Structural response of titanate pyrochlores to swift heavy ion irradiation

Abstract The structure, size, and morphology of ion tracks resulting from irradiation of five different pyrochlore compositions (A 2 Ti 2 O 7 , A = Yb, Er, Y, Gd, Sm) with 2.2 GeV 197 Au ions were investigated by means of synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Radiation-induced amorphization occurred in all five materials analyzed following an exponential rate as a function of ion fluence. XRD patterns showed a general trend of increasing susceptibility of amorphization with increasing ratio of A- to B-site cation ionic radii (r A /r B ) with the exception of Y 2 Ti 2 O 7 and Sm 2 Ti 2 O 7 . This indicates that the track size does not necessarily increase with r A /r B , in contrast with results from previous swift heavy ion studies on Gd 2 Zr 2-x Ti x O 7 pyrochlore materials. For Y 2 Ti 2 O 7 , this effect is attributed to the significantly lower electron density of this material relative to the lanthanide-bearing pyrochlores, thus lowering the electronic energy loss (d E /d x ) of the high-energy ions in this composition. An energy loss normalization procedure was performed which reveals an initial increase of amorphous track size with r A /r B that saturates above a cation radius ratio larger than Gd 2 Ti 2 O 7 . This is in agreement with previous low-energy ion irradiation experiments and first principles calculations of the disordering energy of titanate pyrochlores indicating that the same trends in disordering energy apply to radiation damage induced in both the nuclear and electronic energy loss regimes. HRTEM images indicate that single ion tracks in Yb 2 Ti 2 O 7 and Er 2 Ti 2 O 7 , which have small A-site cations and low r A /r B , exhibit a core-shell structure with a small amorphous core surrounded by a larger disordered shell. In contrast, single tracks in Gd 2 Ti 2 O 7 and Sm 2 Ti 2 O 7 , have a larger amorphous core with minimal disordered shells.