Synthesis and thermal stability studies of a series of metastable Dion–Jacobson double-layered neodymium-niobate perovskites

•A series of new layered neodymium containing perovskites were synthesized by ion exchange.•Products were studied by variable temperature X-ray diffraction and thermal analysis.•Most of the series are metastable showing exothermic transitions on decomposition.•The Nd compounds are less stable due to the smaller size of the Nd relative to La.

The Dion–Jacobson double-layered perovskite, RbNdNb2O7, is used as a precursor to synthesize the series ANdNb2O7 (A=H, Li, Na, K, NH4, Ag), and (MCl)NdNb2O7 (M=Mn, Fe, Cu) through ion-exchange reactions ≤400 °C. Thermal stability studies indicated that most of these compounds are metastable. A combination of X-ray powder diffraction and differential thermal analysis were used to determine various low temperature decomposition pathways; these pathways were very dependent on the interlayer species. Overall the ANdNb2O7 series was found to be less stable than the corresponding lanthanides, ALaNb2O7.

Graphical abstractA new series of topochemically-prepared metastable neodymium-containing layered perovskites are studied.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide