Exploring the crystal structure and properties of ytterbium orthoantimonate under high pressure
Alka B Garg1,2, Sinhue Lopez-Moreno3,4, Pablo Botella-Vives5
1High Pressure and Synchrotron Radiation Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai 400085, India.
Abstract:
The crystal structure of YbSbO4 was determined from powder X-ray diffraction data using the Rietveld method. YbSbO4 is found to be monoclinic and isostructural to α-PrSbO4. We have also tested the influence of pressure on the crystal structure up to 22 GPa by synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction. No phase transition was found. The P-V equation of state and axial compressibilities were determined. Experiments were combined with density-functional theory calculations, which provided information on the elastic constants and the influence of pressure in the crystal structure and Raman/infrared phonons. Results are compared with those from other orthoantimonates. Reasons for the difference in the high-pressure behaviour of YbSbO4 compared with most antimony oxides will be discussed.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Crystal Field Theory - Tetrahedral and Square Planar Complexes
Crystal field theory (CFT) is applicable to molecules in geometries other than octahedral. In octahedral complexes, the lobes of the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals point directly at the ligands. For tetrahedral complexes, the d orbitals remain in place, but with only four ligands located between the axes. None of the orbitals points directly at the tetrahedral ligands. However, the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals (along the Cartesian axes) overlap with the ligands less than the dxy,...
Crystal Field Theory - Octahedral Complexes
To explain the observed behavior of transition metal complexes (such as colors), a model involving electrostatic interactions between the electrons from the ligands and the electrons in the unhybridized d orbitals of the central metal atom has been developed. This electrostatic model is crystal field theory (CFT). It helps to understand, interpret, and predict the colors, magnetic behavior, and some structures of coordination compounds of transition metals.
CFT focuses on...
Ionic Crystal Structures
Most monatomic ions behave as charged spheres, and their attraction for ions of opposite charge is the same in every direction. Consequently, stable structures for ionic compounds result (1) when ions of one charge are surrounded by as many ions as possible of the opposite...
X-ray Crystallography
Diffraction
Diffraction is the change in the direction of travel experienced by an electromagnetic wave when it encounters a physical barrier whose dimensions are comparable to those of the wavelength of the light. X-rays are electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths about as long as the distance between neighboring...


