Title
Perovskite nitrides: A new playground for functional materials
Conference Dates
November 10-14, 2019
Abstract
The perovskite crystal is a favorite playground for electroceramists across a wide variety of applications, and recent developments on hybrid metallorganic perovskite photovoltaics has renewed interest in expanding the chemical space of this flexible and multifunctional crystal structure. A survey of experimentally confirmed simple perovskite compounds (ABX3) finds no reports of pure X=N anion chemistries. One challenge of forming nitride perovskite materials is the high valence cations needed to satisfy the high valency of nitrogen; another is limiting oxygen impurities. Computational predictions of energetically favorable nitride perovskites have been reported[1] and DFT+LDA methods[2] suggest that the lowest energy state of LaWN3 is a non-centrosymmetric R3c type distorted perovskite structure with a spontaneous polarization of approximately 60µC/cm2 along the <111> polar axis. A relatively low energy barrier predicted for polarization reversal raises the possibility of ferroelectricity as well. Developing a ferroelectric nitride would greatly simplify integration of a number of functional (e.g., ferroelectric, piezoelectric, and more) properties directly with nitride semiconductors for a variety of integrated sensing and energy conversion applications. Here we report the experimental confirmation of oxygen-free LaWN3 as a perovskite (Fig. 1) using multiple fabrication approaches. Calculations show 5 different symmetries with very similar lattice energies (3 polar and 2 non-polar); refinements of x-ray and electron diffraction in conjunction with property measurements document the complexity of the LaWN3 system in addition to other closely-related perovskite nitrides.
[1] R. Sarmiento-Pérez et. al., Chemistry of Materials, 27, 5957 (2015)
[2] Y. Fang et. al., Physical Review B,95, 014111 (2017)
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Recommended Citation
Geoff L. Brennecka,; Kevin Talley; Rachel Sherbondy; and Andriy Zakutayev, "Perovskite nitrides: A new playground for functional materials" in "Composites at Lake Louise 2019", John Kieffer, University of Michigan, USA Erik Spoeke, Sandia National Laboratories, USA Meisha Shofner, Georgia Institution of Technology, USA Eds, ECI Symposium Series, (2019). https://dc.engconfintl.org/composites_all_2019/19