The electronic-structure origin of cation disorder in transition-metal oxides

Abstract

Cation disorder is an important design criterion for technologically relevant transition-metal (TM) oxides, such as radiation-tolerant ceramics and Li-ion battery electrodes. In this letter, we use a combination of first-principles calculations, normal mode analysis, and band-structure arguments to pinpoint a specific electronic-structure effect that influences the stability of disordered phases. We find that the electronic configuration of a TM ion determines to which extent the structural energy is affected by site distortions. This mechanism explains the stability of disordered phases with large ionic radius differences and provides a concrete guideline for the discovery of novel disordered compositions.

12 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables

References in corpus (1)

• First-principles study of ternary fcc solution phases from special quasirandom structures

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