ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Investigating the nature of Polar Nanoregions in Sr1-xPrxTiO3 by means of Pair Distribution Function Analysis

Abstract: Sr0.85Pr0.15TiO3 undergoes a ferroelectric (FE) to paraelectric (PE) transition at Tm500 K. In recent experiment at ID22@ESRF a tetragonal (I4/mcm) to cubic (Pm-3m) phase transition was observed at Tc=460 K, below the FE-PE transition. Pair distribution function (PDF) analysis showed that at T=480 K the local structure still has I4/mcm symmetry, suggesting the presence of nanodomains.As a centro-symmetric space group is not compatible with FE behaviour, we suppose that the rearrangement of the oxygen cage around Pr ions gives rise to localized electric dipoles (polar nanoregions, PNR). Unlike X-ray, neutron PDF (N-PDF) can supply accurate information on interatomic distances involving oxygen ions.We aim at investigating the structure of Sr1-xPrxTiO3 samples as a function of T and x by means of N-PDF, to determine the correct local structure and prove the presence of PNRs.

Principal Investigator: Dr Marco Scavini
Experimenter: Dr Matthew Tucker
Experimenter: Mr Stefano Checchia

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1520227

ISIS Experiment Number: RB1520227

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Marco Scavini et al; (2015): Investigating the nature of Polar Nanoregions in Sr1-xPrxTiO3 by means of Pair Distribution Function Analysis, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1520227

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.