Disorder in Mn+1AXn phases at the atomic scale

Wang, Chenxu; Yang, Tengfei; Tracy, Cameron L.; Lu, Chenyang; Zhang, Hui; Hu, Yong-Jie; Wang, Lumin; Qi, Liang; Gu, Lin; Huang, Qing; Zhang, Jie; Wang, Jingyang; Xue, Jianming; Ewing, Rodney C.; Wang, Yugang

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-08588-1

Disorder in M_n+1AX_n phases at the atomic scale

Journal Article · Thu Feb 07 00:00:00 UTC 2019 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08588-1· OSTI ID:1543754

Wang, Chenxu ^[1]; Yang, Tengfei ^[2]; ^[3]; Lu, Chenyang ^[4]; Zhang, Hui ^[5]; Hu, Yong-Jie ^[4]; Wang, Lumin ^[4]; Qi, Liang ^[4]; ^[6]; ^[7]; Zhang, Jie ^[8]; Wang, Jingyang ^[8]; Xue, Jianming ^[2]; Ewing, Rodney C. ^[3]; Wang, Yugang ^[2]

Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Monash Univ., Clayton, VIC (Australia)
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Ningbo (China)
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shenyang (China)

Atomic disordering in materials alters their physical and chemical properties and can subsequently affect their performance. In complex ceramic materials, it is a challenge to understand the nature of structural disordering, due to the difficulty of direct, atomic-scale experimental observations. Here we report the direct imaging of ion irradiation-induced antisite defects in M_n+1AX_n phases using double CS-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and provide compelling evidence of order-to-disorder phase transformations, overturning the conventional view that irradiation causes phase decomposition to binary fcc-structured M_n+1AX_n. With the formation of uniformly distributed cation antisite defects and the rearrangement of X anions, disordered solid solution γ-(M_n+1A)X_n phases are formed at low ion fluences, followed by gradual transitions to solid solution fcc-structured (M_n+1A)X_n phases. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the order-to-disorder transformations in M_n+1AX_n phases and proposes a method for the synthesis of new solid solution (M_n+1A)X_n phases by tailoring the disorder.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Materials Science of Actinides (MSA); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC); Univ. of California, Oakland, CA (United States); Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Magnetic Confinement Fusion Energy Research Project of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China; National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; SC0001089

OSTI ID:: 1543754

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1567160

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 10; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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