Crystal growth and structure of a high temperature polymorph of Sr2TiO4 with tetrahedral Ti-coordination, and transition to the Ruddlesden-Popper tetragonal phase

0557344 - ÚACH 2023 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Pulmannova, D. - Besnard, C. - Bezdička, Petr - Hadjimichael, M. - Teyssier, J. - Giannini, E.
Crystal growth and structure of a high temperature polymorph of Sr2TiO4 with tetrahedral Ti-coordination, and transition to the Ruddlesden-Popper tetragonal phase.
CrystEngComm. Roč. 24, č. 20 (2022), s. 3731-3740. ISSN 1466-8033
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT(CZ) LM2018124
Institutional support: RVO:61388980
Keywords : bond-valence parameters * SrTiO3
OECD category: Inorganic and nuclear chemistry
Impact factor: 3.1, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access

Single crystals of transition metal oxides forming the Ruddlesden-Popper series are necessary for complete studies of their often exciting physical properties. In the strontium titanate family, crystal growth of all compounds apart from SrTiO3 has been elusive so far. We have successfully grown crystals of the high-temperature polymorph of Sr2TiO4, by using a floating-zone melt growth followed by a rapid cooling procedure. We report the crystal structure of the new modification, which is isostructural to the orthorhombic Sr2VO4 and Sr2CrO4. This structure hosts an uncommon layered sub-lattice of TiO4 tetrahedra and transforms into the tetragonal low-temperature polymorph via a complex reconstructive transition. The transformation mechanism between the two phases was studied and explains the reasons for the unsuccessful growth of tetragonal Sr2TiO4. The orthorhombic Sr2TiO4 is an insulator, with a band gap of 3.9 eV. It has a large (approximate to 40) dielectric constant, but despite its polar structure does not show any signatures of a ferroelectric order.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0331605