Sequential irradiation with 3 MeV He? and 10 MeV C3? ions performed at T = 150 K produces two separate amorphous buried layers in cadmium niobate pyrochlore (Cd2Nb2O7) single crystals. Further irradiation at room temperature results in the formation of nanometer-scale particles in the amorphized regions. An ion-cleaving technique was used to facilitate the observation of these nanoparticles by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Complete granulation with particle sizes ranging from 30 to 150 nm was observed. X-ray energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS) analysis indicates that the numerically large population of smaller particles (~50 nm) contains a high Cd content (~70%) and the numerically smaller population of larger particles (>100 nm) contains negligible Nb with a Cd-to-O ratio of about 1:0.54.
Revised: May 20, 2004 |
Published: January 28, 2002
Citation
Jiang W., W.J. Weber, J.S. Young, and L.A. Boatner. 2002.Irradiation-Induced Formation of Nanoparticles in Cadmium Niobate Pyrochlore.Applied Physics Letters 80, no. 4:670-672.PNNL-SA-35396.