Investigation of tetragonal distortion in the PbTiO3–BiFeO3 system by high-temperature x-ray diffraction

Abstract

Compositions in the (Pb1−xBix (Ti1−xFex)O3 solid solution system for x ⋚ 0.7 show unusually large tetragonal distortion. High-temperature x-ray diffraction was used to study the tetragonal distortion as a function of temperature (25–700 °C) for compositions (x = 0–0.7) using powders prepared by solid-state reaction in the above system. Large changes in the lattice parameters were observed over a narrow temperature range near Curie temperature (TC) for compositions near the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) (x ≃ 0.7). Compositions near MPB showed a c/a ratio of 1.18 at room temperature. Polar plots of lattice constants at different temperatures indicated strong anisotropic thermal expansion with zero thermal expansion along the [201] direction.