Perovskite oxides are known to possess a broad range of compositionally dependent phenomena, such as ferroelectricity and high dielectric constants, which result from local structural distortions within the perovskite structure. Over the past 15 years, there has been a lot of activity surrounding the synthesis of perovskite oxide nanocrystals with controlled size, shape, and composition. The question that follows then is how the functionality of these nanocrystals, such as their dielectric properties, changes as a function of composition as compared to their bulk analogs. Answering this question involves crosscutting research that correlates our ability to synthesize high-quality, compositionally controlled perovskite nanocrystals with performing high-level structural characterization. We have employed a series of synchrotron techniques, including X-ray absorption spectroscopy and pair distribution function (PDF) analysis of X-ray total scattering, to probe local structural distortions in perovskite oxide nanocrystals as a function of isovalent and aliovalent substitution. These results have in turn been correlated to the ensemble dielectric properties of the nanocrystals, and compared to trends observed for their bulk analogs.

Local structural distortions in perovskite oxide nanocrystals as probed by X-ray absorption and X-ray total scattering

248th National Meeting (2014)

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