Tunable thermal expansion and magnetism in Zr-doped ScF3

Tao Wang, Jiale Xu, Lei Hu, Wei Wang, Rongjin Huang, Fei Han, Zhao Pan, Jinxia Deng, Yang Ren, Laifeng Li, Jun Chen*, Xianran Xing

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The negative thermal expansion (NTE) behavior provides us an opportunity to design materials with controllable coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). In this letter, we report a tunable isotropic thermal expansion in the cubic (Sc1- xZrx)F3+ δ over a wide temperature and CTE range (αl = -4.0 to+ 16.8 × 10-6 K-1, 298-648 K). The thermal expansion can be well adjusted from strong negative to zero, and finally to large positive. Intriguingly, isotropic zero thermal expansion (αl = 2.6 × 10-7 K-1, 298-648 K) has been observed in the composition of (Sc0.8Zr0.2)F3+ δ. The controllable thermal expansion in (Sc1- xZrx)F3+ δ is correlated to the local structural distortion. Interestingly, the ordered magnetic behavior has been found in the zero thermal expansion compound of (Sc0.8Zr0.2)F3+ δ at room temperature, which presumably correlates with the unpaired electron of the lower chemical valence of Zr cation. The present study provides a useful reference to control the thermal expansion and explore the multi-functionalization for NTE materials.
Original languageEnglish
Article number181901
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume109
Issue number18
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Oct 2016
Externally publishedYes

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