure investigation of two hitherto undetermined compounds, K5Al(W3O11)2 and NaAl(WO4)2, by a combination of electron diffraction tomography and precession electron diffraction. We also stress how electron diffraction tomography can be used to obtain direct information about symmetry and pseudo-symmetry for nanocrystalline phases, even when available only in polyphasic mixtures.
Keywords
- electron crystallography, electron difffraction tomography, laser media, structure determination, tungstate
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Materials Science(all)
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
- Materials Science(all)
- Metals and Alloys
- Materials Science(all)
- Materials Chemistry
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In: Acta Crystallographica Section B: Structural Science, Crystal Engineering and Materials, Vol. 71, 01.06.2015, p. 349-357.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Structural insights into M2O-Al2O3-WO3 (M = Na, K) system by electron diffraction tomography
AU - Andrusenko, Iryna
AU - Krysiak, Yaşar
AU - Mugnaioli, Enrico
AU - Gorelik, Tatiana E.
AU - Nihtianova, Diana
AU - Kolb, Ute
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2015 International Union of Crystallography.
PY - 2015/6/1
Y1 - 2015/6/1
N2 - The M 2O-Al2O3-WO3 (M = alkaline metals) system has attracted the attention of the scientific community because some of its members showed potential applications as single crystalline media for tunable solid-state lasers. These materials behave as promising laser host materials due to their high and continuous transparency in the wide range of the near-IR region. A systematic investigation of these phases is nonetheless hampered because it is impossible to produce large crystals and only in a few cases a pure synthetic product can be achieved. Despite substantial advances in X-ray powder diffraction methods, structure investigation on nanoscale is still challenging, especially when the sample is polycrystalline and the structures are affected by pseudo-symmetry. Electron diffraction has the advantage of collecting data from single nanoscopic crystals, but it is frequently limited by incompleteness and dynamical effects. Automated diffraction tomography (ADT) recently emerged as an alternative approach able to collect more complete three-dimensional electron diffraction data and at the same time to significantly reduce dynamical scattering. ADT data have been shown to be suitable for ab initio structure solution of phases with large cell parameters, and for detecting pseudo-symmetry that was undetected in X-ray powder data. In this work we present the structure investigation of two hitherto undetermined compounds, K5Al(W3O11)2 and NaAl(WO4)2, by a combination of electron diffraction tomography and precession electron diffraction. We also stress how electron diffraction tomography can be used to obtain direct information about symmetry and pseudo-symmetry for nanocrystalline phases, even when available only in polyphasic mixtures.
AB - The M 2O-Al2O3-WO3 (M = alkaline metals) system has attracted the attention of the scientific community because some of its members showed potential applications as single crystalline media for tunable solid-state lasers. These materials behave as promising laser host materials due to their high and continuous transparency in the wide range of the near-IR region. A systematic investigation of these phases is nonetheless hampered because it is impossible to produce large crystals and only in a few cases a pure synthetic product can be achieved. Despite substantial advances in X-ray powder diffraction methods, structure investigation on nanoscale is still challenging, especially when the sample is polycrystalline and the structures are affected by pseudo-symmetry. Electron diffraction has the advantage of collecting data from single nanoscopic crystals, but it is frequently limited by incompleteness and dynamical effects. Automated diffraction tomography (ADT) recently emerged as an alternative approach able to collect more complete three-dimensional electron diffraction data and at the same time to significantly reduce dynamical scattering. ADT data have been shown to be suitable for ab initio structure solution of phases with large cell parameters, and for detecting pseudo-symmetry that was undetected in X-ray powder data. In this work we present the structure investigation of two hitherto undetermined compounds, K5Al(W3O11)2 and NaAl(WO4)2, by a combination of electron diffraction tomography and precession electron diffraction. We also stress how electron diffraction tomography can be used to obtain direct information about symmetry and pseudo-symmetry for nanocrystalline phases, even when available only in polyphasic mixtures.
KW - electron crystallography
KW - electron difffraction tomography
KW - laser media
KW - structure determination
KW - tungstate
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84930454180&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1107/S2052520615007994
DO - 10.1107/S2052520615007994
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84930454180
VL - 71
SP - 349
EP - 357
JO - Acta Crystallographica Section B: Structural Science, Crystal Engineering and Materials
JF - Acta Crystallographica Section B: Structural Science, Crystal Engineering and Materials
SN - 2052-5192
ER -