Structural studies of the aeschynite–euxenite transformation in the series Ln(TiTa)O6Ln = Lanthanide

Ceramics based on LnTiTaO6 (Ln = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu) were prepared using a conventional solid-state ceramic route. The structure and microstructure of the samples were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy, synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction and neutron diffraction techniques. The unit cell volume of the ceramics decreased with a decrease in ionic radius of the rare-earth ions until a phase change was seen at Ho where the space group changed from Pnma to Pbcn. The results confirmed that the boundary of the aeschynite to euxenite phase change that lies between DyTiTaO6 and HoTiTaO6 and demonstrate that this is a result of distortion of the channels in the aeschynite structure.

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