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Atomistic simulation techniques are used to perform a comparative study of intrinsic defects, dopant
incorporation and protonic groups in two lanthanum phosphate compounds, namely, the
orthophosphate (LaPO4) and the ultraphosphate (LaP5O14). The suitability of dopant incorporation
predicted from the dopant solution energies (with Ca and Sr the most favorable) is in excellent
agreement with trends in ionic conductivity from recent experimental investigations. The defect
chemistry of the phosphates related to protonic defects and oxygen vacancies created from extrinsic
doping is investigated. The results indicate favorable orientations for the protonic defect within the
structures. The binding energies for proton–dopant interactions indicate that defect association may
occur. In LaPO4 it was observed that the relaxed local atomic structure around an oxygen vacancy is
analogous to the formation of a P2O7 pyrophosphate anion.
25388 | J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 25388–25394 This journal is ª The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012
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interactions. The short range interactions are described by the Table 2 Parameters for the O–H interaction
following Buckingham interatomic potential:36
Morse potential Dc (eV) 1)
a (A
ro (A)
Cij
Vij ðrÞ ¼ A exp r=rij 6 (1) O/H 7.0525 2.1986 0.9485
r
where Aij, rij and Cij are potential parameters for each set of ion– Buckingham potential A (eV)
r (A) 6)
C (eV A
ion interactions in the material. In addition to the above short
O/H 311.97 0.25 0
range interactions, three-body interaction terms were also used
to account for the angle dependent nature of the O–P–O and P–
O–P bonds in the system. The P–O–P interaction term is required
only for LaP5O14 to maintain the angle between the corner
where D, b, and ro were obtained from ab initio quantum
sharing PO4 tetrahedra in the structure. In LaPO4, the tetrahedra
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LaPO4 LaP5O14
Bond length (A)
Difference
System Bond type Exp. Calc.
(A)
In LaPO4 all the four P–O bonds in the PO4 tetrahedron are
equivalent and are of the terminal type due to the isolated
arrangement of the tetrahedra. From the experimental values
Fig. 1 (a) View of LaP5O14 along the [001] direction. La3+ ions are
shown in orange (large spheres) and PO4 tetrahedra are shown in
shown in Table 4 it can be seen that the average P–O bond length
green. (b) Segment of ribbon composed of PO4 tetrahedra as viewed in LaPO4 has an intermediate value between the terminal and
along the [010] direction. (O is the origin, A is the x-axis and B is the bridging P–O bond lengths in LaP5O14. The calculated structure
y-axis). of LaPO4 is in excellent agreement with respect to the bond
lengths and the difference between the calculated and experi-
mental values is small (0.03 A). The other difference in the
structures of LaPO4 and LaP5O14 is that in the former the
structure is composed of LaO9 polyhedra while the latter has
LaO8 polyhedra. The average experimental bond length for
La–O is longer for LaPO4 and matches well with the calculated
values (Table 4).
25390 | J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 25388–25394 This journal is ª The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012
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Table 5 Energies of intrinsic defect formation in LaPO4 and LaP5O14. All values are shown in eV (S – Schottky and F – Frenkel)
Table 6 Inter-ionic distances in the [P2O7]4 group compared with inter- According to Amezawa et al. 1 mol% alkali earth metal doped
ionic distances in [PO4]3 LaPO4 shows the following trend in decreasing order of
[P2O7]4 [PO4]3 [HPO4]2
conductivity Sr > Ca > Ba > Mg which is in agreement with the
dopant solution energy obtained for the various dopants in this
Distance Distance Distance study.31 We recognise, however, that the correlation between
Ion–ion
(A) Ion–ion
(A) Ion–ion
(A) dopant solution energetics and the proton conductivity may not
P1–P2 3.175 P–Padj 4.187 P–Padj 4.179 be straightforward since the low solubility or small amount of the
P1–Ob 1.719 P–O1 1.574 P–Oproton 1.882 dopants in the structure can simply relate to the low proton
P2–Ob 1.719 P–O2 1.576 P–O2 1.558 uptake. Another key factor is possible dopant trapping effects
P1–O2 1.550 P–O3 1.585 P–O3 1.542 which are addressed below.
P1–O3 1.564 P–O4 1.605 P–O4 1.541
P1–O4 1.552 Acceptor doping on the cation site produces oxygen vacancies,
P2–O2 1.547 which can then lead to the formation of protonic defects by the
P2–O3 1.553 dissociative absorption of ambient water as represented by the
P2–O4 1.572
following equation:
__ _
H2O + VO O / 2OHO
+ OX (5)
the extrinsic defects formed upon acceptor doping are likely to
dominate the defect chemistry of these phosphate materials, and Examination of the local relaxed structure around the oxygen
are considered in the next section. vacancy in LaPO4 revealed that the formation of an oxygen
vacancy is analogous to the generation of a [P2O7] pyrophos-
phate group in the structure. This is accomplished by corner
3.3 Dopant incorporation and vacancy defects sharing an oxygen ion between two neighboring PO4 tetrahedra,
and leads to a significant distortion of the tetrahedra involved
It is known that acceptor dopants (Ca and Sr) are used to arising from the stretching of the bridging P–Ob bonds
promote the observed proton incorporation and conduction in as illustrated in Fig. 4(b). For comparison, the length
(1.718 A)
these phosphate materials. Although the prediction of the solu- of the remaining terminal P–Ot bonds of the pyrophosphate
bility limit of a particular dopant is a much more demanding group is listed in Table 6 where it can be seen that these bonds are
task, the relative energies of dopant incorporation provide useful much shorter (1.55 A). In undoped LaPO4 the P–Ot bond
information about trends in dopant solubility between different
lengths (1.574–1.605 A) are also quite similar to the P–Ot bond
species. Here, the energetics of divalent dopant (D ¼ Mg2+, Ca2+, lengths in the pyrophosphate as shown in Fig. 4(a).
Sr2+, Ba2+) substitution on the La3+ site were investigated. The
defect equation for dopant incorporation for both lanthanum
phosphate materials can be denoted in the Kr€ oger–Vink notation
as shown below:
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Fig. 4 (a) Orthophosphate group [PO4]3 and (b) pyrophosphate group [P2O7]4 in LaPO4 showing bridging oxygen ion (Ob) and P–Ob bond distances.
(c) Protonated orthophosphate group [HPO4]3 in LaPO4 also showing the P–O bond lengths.
The formation of a pyrophosphate group in LaPO4 upon the protonated orthophosphate group indicates that there is
introduction of an oxygen vacancy is in good agreement with the significant distortion of the tetrahedron due to the presence of an
experimental observation by Amezawa et al. using MAS-NMR additional proton. The presence of the proton on the oxygen ion
studies.10 Given the similarity of the double-tetrahedral units we leads to stretching of the P–O bond (1.882 A) as shown in
find here to those which form in the La1xBa1+xGaO4x/2 ionic Fig. 4(c), whereas the other P–O bonds are much shorter as
conductor we conjecture that oxide-ion transport in LaPO4 may summarized in Table 6.
also involve the breaking and reforming of the [P2O7] units in a Such O–H calculations were performed for all the 14 crystal-
cooperative ‘‘cogwheel-type’’ process, as in the gallate.37 Further lographically different oxygen ions in the structure of LaP5O14.
examination of the conduction process, for example, by molec- In the relaxed structure an equilibrium O–H distance of 0.98 A
ular dynamics methods, while beyond the scope of the present was obtained for all the calculations. However, it was found that
study, needs to be undertaken. in the relaxed structure the O–H bond was directed in such a way
that the equilibrium position of the proton was located in either
of the two hollow channels located either along the a-axis or the
3.4 O–H configuration and proton–dopant interactions c-axis. These hollow channels exist in the ultraphosphate due to
Atomistic simulations were used to probe the local environment the open framework structure of the material. The equilibrium
around a proton to determine the most favorable configuration positions for the protons bonded to oxygen ions O1 and O14 are
within the structure. For the doped LaPO4 system, upon addition shown in Fig. 5(a) and (b) respectively. Along both crystallo-
of a water molecule to the pyrophosphate group the oxygen graphic directions it can be seen that the proton is located within
vacancy is filled by a hydroxyl ion and it leads to the formation of the hollow channels (shown as dotted region in Fig. 5). The
two protonated orthophosphate groups as indicated by the existence of these channels may provide a low energy pathway
following equation proposed by Amezawa et al.10 for proton conduction resulting in enhanced conductivity in the
ultraphosphate compared to the orthophosphate as experimen-
[P2O7]4 + H2O / 2[HPO4]2 (6) tally observed previously.41
If there is dopant–OH association between the two oppositely
The above equation is analogous to eqn (5) which is relevant to charged defects it can adversely affect the proton conductivity in
doped oxide materials. Analysis of the relaxed structure of a the material and hence it is of interest to calculate the energetics of
Fig. 5 View of LaP5O14 along (a) c-axis and (b) a-axis showing the location of hollow channels (dotted) in the structure. In the relaxed structure the
O–H bond is directed towards these channels and the proton preferentially tends to lie in these channels.
25392 | J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 25388–25394 This journal is ª The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012
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Table 7 Proton–dopant interactions in LaPO4 and LaP5O14 1. High formation energies were found for all the types of
intrinsic Frenkel and Schottky defects suggesting that the degree
System D 2+
Ebinding (eV)
D–H (A)
of intrinsic disorder in both LaPO4 and LaP5O14 is negligible,
LaPO4 Mg 0.75 2.94 and confirms the structural integrity of the PO4 tetrahedra in the
Ca 0.59 3.04 undoped structures. Hence, extrinsic defects formed upon
Sr 0.57 3.19 acceptor doping are likely to dominate the defect chemistry in
Ba 0.56 3.37
LaP5O14 Mg 0.44 2.50 these phosphate materials, as observed. The trend for dopant
Ca 0.50 2.69 incorporation energetics (with oxygen vacancy compensation)
Sr 0.39 2.82 was as follows (Sr > Ca > Ba > Mg), which is in agreement with
Ba 0.45 3.30 experimental conductivity results for doped LaPO4 where Ca and
Sr are the most commonly used dopants.
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such an interaction. The cluster binding energy for such an 2. Examination of the local relaxed structure around the oxygen
interaction can be calculated by considering the energy of the vacancy in LaPO4 revealed the creation of a P2O7 pyrophosphate
cluster (Ecluster) and comparing it with the sum of the energies of group. This is accomplished by a significant relaxation of two
isolated individual defects as shown in the general equation below: neighboring PO4 tetrahedra so as to share an oxygen ion, and is in
X excellent agreement with previous experimental NMR observa-
Ebind ¼ Ecluster Eisolated-defect (7) tion of the pyrophosphate anion in doped LaPO4.
3. The local environment around protonic defects in LaP5O14
A negative Ebind in such a case would indicate that dopant–OH was examined to predict the energetically favorable O–H
association is energetically favorable. In the case of the configuration. The calculations suggest that irrespective of the 14
lanthanum phosphate compounds the relevant equation would crystallographically different oxygen sites, the O–H bond was
be as follows: directed within either of the two hollow channels along the a- or
c-axes. For all the dopants examined, dopant–OH association
Ebind ¼ E(OHO_ /D/La) [E(OHO_ ) + E(D/La)] (8) was found to be favorable in both materials. The weakest asso-
ciation is found for Sr in LaP5O14 and the strongest association
The calculated binding energies for the divalent dopant cations
for Mg in LaPO4 indicating that local proton trapping effects
for both phosphates are listed in Table 7. It is found that for all
and proton mobility are sensitive to the type of acceptor dopant.
the dopants the values are negative which implies that such defect
association is favorable. In LaPO4, the highest (strongest)
binding energy calculated was for the Mg dopant (0.75 eV) Notes and references
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