Electron beam-induced oxygen desorption in γ-LiAlO2

Effects of electron irradiation damage in γ-LiAlO2 were analysed using energy loss near edge fine structure (ELNES) of the O K-edge. Simulations of the O K-fine structure by means of a density functional theory (DFT) code show that under the electron beam γ-LiAlO2 undergoes the following transformation: LiAlO2→ LiAl5O8→ Al2O3. O K-edge spectra, which were recorded during this decomposition process, contain an additional peak at 531 eV. This peak can be attributed to a π∗-transition, which is observed for molecular oxygen O2. This result suggests that the electron beam-induced LiAlO2 decomposition occurs through the loss of O2.