Oxynitrides have been explored extensively in the past decade because of their interesting properties, such as visible-light absorption, photocatalytic activity and high dielectric permittivity. Their synthesis typically requires high-temperature NH3 treatment (800-1,300 °C) of precursors, such as oxides, but the highly reducing conditions and the low mobility of N(3-) species in the lattice place significant constraints on the composition and structure-and hence the properties-of the resulting oxynitrides. Here we show a topochemical route that enables the preparation of an oxynitride at low temperatures (<500 °C), using a perovskite oxyhydride as a host. The lability of H(-) in BaTiO3-xHx (x ≤ 0.6) allows H(-)/N(3-) exchange to occur, and yields a room-temperature ferroelectric BaTiO3-xN2x/3. This anion exchange is accompanied by a metal-to-insulator crossover via mixed O-H-N intermediates. These findings suggest that this 'labile hydride' strategy can be used to explore various oxynitrides, and perhaps other mixed anionic compounds.
We have studied electronic properties of perovskite oxyhydrides ATiO 3−x H x (A = Ba, Sr). Epitaxial thin films of ATiO 3−x H x with various hydride compositions, up to x = 0.58 for Ba and x = 0.45 for Sr, are prepared by the low-temperature CaH 2 reduction of the corresponding oxide films deposited on (LaA-lO 3 ) 0.3 (SrAl 0.5 Ta 0.5 O 3 ) 0.7 (LSAT) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. Resistivity measurements for A = Sr show a metallic phase over a wide range of H − composition, implying a substantial stabilization of H 1s orbitals that should be distributed over O 2p orbitals. On the other hand, for A = Ba, a semiconducting behavior is seen up to ∼5− 8% of H − substitution. Interestingly, a similar contrasting behavior is observed in a Nb-substituted BaTiO 3 and SrTiO 3 , which suggests that a local cation−off centering in lightly doped Ba films creates in-gap states in the band structure (as opposed to the Sr films), hindering the electron transport.
We present how the introduction of anion vacancies in oxyhydrides enables a route to access new oxynitrides, by conducting ammonolysis of perovskite oxyhydride EuTiO3-xHx (x ∼ 0.18). At 400 °C, similar to our studies on BaTiO3-xHx, hydride lability enables a low temperature direct ammonolysis of EuTi(3.82+)O2.82H0.18, leading to the N(3-)/H(-)-exchanged product EuTi(4+)O2.82N0.12□0.06. When the ammonolysis temperature was increased up to 800 °C, we observed a further nitridation involving N(3-)/O(2-) exchange, yielding a fully oxidized Eu(3+)Ti(4+)O2N with the GdFeO3-type distortion (Pnma) as a metastable phase, instead of pyrochlore structure. Interestingly, the same reactions using the oxide EuTiO3 proceeded through a 1:1 exchange of N(3-) with O(2-) only above 600 °C and resulted in incomplete nitridation to EuTiO2.25N0.75, indicating that anion vacancies created during the initial nitridation process of EuTiO2.82H0.18 play a crucial role in promoting anion (N(3-)/O(2-)) exchange at high temperatures. Hence, by using (hydride-induced) anion-deficient precursors, we should be able to expand the accessible anion composition of perovskite oxynitrides.
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